My friend Sarah gave me the Shersong handle when I was in Nashville. She wanted me to be on Instagram.
“Why? What is it?” I asked. “It’s what we do!” she squealed as she bounced off down the hall singing, “Shersong, Shersong, Shersong!”
It was 2011 and Instagram was relatively new.
I had traveled from the southwest corner of Colorado to Tennessee to attend Thunder School. Thunder School is a three-month worship and evangelism intensive focused on music and creative gifts
I was the oldest student in the community. Sarah, who was less than half my age, was actually a staff intern and an amazing singer/songwriter. That day, our community was visiting the sound studio of one of Nashville’s award-winning musicians.
Gold records hung on the walls in the hallway.
The Shersong name stuck and became my Instagram ID and an e-mail account.
At the time, I had no idea what Instagram was, but I signed in to the app with my new nickname and started checking it out.
Photography has always been one of my greatest loves. Opening Instagram was like unwrapping a package and finding a new toy inside.
I had a new iPhone and that meant I had a camera with me all the time. Two new toys to play with and they worked together! I started documenting our lives so I could share my images on Instagram. My @shersong gallery was off and running!
185 posts and almost seven years later I decided to check on the availability of Shersong as a domain name for this blog. I did a Google search and some Punjabi music, “Sher Song,” came up but the only result for “Shersong” was being used by me.
The Punjabi music caused my curiosity to kick in so I searched for the meaning of “sher.” And there it was. “Sher” is a Persian word meaning “Lion.”
“Shersong” is “Lionsong.”
That’s actually pretty awesome! I’m sure Sarah didn’t know that’s what it meant when she morphed the first part of my name with song. I like to see it as a prophetic declaration God was making over me.
In Christianity, the lion is the symbol of the tribe of Judah and Jesus is known to be the lion of the tribe of Judah. The meaning of the name Judah is “praise.” “Shersong” is “Lionsong” which is “Praisesong.” Yep, that’s pretty awesome. It’s only taken me about seven years to figure that out!
What does all that have to do with calling this blog Shersong?
I am Shersong. My voice is Shersong. I believe the Creator, God, created us in His image, and our creativity comes from the Creator Himself.
Everything I create is an act of praise, whether it’s a song, a story, a painting or a photograph. I am a reflection of the Creator. My creativity is worship. My creativity is praise to my Creator…I am Shersong.
For your tender mercies mean more to me than life itself. How I love and praise you, God! Daily I will worship you passionately and with all my heart. My arms will wave to you like banners of praise. I overflow with praise when I come before you, for the anointing of your presence satisfies me like nothing else. You are such a rich banquet of pleasure to my soul. I lie awake each night thinking of you and reflecting on how you help me like a father. I sing through the night under your splendor-shadow, offering up to you my songs of delight and joy! Psalms 63:3-7 (The Passion Translation)
