so i was on my way to work and...
so back to my driving. i am driving to work and get the urge to just praise God or learn something or whatever, as long as it's a God-thing, and i look up at my cd visor to pull out something good. rifling through the fat stack of discs and... i just had to. it was right there and i knew He wanted me to listen. u2's greatest hits. what the junk?!
bono is my generation's social prophet. not only does he rock my face off, but it is obvious from his actions, everything from him speaking so cherishingly of Christ to dropping the f-bomb on national television to leading vast efforts in saving the world of aids, that he is definitely a beautiful, rough-around-the-edges creation of God. that's my take on bono, but anyway...
i listened to the first track and had to replay it a couple of times. ever get through hearing something you've heard a million times before, and then something bizarre just, i don't know, clicks and you've suddenly gotta hear it a million times more? i would almost compare it to reading scripture. it happened. i listened to beautiful day and it was amazing. a God moment. He spoke to my heart. really cool.
my musicology of beautiful day:
as people we are extremely wrapped up in ourselves. selfish. materialistic. unsacrificing. and unaware of a bigger picture outside of our own personal universes. we build our towers and complexes and interstates, covering the earth in concrete and smoke, caring only for utility that will benefit us. me. i. our hearts are not at home in these unnatural surroundings. in our rebellion against God we have failed to take care of His provision, and have choked out so much life. we have bled the earth of precious oil and left it pockmarked with concrete metropolises. creation has been infested with a disease (us), and humans, like aids, have taken what resources were created out of a God-given supply and used them to poison and kill what we were commanded to generously subdue and rule.
through all of this, God draws us to love, into an awareness of what goes on below our feet, around the globe, and above the smog. despite our harshest attempts at destruction (i think we have a serious taste for breaking things that don't belong to us) God still reaches out through sunrises and rainbows and fires to show glimpses of Himself, glimpses of beauty in its fullest.
"don't let it get away. before this last cataract swallows you whole and you are deafened to my voice, don't let this get away from you. return with openness of heart, and do not let your bloom be wilted or choked out. there are other flowers out there reaching toward heaven, gasping for air, for living water, striving to catch sunlight through the yellowing clouds and acid rain. step outside of yourself and look around, and you will find me waiting for all of you, my beautiful bouquet."
there's more! not just that, but we are reminded of the promise of the God of noah, that we will not be choked out again by divine judgment. it's a reminder to me that God is merciful and full of compassion. though He once wiped out nearly every living thing on earth, and started over again with noah and family, it was still not enough. we messed up again. stumbled and fell again and again. pursued wickedness and delighted in lawlessness. built anew our own personal kingdoms. God kept His promise, and did not wipe us out again, but sent His Son to be slaughtered, that the blood of Christ might fill our hearts and subdue them to His rule.
just some thoughts driving to work yesterday.
check it out - 01.20.07
vapor - 11.15.06
can't complain - 11.10.06
turn the page - 11.09.06
who invented the word "me-maw"? - 09.28.06