So I added an iheartradio ap to my Kindle, and so far it has been great. It was free, it didn’t take up any of the memory I use for books and videos, and it allowed me to design my own radio stations. I have a Frank Sinatra/Antonio Carlos Jobim station, a Beatles station, a Louis Armstrong/Dukes of Dixieland station, a Howlin’ Wolf/Robert Johnson station,  and a Carter Family/Jimmy Rodgers station (I also have a Black Keys station, but more about that later). I choose a station, and the Kindle plays songs in that genre, and of that era – mostly. The problem is – and it requires constant vigilance – no matter what station I’m listening to iheartradio keeps trying to slip in Kenny G.  The thing is, if you don’t “dislike” Kenny G immediately he keeps playing that same song he plays every third entry. Then they slip in Olivia Newton John (in what universe would Olivia Newton John follow Big Momma Thornton?), Barry Manilow, and (brace yourselves)…..Barbara Streisand. If I don’t pay close attention, my Carter Family station will play a steady stream of “Barbara on Broadway,” and “I Write the Songs.” Why does this happen?

            I had a theory.  I thought: “The kid who wrote the programming for this ap is probably still living on Red Bull and EasyMac in his mother’s basement. He probably thinks: ‘Old guys like Frank Sinatra, and old guys like Kenny G, so what’s the difference?’” To test this theory I established a Black Keys radio station. I’m and old guy and I like the Black Keys, but the kid swilling Red Bull in his mother’s basement wouldn’t know that. Kenny G never, NEVER shows up on my Black Keys station. Theory proved, I believe.

            The good thing is that if I “like” the songs that actually belong on the stations, it refines the category and keeps the Kenny G away for longer and longer periods. But I can’t neglect the station – I have to keep endorsing the appropriate songs to keep the wrong ones away.

              Which reminds me that the Devil is a lot like Kenny G. In the first place, he keeps popping up. He is a canny and relentless predator, like a Lion (I Peter 5.8).  And so we must be constantly vigilant and alert. If we are not quick to “dislike” him he will come to stay. We have to be quick to reject evil every time it raises its head (I Thessalonians 5.22).  We also have to assert goodness.  If we resist the Devil he will flee from us (James 4.7). Failure to actively resist evil, and to assert goodness will mean failure. Inactivity and entropy are to him an unlocked door and a welcome mat.

            Psalm 1 begins with a description of a guy who refuses to yield to evil. He will not “walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers” (v.1). Walk, stand, and sit. It is a pretty vivid image of how one might plant one’s self firmly in the wrong.  It is a matter of slowing down and stopping.  The righteous person is planted too – but like a tree by the river. This tree grows and bears fruit.  Again – goodness must be active.

            Perhaps the great lesson is that neglect is a yielding, a surrender. For the Devil to have a control we never intended all we have to do is nothing. That’s how nearly every station on iheartradio becomes a Kenny G station, and that’s how most of us yield control to the Devil.