Enjoy this…I always do…
Archive for November, 2008
D-I-E 4 Y-O-U
I saw these guys Saturday night…I was quite taken with this song! It’s probably pretty apparent that this is a bit of a deviation from my general musical tastes, but I can’t resist lyrics like these! 
Enjoy!
“D-I-E 4 Y-O-U”
Family Force 5
[Verse 1:]
I’d take a bullet for you
Bleed all my blood out for you
Be taken hostage, under the knife’s edge
Pay all the ransom for you
I’d take a bullet for you
Bleed all my blood out for you
Be taken hostage, under the knife’s edge
Pay all the ransom for you
Do the hard time for you
On the front lines for you
Bring on the pain, the ball and chain
Be executed for you
[Pre Chorus:]
I’ll cover for you, take a hit
I’m your alibi
I got your back
I’m living every day just to die
[Chorus:]
Every day I die for you
Throw me in the fire, I’d walk right through
I made a promise, it’s an I-O-U
I’d D-I-E for Y-O-U
I’d D-I-E for Y-O-U
I’d D-I-E for Y-O-U
I’d die for you, die, D-I-E for you
I’d D-I-E, I’d die for you
[Verse 2:]
Give me your paranoia
I’ll walk the plank for you
Sous la guillotine, jusqu’ a la fin
Willing to suffer for you
Interrogate me for you
Accept my fate for you
Put me in a noose, turn the dogs loose
Take all the hatred for you
(Com)passion
I’ve been thinking a lot about compassion lately. What is compassion, anyway? How is it any different from mercy, or a bunch of other words?
I did some digging, and confirmed my hunch. I went back to the etymology of the English word compassion, and this is what I found.
“Compassion” comes from Latin roots, com-, meaning “with” or “together with”, and pati, meaning, interestingly enough, “suffering”. That’s the same word we get our related English word, passion, from.
We know a little bit about passion. Passion is strong feeling, a drive, a hunger. Passion consumes us, makes us act, makes us do things we wouldn’t do from an impartial, rational stance. Passion is what we feel for those we love, it’s emotion, deep and powerful. Passion is what motivates someone like William Wilberforce to give years of his life to fight against the evils of slavery. Passion is what motivates thousands upon millions of people to do all they can to prevent the slaughter of one more unborn baby. Passion is what motivates someone like Mother Teresa to give of herself, years of her life, and many earthly comforts to help the poor of Calcutta. Passion is what turns my stomach when I see people with ridiculous and unnessecary luxuries and remember that a child won’t eat today, and that many children will die. Passion is what makes me angry at the cavalier attitude we have toward the horrid working conditions endured by the workers who make our clothing, our housewares and many of our other purchases–workers who are, in fact, often enslaved.
But there’s another angle on the word passion. When capitalised, Passion takes on the connotation of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, His suffering. Deep feeling. Great love. Great passion.
Now we come back to compassion. Feeling together. To feel strongly right along with someone else. To identify with someone else’s hurt.
Compassion is when we see someone’s pain and feel our heart breaking, too. It’s a passion, a drive to do whatever we can to help them. It’s a creative, imaginative thing, as we dream up new ways to alleviate their suffering. It consumes us and motivates us to do whatever we can for them.
Compassion is what prompts us to fix injustice, to do right and reconcile wrong, to offer a smile, a hug, and a Kleenex. It’s essential to Christianity, and it is beautiful. And, at its heart, it’s another way to show love.
Awake
I really love this song…it serves as a great reminder that nothing in this life can last forever, so you should cherish the moments you have. I’m reminded of a quote from the movie “Because of Winn-Dixie”:
“Gloria Dump says that you can’t hold on to anything. You gotta love what you got while you got it!”
~Opal from Because of Winn-Dixie
Awake
Josh Groban
A beautiful and blinding morning
The world outside begins to breathe
See clouds arriving without warning
I need you here to shelter me
And I know that only time will tell us how
To carry on without each other
So keep me awake to memorize you
Give me more time to feel this way
We can’t stay like this forever
But I can have you next to me today
If I could make these moments endless
If I could stop the winds of change
If we just keep our eyes wide open
Then everything would stay the same
And I know that only time will tell me how
We’ll carry on without each other
So keep me awake for every moment
Give us more time to be this way
We can’t stay like this forever
But I can have you next to me today
We’ll let tomorrow wait, you’re here, right now, with me
All my fears just fall away, when you are all I see
We can’t stay like this forever
But I have you here today
And I will remember
Oh I will remember
Remember all the love we shared today
Grace(fulness)
What is this whole grace thing? How do we figure out what kind of grace we’re talking about?
There’s a certain kind of movement, a kind of form and presence, that we call grace. Back in the day, there was even a game (which is, by the way, murderously hard to play) called “Graces”, supposedly designed to help train young girls to move gracefully. Usually we say women are graceful, not so much with men (which is a little silly, since it’s not like men are always klutzy). This kind of grace is alternately prized and despised by factions in our society, with those who despise it generally advocating strength rather than grace.
Grace can be moving lightly and fluidly, not making undue ripples in or marring one’s environment, tactfully talking one’s way out of an awkward social situation, gentleness, elegance, and living with a vibrant confidence. But what else does the term grace embody?
Theologically, grace is a concept found all over the Bible. One way I like to look at it is this way: The other day in my Systematic Theology class, the class was talking about the Greek concept of man (dichotomy or trichotomy) vs. the Hebrew concept of man (one united person with options presented to him). It was suggested that the Hebrew man might be seen on one level as being similar to a character in a Saturday morning cartoon: an angel on one shoulder, a demon on the other, presented with a choice to make and possessing not only the right and ability but the obligation to make his decision but the right and wrong. This view was critiqued by another student for seemingly setting good and evil as equal (dualism), when in fact God (the Source of good) has triumphed over Satan (the proponent of the distortion of good which is evil). My response to that: that’s where grace comes in. The good and evil are not equal. The good is made much, much stronger by grace. Grace comes in to strengthen the good, til the option of evil pales in comparison. It is as Shane Claiborne said in his book The Irresistible Revolution:
“I truly believe that we can overwhelm the darkness of this world by shining something brighter and more beautiful.”
~Shane Claiborne
The good is now brighter and more beautiful. It’s brighter and more beautiful to forgive someone who wrongs you…again. It is brighter and more beautiful to replace angry, hurtful words with words of love and peace. It is brighter and more beautiful to release your will in favour of someone else’s best, to support them even when all you are is crying out against their choice. It is brighter and more beautiful to give someone another chance, even when you think they’ve done horribly.
Grace is brighter and more beautiful. And it overwhelms the darkness. May we all live with more grace.
