“NINEVA OR BUST”

Like many of us, I have spent most of my life doing what I needed to, what I wanted to, and what those I love needed me to do. I have been blessed to have experienced all that God has put before me, to have loved and been loved by some of the most wonderful individuals on our earth, to have achieved a measure of business success and to have been of meaningful service to others in doing so; to have been a member of the family of God and to have both sewn and gratefully harvested the many gifts of that relationship, and to be one to whom He chose to gift music that has, for me, chronicled the chapters of my life, loves and spiritual journey.

Not so long ago, with the echoes of the encouraging (and often imperative) voices of my friends and family ringing in my ears, I realized that, despite the blessings and successes that had been my reality to date, my feet had found the well-worn path away from what my Savior had been calling me to do. I had mistaken, perhaps in favor of my personal comfort, my music to be a gift I was to keep for myself, and being ‘called’ to record and share it felt much like I imagine Jonah felt when he was called to what he was fearful about and uncomfortable with.

 How, I asked God and my family, could this middle-aged business man step from my busy life of necessity and routine to commit to the years it would take to record and publish the songs I was impressed to share? What could my simple songs have to offer as “ministry” to others? I found every reason to doubt and allowed inhibition and fear to keep me from what I was meant to do.

But the God you and I love does not suffer from doubt or indecision, and once I earnestly prayed for direction and asked Him to make His will happen in my life, He wasted no time in throwing (big, heavy, stubborn) doors open, directing that I was to record and share the music I’d been given and reassuring me that I was to leave both the reasons for and the results of the endeavor to Him.

It has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my lifetime to know that I have been doing exactly what I was meant to be doing these last several years as “Rain On Steaming Pavement”, “Baby King” and “Road To Nineva” were recorded. Whenever the process got to me, the travel time to the studio (and away from my family) seemed too long, the expenses soared out of control, or I felt stress because something else (in the career and life that I leave for at least a couple days a week to travel to the studio) wasn’t being attended to, I’d remember that I was doing my loving God’s will, and that He’d see to everything else.

And He has. In the end (nearly 30 years after the eldest of the songs I’ve recorded was written) I went to my Nineva. The resulting recordings, products of genuine (and not-so-small) miracles, have now found their way around the world and are being shared in more than 55 nations via compact disc, radio and television. And, perhaps most wonderfully, I believe that the same loving Redeemer who directed me so purposefully to write and share these songs will be present as you and your loved ones listen to them. I hope you will find blessing in this music and fulfillment in doing what God has planned for you and the gifts He’s given you to share.

If you haven’t already, friend, I encourage you to let nothing keep you from

finding your Nineva ... and the road to it.

-- Steve Reeves

stevereevesmusic@aol.com