The Significance of Music

Here are some songs that have been very significant in my life:

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2 (from the album Joshua Tree) This song speaks to the struggle in my own life between the "here and not yet" tension of my salvation, and the whole world's. I love the lines:

I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds and you
Loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believed it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

Powerful and so true. I believe this is exactly what Paul was talking about in Romans 7 - "I don't do what I want to do".

Big Eyed Fish - Dave Matthews Band (from the album Busted Stuff) Life is full of pain and struggle, but it is so much better lived to the full.

Gravedigger - Dave Matthews Band (from the the album Some Devil) Death is a part of this life, and we all need to reflect on it. For me, the song has a hint of expectation in death.

Raven - Dave Matthews Band (from the album Busted Stuff) Creation, this world, is precious and fragile. Humanity has pillaged and ravaged it, with little thought to the fact that we are deeply connected to it.

What you got what you got in your hand?
a father said to son
I got the whole world here Daddy
between my fingers and my thumb
Well you take care of it please-- its the only one
Well it would take me a life time old man
to undo what you've done

Oh come on now boy think-- what would Jesus do?
He shake his head like an angry mother
Spoke the boy and say I did what I could do
But you take care of it please
It's the only one you got
And it'd take ten lifetimes boy to undo what I've done

The world is in our hands - what will we do with it?

The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash (from the album American Recordings IV) Who will I be when the Man comes around?

Swallowed In the Sea - Coldplay (from the album X & Y) We were meant to exist in relationship - that is where we find meaning and belonging. We crave relationship. "You belong with me, not swallowed in the sea."

Original Of The Species - U2 (from the album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb) This is a song that is special to L. and I. She is so much more than I deserve and give to her. "I'll give you everything you want, Except the thing that you want."

Chicago - Sufjan Stevens (from the album Illinois) Our past is who we are. Mistakes, pain and struggles have made me who I am, as much as the highs - they are all a part of who I am, and I am a whole person because of it all.

That's just a sampling - there are many others. Just a little selection to get you started. Music plays a significant role in my life. I find it amazing how God uses such diverse people and media to speak to me. Amazing.

Jason