He'll Come Like the Rain

Raaaaaaain! 

Many aspects of life in BK make the culture of Bible times so much more relevant. On any ordinary day, I may see ladies drawing water from a well, separating grain from the chaff, riding donkeys, plowing fields, and even sacrificing to idols. One of the things that really hits home while reading, especially this time of year, is the importance of water and of rain. 

It can be depressingly hot and dry this time of year, especially when there's no hope of rain for months. Since living here, I have begun to understand the real dependence on the Father to provide rain, both in the physical and spiritual sense. The references in the Word to rain, its effects, and our dependence become so much more clear and beautiful as I read: 

-That same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe (1 Sam 12:18)
-They waited for me as for showers and drank in my words as the spring rain (Job 29:23)
-Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. (Jer. 14:22)
-Let us press on to acknowledge Him... He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hos 6:3)
-But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He. . . sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matt 5:44-45)
-Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven. . .and fills your hearts with joy. (Acts 14:17)
-Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. (James 5:7)

So, as the skies finally cloud up and rain begins to fall, I soak it in and am reminded of just how helpless I am out here. I can't change people's hearts. I can't make it rain. As we pray, though, God will send the rain to fall on our crazy-dry land. It's amazing how quickly things change with a little bit of rain! He will water the seeds. He will create streams of life-giving water in us. As He comes like the rain, He will fill our hearts with joy. 

Let's Think About It

"Lean with it, rock with it. 

When we gonna stop with it?

Lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought. 

Is it time to move our feet to an introspective beat?

It ain't the speakers that bump hearts

It's our hearts that make the beat."

My sentiments, exactly, Twenty | One | Pilots. 

As I said in the last blog, music is important to me. I love how good music can be so complex. It's not just something that makes you want to dance around a room but also real poetry that makes you think. Good music, in contrast to things like Rebecca Black's Friday, is thought-provoking, moving us more deeply than just physically.

When my friends came to Africa for a visit, one of my top requests (along with coffee and cereal) was good music. It was a great request, too, because my friends have impeccable taste. They introduced me to what quickly has become one of my favorite bands: Twenty | One | Pilots.

(check them out here, you know you want to....)

Seriously. They're awesome, but with darker tones to their songs, it's not a band that would likely be on typical Christian radio stations. Still, their lyrics openly talk of many Christian themes: a loving God, the hopeless state of man, need for salvation from a higher being, the battle of the flesh against faith, the battle in every person's mind, restoration of broken people, and so on. For me, it's been a worshipful few days constantly hitting the "repeat" button on my iPod.

One of the things I appreciate about their music is the plea to make thinkers of us. They draw lyrics from a lot of dark places of over-thinking, depression, and fear, but they also speak into these dark places. They sing a certain hope to broken people. They encourage people to seek truth, even in the darkness.
I appreciate that.

As good music should, it made me think. What message is our Christian music sending? What message are we, as the Church, sending? Is it bubblegum versions of a happy wonderland of life in Jesus? Is it, "trust Jesus and never face darkness again"? Is that really the whole truth? Are we skipping ahead in God's epic?

We're all guilty of it, myself included. It's easy to hang things on a "happily ever after," because in reality, there is one. But, are we really at the end of the story, the "happily ever after," or are we just at the rising action, where the story gets interesting? Sometimes, I get the feeling our gospel leaves out the needed complications of the story. Sometimes, our message seems to lead members of our own fellowship to hide the very struggle that makes the Good News great: salvation for broken people in a fallen world.

Let's think about it. Let's be brave with our music and our lives. Let's not run from the dragons of the world or help them to hide. They like the shadows. They're just going create havoc if we don't acknowledge them. Let's face them, instead, armed with Christ as our Excalibur. Let's tell the true and truly good story. Jesus isn't just salvation for once and done. He's salvation for the everyday. He's the Light of the World, able to illuminate the darkest of places.