Everything in your world
Becomes part of my world
Your memories and emotions
Your wishes, dreams and desires
There once was a separation
I wanted to fill and connect
To see things like you do
To feel them like my own
Now we’re together
Two being as one
Sharing memory
Touching the same space
A flash of brilliant light
Which will never fade
Increases its intensity
As flesh and bone decay
A bright new thing that I have seen
Been on my mind and in my dreams
It’s attractive I know
Pulls me in, won’t let go
Before I know what’s happened
I realize I’ve been taken
“I love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. And Mother. And God.”
- Johnny Cash
Gary was a plumber. I was training to be one. Driving to work one day he turned up the radio and told me to listen to the lyrics – something he often did when he wanted to make a point.
The song was Who’s Gonna Drive You Home, by The Cars.
Who’s gonna tell you when
It’s too late
Who’s gonna tell you things
Aren’t so great
You can’t go on
Thinking nothing’s wrong, but bye
Who’s gonna drive you home tonight
Gary pointed out that the Holy Spirit uses songs like this to talk to people. I was still fairly young as a Christian and had not thought of that before. The Lord speaking through the radio to lost souls, just like that.
Who’s gonna pick you up
When you fall
Who’s gonna hang it up
When you call
Who’s gonna pay attention
To your dreams
Who’s gonna plug their ears
When you scream
You can’t go on
Thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonight
Not long after, my wife told me about a sacred moment in her life. Listening to the radio, James Taylor gave her the push she needed to break off a relationship. She felt the Spirit speak directly through You’ve Got a Friend.
Gary long ago passed away, too young to have had a heart attack. I think of him often, and sometimes, when it’s just me in the car, I turn up the radio and I sense a presence…
Who’s gonna hold you down
When you shake
Who’s gonna come around
When you break
You can’t go on
Thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonight
Molten lava flows by; fireballs hurl hundreds of feet through the air.
Resting on a rock, awaiting the inevitable, Frodo says, “I’m glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things.” (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
Time collapses; the world fades.
Suddenly the eagles arrive. They are unheralded, unexpected. They pick up Frodo and Sam and carry them home to safety.
This is not unlike what artists feel when they are struggling. Everything around them seems to be falling apart and it all looks so hopeless.
The Christian artist has two tricks tucked away. Two truths to hold on to.
The first is that it is never, ever, really hopeless. They are on a rock and the rock is Jesus. They may experience bitter disappointment, pain, rejection… all the things common to man. But there is something steady underneath them. Ultimately that rock desires their good and is powerful enough to accomplish it, even if the accomplishment is totally unexpected.
Secondly, through the mists of faded space and lost time, eagles arrive: those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31, NIV)
At the seeming end of all things, be comforted by the reality that, even though you can’t make the eagles come… they will be sent.
I wonder why this is?
How did it come to this?
What is in your heart, your mind?
What are you thinking this time?
This is a mystery
I know this isn’t me
I know myself
And what I’ve felt
It never ends, it never stops
I’ve prayed about it a lot
It’s in the Lord’s hands
And He knows what He’s doing
He is most wise, loving, powerful
I trust Him now and
Forever
I ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS THERE. The trick was getting to it.
I fell into a chasm to find it. Pressing ever deeper, darker. It was the only way I knew how to look.
Gradually my eyes opened and I thought I glimpsed it. The smell, the look, the taste, the touch. It was close, but that wasn’t it.
And still I wanted it more. I had to have it. Being alive meant searching for it.
Mist sometimes covered my path and I would be lost for months. Most of that time I wasn’t even aware I had forgotten about it. The place, the money, the people made me forget.
But I didn’t really forget. I was just distracted.
The core inside pushed me, even without definition. I wanted it so bad, but I didn’t know what it was.
Someplace, someone, beyond this. Beyond the idols I had created.
