Wednesday, October 17, 2007

What are you living for?

I haven't posted since this summer. Things have been busy. I've had ideas to post, but, because things are so busy, I have forgotten them before I could get them in the blog. Anyhow, Julie (a friend from church) told me on Sunday that she was reading my blog over the summer and I needed to post more. So, when I had an idea this morning, I was convicted to post it.

As I've said, I've been busy lately. Busy with a lot of church stuff much of which is short-term as our church runs without a permanent lead pastor. I've also been read and staying up way too late watching the Colorado Rockies breeze their way through the playoffs. Everyone is busy around me all the time. I'm not going to say that my busyness is more righteous than everyone else, but there are a lot of people doing a lot of things that don't seem too important to me.

This morning I was driving to the church when I caught the Peter Gabriel song Solisbury Hill. I love the song, but admit I have no idea what Gabriel was writing about. Some suggest that it is about faith in Jesus. I doubt that. I'm just not sure that he has that kind of testimony. Still, Peter Gabriel isn't a prophet and the song is not scripture so I'm going to pretend that Gabriel is giving his testimony in this song. If he is, it's awesome.

My favorite part comes right at the end. Throughout the song the line "grab your things, I've come to take you home" is repeated, but at the end it changes noticeably. I think that it is meaningful how it changes. Throughout the song there is an excitement about going home, but the excitement isn't so great that the character want to forget the things that might be left behind. It's kind of like you're waiting for a bus that finally arrives so you stop, pick your things up and get on the bus. There is relief in the arrival of the bus, but your things still matter.

In the last line of Solsbury Hill, Gabriel sings, "Hey, I said, you can keep my things, they've come to take me home." WOW! I can only imagine that this is how I'll feel when Christ comes to take me home. All my stuff that I didn't want to forget will now become meaningless. I'll I want to do is go home.

I've been reading a lot lately too. I've just finish two Don Miller books, Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What. I've greatly enjoyed Miller's perspective, and when I heard that last line of Solsbury Hill, my mind was draw to a chapter in Blue Like Jazz, the one where Miller introduces Andrew the Protester. Andrew the Protester has a philosophy that it isn't what you'll die for that matters; rather it is what you will live for. In other words, dieing is easy. Not really, but it is easy to say you'll die for something when nothing is threatening you. It is hard to really turn your life around and live for something. No one is going to do that unless they actually believe in the cause or the person or whatever.

I've been busy lately. Busy like everyone else in my community. Most of them are busy trying to get ahead in life, or to help their children get ahead. I don't believe in that. I believe in something else. What do I believe in? I'd like to say I believe in God and serving Him and all that, but I think I need to stop and reflect on the things I've been busy doing, then I'll know what I really believe in.