"A paradox is a very attractive thing to me," says contemporary Christian musician, Rich Mullins. "Christianity offers something neither rationalists nor existentialists have gotten a hold of: Life is paradoxical."

Rich Mullins seems to have taken that paradox to heart. An immensely popular singer/songwriter, he recently moved to the relative anonymity of a Navajo Reservation. Another paradox of Rich’s life is his music. Primarily written for adults, his acoustic-driven music and thoughtful lyrics have found unexpected popularity among thousands of teenagers. In fact, Rich Mullins is one artist that both you and your teenager can enjoy together!

"I think my music is honest," says Rich. "That’s an important part of my own criteria for what I write. I don’t want to say something that I don’t really believe. I don’t want to say something because my audience expects it."

That honesty seems to be a drawing card for today’s young people. Talking about the paradox of teenagers clamoring for his adult-oriented music, Rich says simply, "I think kids today are looking for the real thing."

Being real is something Rich is good at. In fact, here’s how he described the real events of a recent morning: "I got up at 7:30 and let my dog out. Bear. Golden Retriever. If I were going to get married, he would be my best man. I put on the coffee. I didn’t shower all day. (Laughs) I use showers as punctuation in the course of life. If I get something done then I take a shower and it’s like a closure kind of thing. My work is done, now I can clean up."

Just as Rich is unafraid to share his showering habits with the world, he’s also unafraid to share the spiritual struggles of his Christian music profession. "Being in a music career is a little weird for me. It seems like Christian music is this big rah-rah session where everybody goes around thinking, ‘Wow, if we say enough religious things, then we’re going to be spiritual.’"

Rich continues, "One of the ideas that struck me profoundly is that Christianity is a reality. Becoming Christ-like is more about learning to see that reality than it is about conjuring it up." And so, much of Rich’s music—like the timeless classic "Awesome God" and his number one hit "Creed" (which is a musical recitation of the Apostles’ Creed)—focuses on seeing that reality of Christianity.

During a trip to Asia several years ago, Rich was able to view Christian reality from the perspective of a completely different culture. The result was life-changing for him. "I got to go to Asia for the summer," he relates. "It was a great opportunity for me to see Christianity from a non-20th-century, American slant. What that did for me was confirmed the truth of the essence of Christianity, and it challenged my opinions about peripheral issues."

When Rich returned to the U.S., he was irresistibly drawn to the idea of living out his faith in a different culture. But family and financial constraints prevented him from returning to Asia.

After a time, Rich realized the great cultural benefits of melting-pot America. "Here in this country," he says, "We have some 200 cultures that are not white-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant-20th-century-evangelical-Christian." So, he went back to school, earned a degree in Music Education, then moved to the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico to live, teach, and make music within the Navajo culture.

Rich explains, "I came here [to the Navajo Reservation] hoping to once again include in my vision the slant that these people have."

When Rich describes his musical vision, he laughs. "It seems like there are certain themes that I come back to frequently. One is that life is hard but God is good." Then, in his typically paradoxical way, Rich continues, "Another is that God is beyond us, but he is within us. God is both transcendent and he’s imminent. He’s hidden from us, but by his own nature, he’s self-revealing. He’s unapproachable, yet he’s drawing us. It’s those paradoxes!"

And if Rich had his way, more people (including your teenager!) would welcome life’s paradoxes like a child welcomes a new toy. "I wish we all had a lot more curiosity about life. I would love for people to be able to receive life as a gift and to play with it! (Laughing) To realize, yes, I’m going to make mistakes, and yes, I’m going to get my knee scraped, I may even get a concussion. But I’m not going to be afraid of life. I’m not going to be indifferent to it."

Even if it is a paradox.

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