Without Love
A Collection of Songs and Thoughts
by
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I remember sitting in my office at church, playing guitar with my friend David Brummett. Dave is a bass player, and at the time he worked for Dean Markley in Vicksburg, MI, making guitar strings. Dave played in a group called Blue Heaven Gospel Blues Band.
He was helping me with a new song I had written called Snake Bite. Dave started laughing when I sang the line ‘a devil with a blue dress on is tempting me.’ The song is about the struggle with temptation and sin. Those words just came out as I played the song for the first time. Dave and his band recorded my song on one of their CD’s. It was fun to hear someone else singing my song.
Devil With a Blue Dress was a hit record for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. The Detroit Wheels were an influence on the great Detroit rockers like Bob Seger and Ted Nugent. I saw Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in concert, he is a great singer.
It’s true, everyone deals with some type of temptation. Jesus was tempted, yet he did not sin. Being tempted is not the same as sinning. God will provide a way out, run to Him. The great German Reformer Martin Luther once wrote, ‘you cannot stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.’ TRUE!
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
Keep your eyes on Jesus…and your wife, don’t be looking at the devil in a blue dress!
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About the Book
Have you ever experienced something that left you scratching your head while asking these questions: “Who thought this was a good idea?” or “Where is God in this mess?” Eric Perry has wrestled with these questions. Without Love is a unique collection of writings and songs from his life experiences. The book examines bad times, unexpected loss, suffering, faith, and hope from the “power of Christ’s love shared.” In the midst of the most tragic life experiences, Perry has found that Christ is present. Without Love shares the inspiration behind Perry’s style of songwriting, and he invites the reader to join the Welkin Ringers “Woo Hoo” Jubilee Band.
About the Author
Eric Perry grew up chasing his bluetick coonhounds through the swamps and woods of southern Michigan. He graduated from Lakeview High School and Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek. He earned a BA in philosophy and religion from Spring Arbor University and an MA in comparative religion from Western Michigan University. An ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church of North America, he has been a pastor for over twenty years and has taught as an adjunct college instructor. Having experienced the painful loss of his first wife, Dana, to breast cancer in 2004, he raised his four young children as a single father. He married his wife Kari in 2011 and joined their families, which consists of nine children. Perry is a musician and songwriter. His musical genre blends gospel, blues, rock, and country into a style he calls northern blue zydeco. He enjoys reading Michigan folklore, fishing, hunting, and actively supporting the modern-day abolitionist movement. He lives on a farm in Hastings, Michigan.