Music – Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Wouldn’t it be nice

January 30, 2026

“Wouldn’t it be nice” is just one of many songs from my childhood and youth that are currently used in today’s media. This one is found in a commercial. This is a Beach Boys tune that has a young man speaking to his girl, talking about how great it would be to be older and be able to be an adult. How many movies have we seen about kids who are suddenly adults?

I’d like to take this idea to its justifiable fruition. When I was listening to this song as a teenager, I wanted to someday get married and have a family. Not until after I graduated from college and was on my way to becoming a journalist.

Then Jesus convinced me that it would be better to follow what He thought I should do. I changed majors and aspirations for my future and completed my degree as a preacher’s son. I had every intention of attending seminary and even made plans to marry my fiancé so that we could move in together.

That was not His plan. We got married, and the job I had taken before graduating moved me into a management trainee position. Two weeks after the wedding, I was told we were moving. We spent a little over a year there and decided, “Wouldn’t it be nice” to move back to Springfield.

That is what we did. Then we decided that we wanted to stop renting and buy a home. We went to work and remodeled it, and three children later, sold it and purchased a larger home. We have slept together for almost fifty years now. I think we have earned the right to brag about that.

Our dreams of becoming grown-ups have come true. Not because someone granted our wish. We did it with God’s help and instruction. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do that? If that is what you want, follow our lead and get ‘er done.

There have been many opportunities that we have had in this lifetime. We have served our family, friends, and Lord in many diverse ways. Neither of us went to jail, but we did serve on juries. We also have never run for a political office, but we do work as election judges.

Now, it would be nice to make it to our fiftieth anniversary later this year. We have talked about going on a cruise someday or riding a train farther than a few miles on scenic trips. Cindy might want to take a balloon ride or go skydiving. She would need to do this without me. I have acrophobia.

No matter what age you are, you should always have hopes and ambitions. Think of something that you want to do and have not tried yet. It would be my wish that you accept Jesus as your savior and Lord sometime soon. I hope you have a friend or family member who can show you how.

Little White Church

August 24, 2025

Have you heard this country song by Little Big Town from 2010? I would like to take a moment to share it with you. Two different feelings come depending on whether you watch the video or just listen to the audio.

Ladies, do you have a guy who will not make a commitment to marriage? Maybe you should play this song for him. As a man, I can tell you our inclination is to delay marriage if we can have what we want without it. Yes, I am talking about sex. As a father of three girls, I made sure my daughters understood this.

Are you worth a man’s love and respect? Then you need to show him that you are. We all have sexual desires, and our culture says that we can do whatever we want to if we are adults. Just because we want to participate in something does not mean it is best for us. Decisions we make today will have consequences tomorrow.

The next verse takes us to the video for this song. It shows the bride going to the church and at the same time her mother drugs the groom, ties him up, and puts him in the trunk of a car.

Many parents have doubts about the potential mate their child has chosen. It is usually wise not to mention this. Most of us do not want to admit that our parents are correct and we are wrong. Voicing your opinion may simply drive them towards making a bad choice. Back off and let them decide for themselves.

The conclusion of this song was the desire of my wife and I with our girls. The decisions are theirs and it is something every man and woman needs to consider. Your choices are your own and so are the results.

All three of our daughters married before having children. Their husbands are fine men. All three are teachers. The two oldest are in public schools and the youngest home schools their children. We have twelve wonderful grandchildren, and life is great for all of us.

Our churches are not always white, and sometimes they do not even meet in what is thought of as a church building, but the idea is to meet with the church that is the body of Christ, the gathering together of believers. It isn’t just there to marry couples. They have solutions for almost everything.

My music

June 14, 2025

When I was growing up my favorite radio station was KICK which was 1260 on the AM dial. They played the top forty hits that I enjoy. There were so many funny disc jockeys. I hoped to be one. Let’s talk about them.

One morning when I was in college my clock radio came on and after he gave the news Bob Bright started to read the weather. “The National Weather Service predicts a thirty percent chance of rain today.” He paused and continued off script. “I’m going to update that after looking out my window. I give it a one hundred percent probability.”

I admire a man who could step out on his own senses and tell the truth. I used this line more than once when I did radio reporting in high school speech tournaments. Then there was Dan Coulter. His brother was in one of my classes in junior high. Dan had a unique style that was not fake. I laughed a great deal.

Jay Stevens was popular in Springfield for a few years and then we heard he had moved away. Years later he had a song published and it was a minor hit. In 1975 his song “Rocky” recorded by Dickie Lee made it to No. 1 on the charts. You know him today as Woody P. Snow.

Another was the husband of the drama teacher at Hillcrest while I was there. I met him while in college when I saw Sandy and Cliff at Little Theatre. We chatted and I asked her to say hello to my sister in class on Monday because I knew Vanessa would not believe me if I told her.

Not one of my favorites but one of my Dad’s was Barefoot Bob. After KTTS radio was purchased and became the Radio Ranch he joined the staff. He was a long-time country DJ as well as an entertainer. He played at least one of his own recordings on his program.

While in college I took the test and received my license to become legitimate as an on-air talent for radio. My theme song would be “I’m a Girl Watcher.” I had no luck in Springfield and then I tried to get a job after moving to school in Bolivar, MO. I would have decided how to be a personality on whichever station might hire me.

In the 1980s I began listening to Wayne Glenn, the old record collector on KTXR FM radio. Wayne is a historian. He has written books about the Ozarks musicians and towns. He calls himself the old record collector because when he started, he played music that had been recorded at least thirty years before. That meant from the fifties and before.

Each year more music is opened under these guidelines. By the early two thousand the format moved into the seventies and eighties. He did interviews and gave the history of the music and the entertainers. I learned more from him than any other radio announcer.

I might go on air on-line with my own broadcast someday. I have a style I would like to use and a format that would allow me to do interviews and discuss songs, writers, and artists. My choice of theme song would be “I’m a God Watcher.”

Do you have favorite radio personalities of your own? What type of music do you listen to? Would you rather listen to talk radio, podcasts, or do you stream your music? I’d like to hear about them in the comments.

On the radio

May 17, 2025

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Mom sang all the time as we were growing up. We never had a piano in our home, because Mom and Dad did not play any musical instruments. They bought me a cheap guitar one year for Christmas and we discussed my taking lessons. That never happened. There just wasn’t enough money in the budget.

My cousin Russ came over with his guitar from time to time and would regale us with tunes like Running Bear. But in his version, Running Bear didn’t love Little White Dove. He ran through the bushes. Russ even brought Jimmie Gately over at least once to play and sing with him. He also brought an album one time by a new comedian, Bob Newhart. The Button-Down Humor of Bob Newhart was the title. We kids were sent to bed early that night.

That was Dad’s instrument of choice, the record player. My talent ran along the same lines as his, but I had to be different from him. I played the radio. Yes, my drug of choice at first was the 9-volt AM model. It was a gift. It went everywhere with me. I did not limit myself to just one flavor on the radio. I was eclectic. KICK was the top 40 station in Springfield, but late at night, I would tune in to WLS from Chicago and other stations from all over the country. KGBX, KWTO, KTTS, and KWFC in Springfield were not enough for me.

Then my brother bought an AM/FM/SW receiver. We listened to broadcasts from all over the world. Springfield even had FM stations, KTTS, KGBX, and KWTO. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? KICK was still the predominant influence in my life. That spawned another childhood desire. To be on the radio as a Disc Jockey or DJ. They were so cool.

Bob Bright woke us every morning with not just music. He also read the news every hour on the hour and added a twenty-second weather report. One morning he was reading the weather, “Thirty percent chance of precipitation throughout the day.” And he went off script to ad-lib. “I just looked out the window here at KICK radio and I want to step out on a limb. I give it a 100% chance of rain.” Out our window, it was storming and dropping the proverbial cats and dogs.

Bob wasn’t the only radio personality in my memory. There was Bill Ring, Bare-foot Bob, Lloyd Evans, and Dan Coulter. I remember Dan because he was on the air on KICK before Bob Bright. He had the privilege of being the overnight guy on the “twenty-four-hour hit after hit after hit” station.

And I knew his brother. We were in school together in junior high and my freshman year of high school. That was about the only fascinating thing about Bruce. He had a brother that everyone listened to. Heads tucked under the covers at two in the morning with the volume so low you had to put your ear to the speaker to hear. That was to keep Mom and Dad from telling you to turn it off and go to sleep.

But then there was Cliff House. He was the husband of the Drama teacher at Hillcrest where we went to high school. Did I mention that his wife was beautiful? How many of your schoolteachers were you in love with? I think Sandy was one of only two in my life.

With all these wonderful DJs of course I wanted to be one myself. Steve Grant also inspired me. And frustrated me. He was a classmate and would join the Speech and Debate team on occasion when Radio Broadcasting was one of the events at a tournament.

There were three of us for these events. Steve, Richard, my debate colleague, and myself. Richard and I never stood a chance. Steve had that voice, even in high school, that made him the perfect announcer. Was it against the rules that he worked at KTXR in the evenings and weekends? I don’t think there were any rules for student broadcasters at that time.

While in college, Bill and I decided to drive to Kansas City to take the test for our radio broadcaster’s license. I only qualified for my third class, restricted license. When I transferred to college in Bolivar, MO, I even applied at their station. I kept it active for about ten years and then let it lapse because no one would hire me.

I did make it on the radio once. I received an award from the Northside Optimists Club and was asked to do an interview on KGBX AM. I don’t remember the interviewer’s name. I think my speech and journalism teachers had the radio on in their rooms that afternoon.

Young Girl

May 15, 2025

Not all classic music is palatable in every aspect of consideration. “Young girl” is one of those. Gary Puckett and the Union Gap was a pop music group in the 1960s and 70s. I enjoy their music. There is a problem with this song, though.

It could sound like a dirty old man who is chasing a young lady. When I was in college I had this problem as well. However, I was only nineteen. She was fifteen. According to Missouri State laws I could be prosecuted for having sex with her until she turned eighteen.

Listen to the lines of the song. He thought she was old enough. I knew that Cindy was not. I did not tell her to hurry home to her mother. I did not need to change my mind. I could not get her out of my mind even if I wanted to. I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted to get to know her better. This is the normal course of dating.

Our culture has changed since my days. Young people were taught to wait until they were married to have sex. It is better to concentrate on other things as your relationship grows. My love for this girl was not out of line. My desire to just have sex with her would have been.

When we got married, she was seventeen. Her Mother signed our marriage license. She was still in High School. I was twenty-one and had graduated from college two weeks before. The previous summer I spent ten weeks away in Pennsylvania working as a student pastor for a church through the summer missionary program of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board.

Upon returning, I decided that we needed to be married as soon as I graduated. I did not know where God would lead me. I did not want to have to leave her behind again. We were already engaged before I had left for the summer. I knew after a few months of dating her that I wanted to spend my life with her. Not just one night.

We planned the wedding for May. I began working at a part-time job. We decided where we would live. We purchased a car of our own. Our families helped with expenses and preparations. We planned for a minister, church, flowers, cake, maid-of-honor, best man, and everything else. We even decided to go to Branson for our two-day honeymoon.

Right after graduation, my part-time job became a full-time position in a management program. Two weeks after the wedding I was told that next Monday I would be in Joplin and would serve as a manager at a new location. I was reminded of why we needed to get married when we did.

This year we will be married for forty-nine years. If anyone said it would not last, I think we have proved them incorrect. All our kids got married while still in college. When I told them they should wait like I did, they reminded me that Cindy finished high school as a married woman. Now you know why I always said they could start dating when they were thirty.

Gifts from God

January 18, 2025

When we think about gifts from God, I am not sure that we all think of the things listed in this song. Your job, whether you like it or not, is given by God. James 1:17 tells us that every perfect gift comes from above.

This song is not talking about gifts of the spirit. It is speaking of the daily blessings that each of us receive and do not recognize as gifts. Let’s talk about some of the things that are not mentioned in the list given in the song. Or maybe we can talk about some of those in it as well.

Most of us take life for granted. The Declaration of Independence, which we celebrate in this country every July 4th, calls it one of the self-evident truths. Thomas Jefferson put it as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those who take the lives of others do not seem to agree with this.

When I was unemployed for over three years, I came to realize that a job was another thing I should always be thankful for. Getting up in the morning and doing work for a day or two at a time is wonderful. I was thankful for each temporary position that I acquired. I still wanted the security of a place to go each day and a regular paycheck.

My family is a gift that this song points out. There are also my friends and my church that I must mention. They are in my life to keep me focused on the things that I need to appreciate. Someone I can joke with is also a gift that I often overlook. Do you have anyone that will take all your grief and give it back to you?

I can walk into a room, approach a perfect stranger, and begin a conversation like I have known them all my life. Some of my friends have witnessed this ability and asked me how long we have known each other. They comment on this from time to time. They look amazed when I say that we just met.

I know many people who do not read very much. I know some writers, but most of my friends are not into the things that I am into. My love for words, research, and turning the appropriate phrase are gifts that make me who I am. Many authors talk about how easily they can find viable ideas. This is one more way that I am blessed.

It is amazing how many gifts I have taken for granted all these years. In listening to the many iterations of “Gifts of God,” I have discovered how wonderful it is to be the recipient of everything large and small that He gives me every day. I hope you see this in your life as well.

Not so favorite Christmas songs

December 18, 2024

I often think about things that I am not fond of. At this time of the year, we hear a lot of Christmas music. Some are carols. Others are spiritual. Many are just fun like one of my mom’s favorites, “Granma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Then there are those that I question why someone even bothers to record them.

“Little Drummer Boy” tops this list. I do not find it to be Biblical. There is no young boy mentioned in the gospels as being at the manger. There are also those other songs and videos that have the animals discussing the baby being a savior. Do animals need a king? They already have lions.

We do not know how many men came from the East to find the newly born king of the Jews. A star had appeared in the night sky that indicated a new king was born in Judah. We know they were astrologers because of this. “We Three Kings” assumes that there were only three of them because they brought three gifts. Matthew tells us they traveled a long distance. He does not call them kings or tell us how many there were.

Ask anyone who has studied ancient customs in the desert areas, and they will tell you that only three people would be a dangerous caravan group. For this type of trip wives were probably included. There would also be servants to take care of these advisors to the king of their country. They would have been sent by their boss. At some point they lost the direction of the star and ended in Jerusalem.

“Go tell it on the Mountain” is another one that I have disliked by numerous artists. This is usually because of the arrangement. I have heard a few that had an entirely different melody and harmony that I enjoy. I am not a long hair music or opera fan. I’m not sure if this is the class this one falls into, but the original tune gives me that old fashioned feeling.

I am not a country music fan by the nature of the genre. This may be part of why some songs strike a bad chord in me. I grew up with the twangy, throat strangling, yodeling style of some of the earliest country artists. KTTS radio in Springfield, that’s Missouri not Ohio, played this for years. Bill Ring, Barefoot Bob and others were the D.J.s. It was my dad’s favorite station, and I walked out of the room when I heard it was playing.

There are good country singers. I posted Dolly’s version of “Mary Did You Know” in that column recently. The afore mentioned “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is country in origin. I even like Kenny Rogers. Most of the time. But he was a pop artist when he started with “The First Edition.”

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” is another song with questionable lyrics. A lamb tells a shepherd boy. The little boy that tells a king. Then the monarch proclaims it to the public, each in turn. The topic of the conversation is a baby that is born. He is described as shivering in the cold.

Then the pitch for the non-profit organizations. Bring him silver and gold. Who wrote this? A Madison Avenue advertising copy writer? Give me a break. Yes, McDonalds, you do not have a trademark on that line.

Then there are Christmas titles and phrases that I find offensive. “Deck the Halls” is one. I enjoy the song. I have known the Hall family for years. Even though I don’t always agree with David, I would not knock him out. We used to hang the Greens before Christmas at our church. I never understood why that family did not boycott the celebration.

What about “The Twelve Days of Christmas?” Originally it was a political commentary. It has now been lengthened to the six months of Christmas. TV channels and marketers begin with July and stretch it to boxing day with the British. We Americans just switch to New Years so we can keep getting drunk.

Pop music brings up a long list of not Biblical and sometimes not so great Christmas songs. “Santa, Baby” is one. Some Santa Claus songs are cute. This one is almost obscene. Justin Bieber’s “Under the Mistletoe” is one I would like to say that I do not like. However, I understand the desire to be with someone special. I’ve enjoyed that for fifty years.

We are talking about my personal preferences here. You might enjoy the songs I do not. If so, that is your choice. I don’t want anyone to say that I am trying to ban anything. I can always turn them off.

Mary, Did You Know?

December 5, 2024

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Did you know the Christian comedian Mark Lowry penned these lyrics in 1984? In his own words, “I just tried to put into words the unfathomable. I started thinking of the questions I would have for her if I were to sit down & have coffee with Mary. You know, ‘What was it like raising God?’ ‘What did you know?’ ‘What didn’t you know?’^”

These questions were asked in a script he wrote for a church Christmas program. In 1991, Buddy Greene wrote the music, and Michael English recorded the song for the first time. It was released on his debut solo album, Michael English. I have a copy of the cassette tape in my collection.

The three had toured with “The Gaither Vocal Band”. Many have recorded it since including Lowry, Kenny Rogers and Winona Judd, Dolly Parton, Pentatonix, Kathy Mattea, Clay Aiken, Ceelo Green, and Carrie Underwood. David Guthrie and Bruce Greer used it as the title and basis of a stage musical that won a Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Musical of the Year in 1999.

Let’s look at the questions Lowry asks Mary. Did you know who this baby would be? That He would walk on water? He was the ruler of the universe. He was the promised deliverer. There are numerous queries in these lyrics and for the majority the answer is no.

Mary was told by the messenger Gabriel that she would give birth to a son. She was to name him Jeshua or in Greek, Jesus. He would be called the son of the most high and would inherit David’s throne. In the gospels, we are not given more details. I doubt that Mary was either.

She was more concerned with the fact that she would have a baby. She could not get pregnant. She had never had sex. God would be the father of her child. This was never heard of before. Many women may have claimed to have given birth through immaculate conception. The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was born this way. My Bible does not say that.

What interests me most about these words that Lowry wrote is that we are looking at a young girl who has given birth to her first child. Does she know more than any other woman what will happen in the future. Her son did it from an early age. She did not.

This child, as a man, would not only deliver her from eternal punishment for sin, but also her younger children. He would if they and our own children accept Him as the savior that He claims to be.

God lives outside of time. He created time with our universe. Genesis tells us that. Moses did not understand it when he wrote it down. I don’t understand it. I do believe it. Jesus is Jehovah God. He created the universe and our world. He came to live with us and die for us. Do you believe that? Tell Him that you do. Accept Him for who He is.

As you hear the many Christmas carols this year think about the questions in this song. Do you know who that baby is? These inquiries are more important than anything you will be told about Santa Claus, Ebenezer Scrooge, or Rudolph. This is life-changing.

For those of you in my area, Mark Lowry will be in concert at The Mansion in Branson, Missouri on March 12, 2025. Whether this song will be sung at that venue is not known by me at this time. I’ve heard it at other concerts of his that I have attended previously.

(Quotation from “How Well Do You Know ‘Mary Did You Know?'”. Sheet Music Direct. Retrieved December 30, 2018. an interview with the songwriter, Mark Lowry … originally conducted by Martha Lyon for AbsolutelyGospel.com)

Remind me

November 14, 2023

Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood recorded this song in 2011. They have reprised this song on many occasions. It has received numerous awards. Why? This isn’t just Paisley’s song that he co-wrote with someone else. It is possibly your song. I know it is mine and my wife’s.

It has wide radio and internet play. The critics have a difficult time with it because they don’t think Underwood and Paisley have voices that work together. I am not talking about artistic production. I want to speak to you about the story the song tells and the number of couples it touches.

want you to understand why I have posted so many videos of these two for this column. They are not a couple. The passion that they have when onstage or behind microphones in the studio demonstrates their talents as entertainers. We believe they are a married couple that has lost the lust that we all had in our marriages when we started.

I am going to remind you. When you first started dating your spouse you were nervous and uncertain of whether this was the real thing or not. A few weeks or minutes later that feeling that some call love hit you. Like the couple Brad wrote about, you may have been told to get a room.

It may have been at school where your relationship began. If so, you probably know the phrase public display of affection. PDA is something that we still remind young people to avoid at church and school. Most of us want that feeling of uncontrollable passion again.

Your making out may have interfered with travel plans as it does in this story. In the early days of your marriage, getting to work on time might have been a problem. I remember those days. I also remember the afternoon I picked Cindy up at the bus station in Joplin, MO.

After two weeks of marriage, I had to go help open a new store. I drove our car and spent the week in a motel alone. On Friday she joined me. I needed to get back to work after taking her luggage to our room. There was also something else that we needed to do. It was one of the reasons we married.

In my mind, I changed the lyrics to “so on fire and so in lust, way back then we couldn’t get enough.” Was there a look in her or his eyes that you had not seen for a while? Remind them. Do not assume that they know that you still love them. Remind them.

What made you love this person that you married because of that love? Did you stop them just for a kiss? Was it flowers or love notes? Maybe it was the occasional surprise date that you have no time for now with work and kids. Don’t just fall into bed tonight. Intentionally take them in your arms and remind them of how much you love them.

In every marriage, there is one person who wants sex more often than the other. It is not always the male. I know some couples where the wife wants more passion in the marriage. I often speak of love languages. If you do not know his or her language, how can they know that you love them? After all, love is a choice, and you may have changed your mind.

I teach that sex and love are not the same concept. These lyrics celebrate the passion of the marriage bed. We are also reminded that after one, five, ten, or fifty years the lust that made us want to love each other is gone. Remind me.

Cat’s Cradle memories.

November 1, 2023

Wayne Glenn played The Cat’s in the Cradle this morning and reminded me that this song came out in 1974. Yes, I was listening to the radio that year. One recollection is being in my darkroom with music playing and stopping to pay attention to the words of this song.

Cat’s Cradle was one of the childhood games that could be played with just a piece of string. Everyone knew someone who had been “born with a silver spoon in their mouth.” These might not be really rich people, their parents just had to have a newer car or bigger house than you. In those days, we Baby Boomers were very familiar with nursery rhymes like “Little Boy Blue” and we often stood staring at the moon till we could make out the face of the “Man in the Moon.”

The story of this folk song is one of what is called a dysfunctional family today. In ’74 these ideas would not have come into my mind. The concept of not seeing your Father every night and not having both Mom and dad participating in the child-raising was a foreign idea to me. Kids who were stuck in these circumstances were few and far between in my circle.

The one I bring to mind now is Rob. His Dad was a trucker like mine. His father drove long haul which my father would not accept. On the night Dad passed away, my Mother and I sat and talked in their home about him. This was the first time I learned that he refused to accept offers to drive for companies that would require him to be on the road for days or weeks at a time.

One of my Dad’s favorite songs.

Mom thought he should accept one of these positions because it would mean much more money for our family. My Father wanted to be able to care for his children and wife personally every day. Shortly after this, I was allowed to travel in a sales territory that required two nights away from home once a month. I did not realize the effect this would have on my children.

On my first trip, my wife told me this story when I called in the second night. Our oldest daughter’s teacher asked if there was a problem at home. Heather had sat on the playground that day at recess and did not play with her friends. When asked if she did not feel good or if there was another problem, her response was negative. Cindy advised the teacher that I was gone for two days and it was the first time I had been away from home like this. The thought of how much my girls missed me made me cry.

I felt this was just part of the kids growing up. To provide for them, I would do what I had to. Over the years, jobs that I tried to get that would have taken me away from home even more were never obtained. My Lord Jesus took care of my daughters, even when I did not follow the example of my dad.

These are the thoughts going through my mind today. I never had to worry when Dad was coming home. No, our house was not as big as others. Our car was not brand new until we kids started leaving home and there was more money available. Mom and Dad both worked, but we knew we were important to them. Our only disputes were over who was treated better than the other three. This happens with four kids naturally.

We get together with our children and grandchildren as often as we can. We never have to worry about them retaliating because of something we failed to do for them. If you can join us, good for you. If not, an apology may be in order. Forgiveness is still possible.

Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Walk With a Servant

Category: Music