Learn From The Night- Sent by Ravens

Life isn't just about the destination. It's about the journey too.

Life, something that thousands of people every day throw away because they don't find any meaning to it. What are we supposed to do when the people we love lose sight of the truth that every second we have to live is worth living to the fullest? It's too easy to fall captive to the lies that the world throws at us about the meaning of life.

Just look at the lyrics to the popular song "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars. This is exactly what the world wants to tell us about what life is all about.

"If you ever leave me, baby,
Leave some morphine at my door
Cause it would take a whole lot of medication
To realize what we used to have,
We don't have it anymore."

"There's no religion that could save me
No matter how long my knees are on the floor, oh
So keep in mind all the sacrifices I'm making
To keep you by my side
And keep you from walking out the door."

"Cause there'll be no sunlight
if I lose you, baby
There'll be no clear skies
if I lose you, baby
Just like the clouds,
my eyes will do the same if you walk away
Everyday, it will rain,
rain, rain"

According to this song, there would be no point to life without the singer's 'baby'. The world is pushing the idea through our minds that love is all there is to life. Without it, what point is there in living? Another example of this is the Twilight series. At least a dozen times throughout the four movies released thus far, there are scenes where both Edward and Bella lament that without the other, there would be no point in living. At one point, Edward goes so far as to attempt suicide because he thought Bella was dead. If love is the only reason for living, we're in for a world of trouble, because in our fallen condition, the ability to truly love has been lost. All too often, we see stories on the news about love gone wrong with one or both parties dead as a result. Love cannot be the only answer to why we should care about living.


We can't do life on our own. Because of our sinfulness, we would be doomed to a life separate from God, one that truly would be worthless. But because of God's mercy toward us, we don't have to do it alone. He promises to be there with us. And even though it seems like it's not worth it, like there's no point, there is a purpose behind why we're here on this rock called Earth. We learn through the difficult times that life is hard, but it is always worth living. Our life has a grand purpose and meaning, one that is inseparable from the true love that can only come from Christ, the one that gave His life so that we might live ours.

Are you ready to learn from the night? God will never give up on you. You shouldn't give up either.

Sent By Ravens - Salt and the Light

"Salt and the Light" by Sent By Ravens


Hey guys, thanks again for reading. It's been a crazy summer, to put it simply. Between working thirty hours a week at the Aquarium (no complaints about that, though) and several hours a night worth of homework, the summer completely blew by me. It's just another fifteen days and I'm headed back to school for another year of excitement, intrigue, and death. Or something like that. Based on last year, it's going to be awesome.

I'm getting really excited to be back at Cedarville with all my fellow Cedarvillains (yeah, we're all that bad). I'm not sure whether it's got as much to do with starting up classes (and a whole new major) again or catching up with friends as it does getting back into chapel five times a week and getting plugged into a new church family again. I'm really looking for ways to get involved beyond just playing the piano on Sunday mornings so people can get a feel-good vibe about singing and praising, because there's so much more to it than just that.

Just acting out our lives as if we're successful and even spiritual won't cut it. We might be able to fool those around us and maybe even ourselves, but if we're all talk and no action, it's just "a burden from our tongues." Just like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, it doesn't matter how 'christian' we act in front of others or how many good things we can do. Unless our hearts are truly in the right place- broken and empty at the feet of Christ- it's all for nothing. It's just like the ephemeral mist over the water in the mornings: it's beautiful while it lasts, but it's gone in the blink of an eye. Our faith is only as strong as the words we speak in the truly difficult situations- when it's down to the wire and every word counts.

Is His love really you need? Or do you need the approval of others in your life too? What will you choose?

We Came As Romans- Mis//Understanding

Hey all, thanks again for reading today! Same as last time, I just want to give you a quick warning before you click the 'play' button on my video. If you're not a fan of hardcore music, hit the mute button on this one, because it's a bit more intense than a lot of my other music. The lyrics are included on the video, so you can just read along with it if you choose to do that.

Anyway, I was watching this video today because the band (We Came As Romans) just released this song in preparation for their new album in September, and I'm a pretty big fan of their music (their lyrics are amazing, in particular). But this song specifically stuck out to me today, and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this. Have you ever felt like no matter what you do, it always ends up just making things worse than they were? Regardless of how you treat people, they treat you like the fool they take you for. Sometimes it just feels like we don't really understand this world, or that we don't even belong.

And that's really the truth about it: we don't belong here. As Christians, we're just sojourning here on Earth for the short years we have in this life. And though we get mistreated and abused, it's up to us to make the most of the time we have here. Luckily, we don't have to do this alone. Like the song says, we have each other to rely on when we're down, and God's always going to be there beside us to bring us through the tough times, even if it might not seem that way at the moment.

For those of you that know what's been going on in my life over the last month and a half or so, this song almost exactly sums up how I've been feeling, so I thought it would be appropriate to talk about today. If you're at the same place I am right now, take comfort in the fact that you're never alone there, and it doesn't have to stay that way.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus- Reap

(Just a quick disclaimer here: As always, when you read my blog and listen to the music I put on here, you're subjecting yourself to two things. The first is my opinion and my take on the world, but the second one is the lyrics and the style of the music, for better or worse. If you don't like what's here, I apologize, and keep checking back because what I'm blogging about today may be way different from what's up the next time, and so on.)



I don't really have anything fancy to talk about right now, but I felt like this song has been on my mind for a while. I've had an interesting few weeks since I updated the blog last, to say the least. My summer's beginning to get pretty busy already, with around 20 hours of work a week and my online classes to keep up with. And I've been dealing with what I don't know how describe any way other than as a small bout of depression or maybe just emptiness. The more hours I work, the more I learn, and the more responsibilites I get, the less I feel like I have to offer to anyone in any significant way, and it's been draining me of any real excitement I've had.

And that's where my song for today comes in. Galatians 6:7 says that "whatever one sows, that will he also reap". Whatever you put into your life is what's going to come back out of it eventually. If you go filling your life with garbage like drugs, alcohol, sex, etc., what do you think is going to come of that? You're sure not going to enjoy it later. The same can go for what may seem like innocuous things like work and responsibilities. If you let yourself be taken over by these things rather than focus on God first, they're going to take control of you and make your life miserable later.

As both the song Reap (the one you should still be listening to) and Mark 8:36-37 say, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?" What good will it do you if you spend all your life working and slaving away in order to get ahead in this world if you trade away your soul in the process? Or how about the reverse of that even? It won't do you any good to just get by and waste your life on the ephemeral pleasures this world offers. It's what you do about your soul that matters for all eternity. I would never say that it's a bad thing to be ambitious, but never let that get between you and what's ultimately important, because it can only lead to emptiness. You can have the world and all it can give you if you want it, but beware you don't find yourself headed for that space in hell, as the song so kindly puts it.

Breaking Benjamin - I Will Not Bow

Hey everybody, it's me...back from the grave of nothingness that the blog got for the last month. I just figured I'd share a bit of what's been going on for the last little bit for you all. Pretty much the reason I stopped writing earlier is because some things happened between myself and people which kind of took me out of the mood of blogging or getting excited about sharing music in general really. It's not something I talk about much, but this blog post is about what's been through my head lately. I'm not going to bow down and give up just because the problems of life get in my way and try to slow me down.

I kind of brought this up at youth group on Sunday night with our lesson for the night. Each one of us was asked to be prepared with a verse that we could apply to our lives, and because this stuff's been on my mind for a while, I came with 1 Peter 1:7, which says, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Even though we're going to go through trials and even if they push us down sometimes, we can't bow down and give up because of them. They're there to increase our faith in God, not to drive us farther away from him.

Anyway, I've got a few bits of news for my summer and my blogging in case you're still reading. Since I'm working anywhere from 25-40 hours a week right now and I have a couple online classes for school, I'm going to be pretty busy. I probably won't be updating every other day like I had been doing before a few weeks ago. But hang in there with me, because I've got a few exciting things up my sleeve for the summer. Thanks for reading!

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Ten

Hey guys, I'm sorry about not writing in so long. It's been a pretty rough few weeks for me, just because there's been a lot going on with school and some things that needed dealing with. At any rate, I'm going to return to the 30 day challenge I was working on before I stopped writing. When I left it, I had finished days one through nine. Today's challenge picks up with 'A song you can sleep to'. You're in for a real treat with this song, if you've never heard of it. Philosophically deep and challenging, this song will make you think twice about everything you know about music. You should stop whatever you're doing and pay close attention to this song. And if you feel so inspired, please tell me your impressions in the comments. I really want to hear your thoughts on this one!

Enjoy!

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Nine

Today's challenge is "a song you can dance to". But since I'm a baptist, and baptists don't dance, I'm going to commit suicide now. My blog now belongs to Tim 'SA' Vehrs. (you wish)
Anyway, today's song is "The Feeling" by Kutless. I had a hard time picking this one, just because there were so many good songs I wanted to do for this. Some of the other picks were 'Love Liberty Disco' by Newsboys (epic album, by the way, if you ever have a chance to listen to it!), 'Freefalling' (The Almost's cover of it), and 'Dance or Die' by Family Force 5. But I picked this one because the lyrics caught in my mind for whatever reason.

Just like this blog (at least I hope), there's more to the songs we listen to and sing than just the music. There's a greater meaning behind what we do than what we say, often enough. And just like this song says, we need to show the world that we, as Christians, are real. We don't just play church on Sunday morning and then go back to 'the other six days of the week'. We need to live out our faith every day of the week if we're going to make any difference in the world. Faking it to keep up appearances just tells the world that we're no different than they are. It doesn't meant that we can't enjoy life to the fullest. But we have to be authentic in everything that we do. It's time to stop hiding behind our 'Sunday best' and let the world see how real Christians live, all seven days of the week.

(Recap)
Day One- (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lifehouse
Day Two- (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber
Day Three- (Song that makes you happy) 'Amazing Grace(My Chains are Gone)' by Chris Tomlin
Day Four- (Song that makes you sad) 'In The End' by Linkin Park
Day Five- (A song that reminds you of someone) 'Bring Me To Life' by Evanescence
Day Six- (A song that reminds you of a place) 'This is Home' by Switchfoot
Day Seven- (A song that reminds you of a certain event) 'Life is a Highway' by Rascal Flatts
Day Eight- (A song you know all the words to) 'Jesus Freak' by Newsboys (ft. Kj-52)