Between the Trees- EmoPopSmilingPurpose- Do rock out!!!

So every now and (actually everyday) a band hits me and is a big part of my day.  Bands (and signers) make music and therefore carry the melodies and messages of beauty and truth to our ears.  Between the Trees is one of those bands.  They are very near and dear to my heart and although they are officially coming to an end as a complete band, their story and their place in mine and others lives has been firmly planted.

  I had the opportunity to see one of my favorite bands over the winter break from college.  This band was anberlin and the concert was during a very confusing and vulnerable time in my life.  Yet it was not anberlin, or even the great shared experience with my best Friend Evan (and his first modern rock concert), but the opening band that really stood out that evening.  This was where i first met Between the Trees. 

(Wes, courtesy of Flicker)

  After buying there album and heading home with Evan, I quickly found the song I had been dying to hear again ever since the performance.  After dropping off Evan and carrying the post concert high (you know what I mean) complete with buzzing ears, I proceeded to rock out to BTT in the car and  fight off sleep with their poppy guitar riffs and deep words.  Once again, Between the Trees and I met at the right time.  I was so stoaked, i decided to swing off the highway to our local Morning Star Christian book and music store (please support this small chain!!!) and say some late night prayers in the parking lot. 
  After hearing about BTT discontinuing their musical pursuits, I didn't feel a bit of remorse.  I know they are awesome guys and will be off to do many cool things, music related or not.  I think the reason I was not so bummed was because of their lasting impact, and their involvement in my favorite charity, To Write Love on Her Arms.  As a matter of fact, two of their first albums songs are dedicated/inspired by Renee Yohe- video:
Between the Trees and Renee Yohe talk--
  The more I go on in this adventure of life and love, I learn about the importance of story.  BTT's first album, "A story and the song" is all about that.  Renee's story was a big part of that album.  But they also played a big part in my story and I'm sure many of the other fans they touched over the last few years.  This was a band that always wanted to leave an impression of Hope and purpose with everything they did, in a genre of music often known for songs of bad break-ups and utter loneliness.  BTT is a band that will forever live on, and the Love and Hope that drives them is going to propel them into beautiful things for a long time to come.  THANK YOU! 
and
GOD BLESS!

song from first album, "The story and the song" "its not the intimacy that brings me closer to you..."
"Red lines and white lights"
song from second album, "Spain" "i know, things aren't quite like what they used to be, yeah..."
"We can try"

Living: Pain, Salvation & Love

"Backing away from the problem of pain you never had a home
You've been misguided, you're hiding in shadows for so very long
Don't you believe that you've been deceived?

Pain is a struggle.  Pain hurts and we all experience it.  Some experience it more then others.  At the risk of being called a sadist, I rather like pain.  Let me explain...

Recently I have gotten frustrated at the amount of pain I have heard about.  My heart is heavy for my friends.  Maybe there is always this much pain, maybe I just know more people and care about more situations these days.  But regardless, that doesn't stop me from wanting to run out into the street and start screaming, at God and his angels, the stars and the trees, "Enough.  What is this all about, Stop, just stop"  No more bleeding, no more sadness.

Where is the purpose in all this?  If God is good, how come I feel so broken?

Every human experiences pain.  It manifests itself in a multitude of ways, physical, mental, spiritual and all of those elements pain has at its disposal.  I have experienced a lot of pain the last few years.  But I have overcome much of it.  Yet I don't want to have to go through the pain, at least of those experiences, again.  But I may.  For pain is inevitable, like the sunrise or the new year.  Pain is inevitable, even mandatory to the human experience, but suffering and hopelessness are NOT.

CS Lewis wrote a book called "The problem of Pain".  I have been meaning to read it, but for the purpose of this story, pretend I have.  Lewis goes about proposing the views on pain and supposes a solution in his unique theological, yet scholarly way. 

The existence of suffering in a world created by a good and almighty God—“the problem of pain”—is a fundamental theological dilemma, and perhaps the most serious objection to the Christian religion.- Jacek Bacz

As Lewis notes, pain is a problem.  Yet there is another book I have been meaning to read titled "purpose for the pain", by Renee Yohe.  Renee is the inspiration and story behind To Write Love on Her Arms.  Both these titles and books utilize non-fiction to speak on an inherently universal element in all of humanity, yet one speaks of Pain as a problem, the other as being purposeful or rather having a purpose, some would say purpose driven.
I now lean towards pain on purpose.  I cannot say that all pain will have a happy ending.  But I will say that pain has meaning, always; and that this meaning is of great depth, sometimes we never understand.
But that feeling, even feeling pain, is feeling.  Feelings are a gift, they help us navigate this world.  And feeling something, is better then feeling nothin.  What if this feeling had a purpose, and what if this purpose had a title, and what if somehow your story was building to a climax, and maybe God still has control, and if he doesn't do anything, so far as you can tell, maybe he's putting someone in your life to help you fix things, maybe He already did...
and maybe he wants us to realize we're in this together, that pain is as universal as the stars, and the desire to love and be loved, painful as it may be,
There could be a purpose to this all of this,
and it could be waiting over the next mountain, or the next, or the next,
and your feet, heart, and your eyes, must keep looking to the sky,
step by step, toward the light up ahead,
painful as it may be,



This is the correlation of salvation and love

(Don't drop your arms)
Don't drop your arms, I'll guard your heart
With quiet words I'll lead you in"--

listening:
Anberlin- Unwinding Cable Car, the

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