John Pearson's Going Home Playlist

          

PIC No. 120: Pails in Comparison (Sept. 26, 2026)

Welcome to Issue No. 120 of PAILS IN COMPARISON—a special edition of this blog. No book reviews. Just 28 songs! If you're looking for book reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and the "PICS" on this blogsite—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system. 

John Pearson’s “Going Home” Playlist

This month, yet one more dear friend has entered Heaven’s presence. In the last 11 months, my wife, Joanne, and I have lost five family members: three brothers and two sisters-in-law. So “going home” has been on our minds—almost every day.

On her birthday this month, Joanne shared some wise thoughts with me. They were so insightful, I wrote them down and I titled them, “The Life Puzzle, by Joanne Pearson.” Click here to view the eight-minute video on YouTube. A friend viewed this and then emailed me: “…a powerful eight minutes.” I agree.

So last night, Joanne asked me about what music I might suggest for my “celebration of life” event. (Now, this assumes that Joanne will be around—after I go home. But that’s the subject for another blog, perhaps.)

For once, I was way ahead of her. I have been collecting favorite songs about the Lord, heaven, going home, assurance of salvation, and comfort. This morning, I found my “HOME” playlist on my iPad—and now—presto—here’s a blog with 28 songs. I love these songs—and hope that when you need comfort, you’ll return to these special friends.

CLICK ON THE LINKS TO LISTEN ON YOUTUBE:

#1. “When I Go Home,” by Acapeldridge

#2. “When We All Get to Heaven,” by Alan Jackson

#3. “Mansion Over the Hilltop,” featuring LaBreeska Hemphill on the Gaither album, “Down by the Tabernacle” (also featuring Nashville Rescue Mission)

#4. “Psalm 34 (Live),” by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

#5. “Goodness of God,” by CeCe Winans
      Oh, my. This speaks to me.

#6. “Sometimes Alleluia,” by Chuck Girard

#7. “Going Home,” by A Few Good Men Music Ministries
     There’s something earthy and pure about this special quintet. They sing with conviction.

#8. “Then Came the Morning,” by A Few Good Men Music Ministries

#9. “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone,” by The Four Renegades
     (Spoiler alert: this one is just for fun!) But I couldn't resist. I was in a barbershop quartet in high school. Matching ties. The whole nine yards.

#10. “Sweet, Sweet Spirit,” by Gaither Vocal Band

#11. “We Are Not Home Yet,” by The Inspirations

#12. “Does Jesus Care?” by The Isaacs
       Yes!

#13. “Goodbye, World, Goodbye,” by Jimmy Swaggart
       Joanne found this song for us and her favorite version is by the Pasadena Tabernacle Songsters of The Salvation Army. Enjoy this toe-tapper!

#14. “Far Side Banks of Jordan,” by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash
       Our dear friends, Dick and Meri Nelson, introduced us to this poignant song. Love it!

#15. “He Will Hold Me Fast (Live),” by Keith & Kristyn Getty and Selah

#16. “God’s Choir,” by The London Festival of Male Choirs
       On my bucket list was to visit the North Wales Choir Festival some year. (Might still happen?) If not…please play this at “my” event—and please clap along. 

“I heard a thousand trumpets sounding out His Glory,
Telling the story how He came to earth to die;
I heard a million voices praise the name of Jesus,
Singing in God's choir in the sky.”

#17. “In Christ Alone,” by Maranatha! Instrumental

#18. “Come Ye Disconsolate,” by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
       Oh, my. If you need a good cry, play this. But you’ll also be encouraged:

“Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, in mercy saying,
‘Earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot cure.’”

#19. “Little Is Much When God Is in It (Live),” by Gaither Vocal Band
       Pastor Mac, my next-door neighbor of more than 30 years, told me an amazing story about this song. (Amazing!) Read the story here. View the video here, "The Prayer in Pasadena."

#20. “Depth of Mercy! Can There Be?” by The London Fox Singers

#21. “Bless This House,” by Vocal Majority

#22. “Be Still, My Soul,” by Vocal Majority

#23. “Fly to Heaven Medley: I’ll Fly Away / I Surrender All / Down to the River to Pray / When We All Get to Heaven,” by Vocal Majority

#24. “No More Night,” by Vocal Majority

#25. “The Lord Bless You and Keep You,” by Vocal Majority
       Can you tell? I love Vocal Majority!

#26. “Drop, Drop, Slow Tears,” by Orlando Gibbons, VOCES8 & Barnaby Smith

#27. “I Thought About You, Lord,” by Willie Nelson

#28. “Your First Day in Heaven,” by The Statesmen
        This toe-tapper might take a few theological shortcuts, but just imagine—your first day in heaven!

ENJOY! I pray that you’ll enjoy these songs—and that your eternity plans are in place.

"No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.”
(1 Corinthians 2:9, The Message).

WHAT’S ON YOUR PLAYLIST?

Well...if you insist. Here's one book review: The One Year® Book of Hymns: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns, compiled and edited by Robert K. Brown and Mark R. Norton; devotions written by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen. (Read my review. View the 8-minute video summary.)

 





MORE RESOURCES:

   • John Pearson’s Buckets Blog
   • Subscribe: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews
   • John Pearson’s book reviews on Amazon
   • Management Buckets website
   • Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations Blog
   • John Pearson's Buckets Podcast (YouTube)

NOTE: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Pails in Comparison Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 100+ blogs posted (between 2022 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month. 

© 2026 John W. Pearson. All rights reserved. New blogs for Pails in Comparison are posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. 

How to Work a Room

         

PIC No. 15: Pails in Comparison (August 1, 2022)

• Title: How to Work a Room (25th Anniv. Ed.): The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections—in Person and Online
• Authors: Susan RoAne
• Publisher: William Morrow (Dec. 31, 2013, 400 pages)
• Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing Bucket (aka The Communication Bucket)

Welcome to Issue No. 15 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system. 

Hello! My name is…

Wow! How did I miss this stunningly practical book? While I was dithering and missing important connections (in person and online), more than a million others bought this book and have learned How to Work a Room!

As Guy Kawasaki recommends:
   • “Buy this book if you want to be a savvy socializer.
   • Buy a second one for a shy friend.
   • Buy a third one as an e-book, so you’re never without it.”

In my early years as CEO of a national association, I began collecting name badges from every event I attended. I soon realized five years into my 25+ years of meetings (with three associations) that this hobby would overwhelm my office! (I stopped!) So—get this! Author Susan Roane has a fascinating section in her book on “Name Tags That Pull.” (Have you ever thought strategically about your name tag?) Example:

A colleague told the author “…that when he put the designation ‘Financial Planner’ on his name tag at a business mixer, no one looked twice. But when he wrote ‘Money’ beneath his name, he was approached by many interesting people who wanted to know what he did.” (Others have also used humor—like the guy who wrote “Name Tag” on his name tag!) Oh…and did you know that you should “Always, always place the name tag on your right-hand side.” (Read why on page 149.)

The updated 2013 edition of How to Work a Room is subtitled “The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections—in Person and Online” and includes new chapters on “How to Work the Virtual Room” and “The Social Media Mélange” with cyber savvy insights on hashtags, live chats, texting, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more.

The practical tricks and tactics ooze out—and with 400 pages—start with the 11-page table of contents (why doesn’t every author provide this level of detail at the front end?). Oh, my. What to read first?
   • Five roadblocks and five remedies when working a room
   • Prepare Your Small Talk
   • Name Tags That Pull
   • Great Opening Lines
   • Five Fundamental Laws of Casual Conversation
   • Fatal Flaws of Casual Conversation
   • The Ten Commandments of Connecting   
   • Working the World: Trains and Boats and Planes
   • Plus: check out the author’s recommended reading and listening list

Bonus Chuckles! The author has fun with the book and includes some very funny cartoons and comic strips, including the precocious five-year-old girl in her party dress at an adult mixer. Her comment to a gentlemen she’s speaking to, “I’d love to chat longer, but I’m working the room.” LOL!

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of the Printing Bucket and other must-read books in the 20 Management Buckets organizing system.

[   ] The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right, by Gorick Ng

[   ] Public Speaking Laws of Success: For Everyone and Every Occasion, by Richard J. Goossen. See the section, “Introducing Yourself.” Goossen writes, “When asked to ‘Please introduce yourself and share something interesting about yourself,’—most people are not ready, and they’re boring. Be prepared and ‘treat it like a mini-speech.’” (Read my review.)

[   ] Social Style: The Ah Ha's of Effective Relationships, by Gerald L. Prince and John R. Myers (Read my review.) – Note: The People Bucket also features other books on the four social styles. Each style tends to “work a room differently” based on their comfort zone. What’s your style: Analytical, Driving, Amiable, or Expressive?

TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for How to Work a Room, 25th Anniversary Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections—in Person and Online, by Susan RoAne. Listen on Libro.fm (8 hours, 3 minutes). And thanks to Jim Canning for sending me this wonderful book!

 MORE RESOURCES:

   • John Pearson’s Buckets Blog
   • Subscribe: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews
   • John Pearson’s book reviews on Amazon
   • Management Buckets website
   • Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations Blog
   • John Pearson's Buckets Podcast (YouTube)

NOTE: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Pails in Comparison Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 100+ blogs posted (between 2022 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month. 

© 2026 John W. Pearson. All rights reserved. New blogs for Pails in Comparison are posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. 

The Sound of Regret

         

PIC No. 119: Pails in Comparison (Sept. 2, 2026)

• Title: The Sound of Regret: A Novel
• Authors: Trey Gowdy and Christopher Greyson  
• Publisher: Fox News Books (Aug. 26, 2026, 256 pages)
• Management Bucket #7 of 20: The People Bucket 

Welcome to Issue No. 119 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system. 

Crime Novel With Leadership Lessons!

About a year ago, I reviewed Trey Gowdy’s first novel—and I was hooked! Click here to read my review of The Color of Death, by Gowdy and Christopher Greyson. 

No surprise, I even found at least 10 leadership and management lessons you could share around the water cooler or at staff meetings. And no spoiler alert: The Color of Death follows the setbacks and successes of an Assistant DA sleuthing for motive, means, and opportunity (MMO)—in a small town in South Carolina. 

GOOD NEWS! Assistant DA Colm Truesdale survived and is back in The Sound of Regret. And no way—life is not simpler or easier in his next assignment. All the themes of MMO are alive and well—only more so. You’ll love Truesdale’s unfiltered thoughts (sometimes shared out loud and inappropriately with others):

“For goodness’ sake,” Truesdale mutters to himself, “why can’t cops talk like normal people? I get it—you used your ‘education and training’ just like they coach you to say at the academy. Do people ever just get out of cars or is it always exiting said motor vehicle?”

Spoiler alert! Imagine this: a very large Bible is collected as evidence at a crime scene. Is redemption close—or does the Bible distract us with a red herring? Or does motive, means, and opportunity (and a homicide) provide teachable spiritual lessons? Count on plenty of twists and turns in this fast-moving page-turner. 

And yes…I found at least another 10 leadership and management lessons (and dozens of laugh-out-loud lines). Talking about law school:

“Constitutional Law was a difficult course no matter who taught it. A whole new vocabulary but no matter what words were chosen, the answer was always wrong. They called it the Socratic method. No wonder they put that guy to death.”

MORE GOOD NEWS. I enjoy viewing Trey Gowdy’s Sunday evening interviews and commentary. He’s humble, humorous, self-deprecating, and I like the way he thinks. So how did he get to be such a great observer of the human experience—and the ability to express it in writing?
   • “His lifeless eyes stared up at heaven. Heaven didn’t appear to be staring back.”
   • “There was something about going to high school with someone that made you feel connected for life.”
   • “Judge John Cannon banged his gavel three times, which to lawyers translated to ‘Out. Of. Patience.’”
   • “Dressed in a crisp, white shirt, blue tie, and open, gray suit jacket his lawyer no doubt bought for him at Goodwill before the trial…”
   • “Why defense attorneys coach their clients to look at the jury is a mystery to me.”
   • “Judge Cannon yelled while slamming his gavel so hard the handle finally separated from the head.”

And all of the above? That’s just Chapter One! 

Warning! Start reading this—and you won’t put it down:  
   • 60 very short chapters (about four pages per chapter)
   • An Assistant DA with EQ? Once again saying too much, out loud, Truesdale admonishes himself, “Dadgum, why do I have to add little digs at the end of everything?”
   • Truesdale’s faith vs. his wife’s faith: “I’m not a religious person. Not formally, that is. Ally handled that for both of us. Not sure that counted, but that was my thinking. I hadn’t bothered God in a long time. I doubted today was the right day to start. But I was out of ideas and out of time.”

If you’re ready for one more “fun” book to read—before jumping back into that pile of other must-read books you’ve neglected—read this one. You’ll love it. 

PAILS IN COMPARISON QUESTIONS:
Reading this book reminded me of the People Bucket, and other must-read books in the 20 Management Buckets organizing system. 

[   ] The Color of Death: A Novel, by Trey Gowdy and Christopher Greyson (Read my review.)

[   ] Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect, and Persuade, by Trey Gowdy (Read my review.) Note: I named this my 2020 book-of-the-year.

[   ] The Seventh Key: Unlocking the Life God Created You to Live (A Novelette), by R. Scott Rodin (Read my review.)

[   ] The Temptation to Do Good, by Peter Drucker (one of two novels he wrote). Read my review.

TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for The Sound of Regret: A Novel, by Trey Gowdy and Christopher Greyson. Listen on Libro (7 hours, 29 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

 MORE RESOURCES:

   • John Pearson’s Buckets Blog
   • Subscribe: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews
   • John Pearson’s book reviews on Amazon
   • Management Buckets website
   • Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations Blog
   • John Pearson's Buckets Podcast (YouTube)

NOTE: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Pails in Comparison Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 100+ blogs posted (between 2022 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month. 

© 2026 John W. Pearson. All rights reserved. New blogs for Pails in Comparison are posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.