stay close: Light IS a place

As many of you know I have a favorite band.  That favorite band just put out an album.  It has thirteen songs and is their fifth full length album.  It is their first on a Major record label and many would expect the "best yet".  Well, I have not stopped listening since it was released and have delved into the meaning and lyrics of each song.  Yet, this album is not my favorite and is maybe the most different from all the previous records that have culminated into the sound, whether acoustic or full fledged rock, that fans have come to expect from anberlin. 
  That's not to say that I don't love the new album, I do.  Yet it is definately different.  Personally, I really love the sound, but i think the lyrics could be a little more complex, a little more meaningful.  Then again, sometimes simple words make the most impact (see: "I have a dream" or "come home").  Truth be told, anberlin is my favorite band.  And even though this new album may not be my favorite of theirs, if I truly love the band I have to really give this record a chance.  I think giving things a chance this day and age, hearing them out so to speak, even our favorite things, can be seen as a burden or even uneccessary all together.  Now this notion is not limited to music.
  So many people are quick to write off a new record, or a new song for that matter.  Sometimes people hate the change, other times they go with the simple, "well, I just liked the old stuff better."  Our relationships can be like that too.  Not just romantic, but friends and family too.  With the rate at which life changes, with the way people's status's change so quickly, it is easy to write them off or forget them altogether.  But that is not the right choice.
  Granted, people change; tastes in music change; life leads us down different roads, some for better, some for worse.  But we have to give it a try.  Our lives and the people in them are so important, so significant.  We can't just give it the ghost because we feel a bit different, we can't let our friend (or out favorite band) go because they are suddenly too popular, we can't let Love pass us by because we're scared of what "could happen"-
  Real commitment and pursuit of true connection is really lacking in our culture, even in our world at large.  It is up to the next generation to bring it back.  To look beyond the latest and greatest and seek truth and consistency; to be dedicated.  There is something to be said about a loyal fan.  There is even more to be said of a true friend; about a steadfast lover.
  We would be well served and even better pursued by such hearts.
That's the kind of fan i'd want to have,
That's the kind of community I am blessed to be in,
That's the kind of place that is Light many times over.


Listen:
Corey Asbury- "everything you do"

freedom and us

"freedom isn't free"
and
"the only thing needed for evil to succeed in this world, is for good people to do nothing"

Are two quotes that come to mind on this 4th of July 2010.  The first quote in particular often connotates a military notion, that we must pay for our freedom with blood, sweat and sacrifice.  The second confirms this notion, that good men (and woman) have to step forth to push back the forces that seek destruction and pain in this world.  Yet we very seldom live this way.  We have come to a time and place where we cannot see, except through military means or media, the brutality and the struggle that is at play in a world gone mad by the hunt for power and advancing oneself over one's brother (or has it always been this way?) and here in America we have a very small glimpse of what it is to fight for freedom (except our first hand military warriors).  But we are not completely free as you suppose.  There are many, many people in this country who do not feel free.  Perhaps this is because real freedom, in its simplest, yet deepest sense is neither free nor evil, but rather infinite.  The real freedom our hearts seek can only be found in the simplest of truths and a child-like sense of wonder.  Freedom can only be found in Truth; and Love.  Freedom goes beyond a feeling, relationships, or political control, but rather a sense of belonging to a larger story and leading an existence that is found deep within, so deep that it may only correspond to your own Hopes, Dreams and Experiences.
And it is a battle, a struggle.
It is a lifelong venture.
Freedom is not free.
Nor is it easy.
But "we owe it to ourselves"
and...
"we can't just let it go"
Our entire existence depends on freedom and the pursuit therein; yet it is only a select few who choose to seek and defend it.  We all have a part to play in this, in every word we say and every action that stays.  Let us seek the truth, absolutely, and in doing so, let freedom ring, and let infinity answer the call of the feeling we are truly after.  At the end of the age, freedom is not a right, but rather a precious gift, and as such amazing gifts are, it is not to be kept to ourselves.    
The choice to pursue freedom is of such earth shattering importance,
that all of our lives hang in its balance, as do the words nobody ever wants to hear,
"it didn't have to end like this"-

listen:
anberlin- we owe this to ourselves (King)

a martyr, a memory, a young life, A Savior: the perfect tourniquet

I got to see one of my favorite and most inspired bands recently.  It was even better to see them with one of my very best friends and 'ol roommate Sam.  They hail from Florida, but their recent album cover features a picturesque landscape that I can relate to and makes me Love them all the more.  Anberlin inspires and pushes me in the right direction everyday.  I first started listening to them in 2006 and shortly after started looking into their lyrics, which, for an up tempo emo/indie band in the mold of Brand new, were incredibly deep and thought provoking.  Shortly after I found out they were all Christians (Stephen's last name is actually Christian) and pumped up about the possibility of a better life through this genre of music.

All this excitement and all the elements of words and sounds and projects outside of music and the depth of a couple of Floridians with instruments makes the mind put people on a pedestal.  Although I tended to think of Stephen and the band as "superhero's" of truth and love (and maybe they are) it was quickly made clear to me, that they were just twenty something year old guys.  They have faults, they have shortcomings, they have fallen short: they are just like me.
Dismantle.Repair

Humbling for sure!  Then again, I was still like a little kid at the show, singing every song until my lungs burned and my legs ached from jumping up and down!  And I got Deon's pick!!!

So as that concert on one of the last days in May, gets me pumped up about living and loving and attempting to walk the glorious path God has laid before me, i figured I'd propose a few questions???

What bands or rather song(s) Move you to Move?  To be a better person, to Hope, to laugh, to draw on an experience and go gravitate infinity?  Is there a song that you feel was written for YOU?

...and the second part of that is, why not allow these things to move us?  Our dance party at CSC last year had a theme of, "Let go, Let love"  Can we not live our lives this way?  Can we not let our hearts be moved, as frightening and as daunting as it may be?  I think the answer is, we can, and we will.  Because that which moves us is not just for inspiration or a good time, but rather these elements of life, in this case music tell us about our own hearts, and what they need.  These words tell us about our own Hopes and Dreams, our destiny in this life.  These guitar riff's tell us about our God and how he would love to see us move and help one another out of Love.  Finally, these songs tell us about our story, and how, with faith and Love, we can live magnificent stories that even Hollywood would be jealous for.

This movement is "the perfect tourniquet", this movement is "Jesus to the demons", this reality is "laughing, loving, living free and singing"-

Don't drop your Arms!  (Thank you ANBERLIN...Godspeed!!!)

listen:
"Paperthin hymn" anberlin

"Dismantle.Repair" acoustic- anberlin

Post Script: I am very excited to read the new book by John and Stasi Eldridge, "Love & War" and I will be (new thing) writing a review about it after I read it stay tuned!!