The Wonder of Stevie and It All

The Wonder of Stevie & It All

9/7/2018

Mount Everest: Earth's highest mountain above sea level.

by Vikki J. Myers, Co-Founder, Worship Leader

There are levels of marathon training. I started practicing on treadmills, at home or in hotels when working.

Many had simulated visual terrains or inclines to simulate what's to be encountered outdoors. Besides building endurance, the concept bulit confidence. If I could run 5-10 miles indoors consistently, I should be in good shape to keep the same pace once the weather improved and I could run outside.

Then came preparation for my first 26.2 chase, the Fox Valley Marathon, and, as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell sang, "Ain't nothing like the real thing."

MUSICAL INTERLUDE:
Marvin & Tammi

The safety of the flat basement treadmill.

State Street, Geneva, IL: It's all uphill from here.

Vikki is starting the last 30 days of training for her second successive Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 7. She is chronicling those last days by reflecting on the music playlist she has compiled to encourage her while she runs which we call Chicago Marathon ( VikkiThon) on our YouTube Channel .

My coach, Jules Burke, and I trained along the course that runs along the Fox River. The course includes streets in downtown Geneva, notably a two-block uphill stretch that was missing from my treadmill. Climbing that higher ground for several weeks gave me new appreciation for cross-training. The muscles behind me were an undiscovered country.

Striving to reach the new heights elevated me to places I hadn't expected to go, and when marathon day came, the hill was troublesome but not daunting. As Marvin and Tammi also sang, "Ain't no mountain high enough." (A Romans 8 and an Ephesians 3 moment.)

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Marvin & Tammi Bonus Track

Unlike Fox Valley, the Chicago Marathon course is relatively flat. However, the urban setting through the city streets is a different challenge. The pounding across concrete puts stress on different muscles so that the one notable incline along Roosevelt Road just two miles from the finish, although not as steep as downtown Geneva, feels like climbing Mount Everest.

Wabash Street, Chicago, being repaved before 2017 Chicago Marathon. Ready by racetime, but a sample of the streets.

Encouragement signs for Vikki as she approaches to turn off Michigan Avenue and approach The Hill on Roosevelt Road.

Higher Ground: Hitting the Hill

It's not correct to say that these hills are the reason I put Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” on my playlist. As I explained to my “cause-and-effect” husband, not every song on the list has a deeper meaning. I just like the song and the beat helps me run.

Michael-Being-Michael hears other things. (Another story.) Since this week’s conversation theme of the songs on my #VikkithonPlaylist seems to be “church music” and “pop music,” as we drove to a doctor’s appointment today (scheduled checkup), Mr. Linear wanted to know if I’d ever heard the song as he has. I haven’t. I might later, but haven’t yet.

We agreed, though, that often hearing a song in a different time and space, through a different singer or arrangement, or through a different time of life may create a totally fresh interpretation.

Disco Diversion

(We made the latter discovery listening to the radio one Saturday night after we’d been married 10 years or so. Classic disco, R & B, and Steppers stations were our date night white noise. A song came on we’d always jammed to. Suddenly, we were struck by a lyrical double-entendre we’d never caught in our 20s. I’m sure it was because Camille was newly born. Becoming parents does change your auditory filter.)

The same renewed interpretation occurs with reading Scriptures in different translations or with a different person reading. Example, when Michael and I grew up, only the King James Bible was available. We need not stress how hardeth understandingeth it waseth. We attribute much of our spiritual growth to discovering first the New International Version, then other translations. These not only were easier to read in our modern language, by making clear the nuances of literature (simile, metaphor, analogies, etc.) they gave a us a deeper appreciation of the original text. So it is with these lyrics:

I'm so darn glad he let me try it again
Because my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then
Going to keep on trying
'Til I reach my highest ground

Higher Ground: What the Blind See

While we loved Stevie’s original, Michael unexpectedly encountered a version by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama several years ago while hearing their album as he walked through -- wait for it! -- a Tower Records store! When I showed him my playlist, he thought of that version. So, while I’ll be running to Stevie, we thought it would be fun to include both video versions -- Stevie's from 1974, shortly after the song was released; and the Five Blind Boys featuring Clarence Fountain with guest Chrissie Hynde, founder of The Pretenders, in 2011. As you listen, we just want to know: “Do you hear what I hear?”

Oh, By the Way...

Mr. Fountain passed away two years ago. I had the honor of meeting and working with him and the Five Blind Boys many years ago during a production of Pulitzer-nominated "The Gospel at Colonus" at Chicago’s Goodman Theater.

The video here is a bonus, in honor of Mr. Fountain, as a sample of how the gospel can be dramatized before a audience outside of church. (From the PBS production, not the Goodman)