My favorite band of all time is a band by the name of Switchfoot. Formed in the mid 90’s their music mixes alternative rock with the lyrics of an outspoken poet making the listener question aspects of their own lives, and the issues surrounding them. They have been featured in movies and TV shows such as Smallville and A Walk to Remember, with songs such as “Dare You to Move” and “Only Hope”. In 2009, they released their seventh album titled “Hello Hurricane”, now I know that usually, you don’t think of anything from 2009 to be considered a classic, but this album and its music have been some of songs that impacted my life the most for the past 8 years. The title track off of this album has been one that has returned time and time again to refocus myself in times of chaos. It never ceases to teach me something new about the nature of struggle.
Before you even read the rest of this post I encourage you to go to the following link, listen to the song and read the lyrics provided.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu2aHOO9AsY
The nature of this song provokes many questions in my life. First, how do I face struggles? Second, have I actually counted up the cost of how I live my life, and third what am I fighting for? I think many people have wondered these same questions, especially in the Christian community. The questions of what do we value creep in a make us reevaluate our own lives. Whenever I hear this song my mind immediately goes back to the passage in Philippians 3 which says, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” The second verse of the song says
“Everything I have I count as loss
Everything I have is stripped away
Before I started building
I counted up these costs
There’s nothing left for you to take away”
In my walk with Christ have I counted up the cost that following him will take, am I ready for the cross of Christ? I think in our world today we are prone to hastily go into situations without understanding the true nature of that which we’re taking on. When deciding to follow Jesus the stakes are much higher, the cause of Christ could cause us to lose our lives. That reality can be overwhelming at times, but are we willing to face that, to take up our cross and carry it, are we willing, in our daily lives to walk up to the hurricane’s and say,
“Hello hurricane
You’re not enough
Hello hurricane
You can’t silence my love
I’ve got doors and windows
Boarded up
All your dead end fury is
Not enough
You can’t silence my love, my love”
The ability to do such a thing can only come from the love that is at the core nature of the God we worship. It cannot be manufactured by a human soul who’s ability to conjure anything remotely close would only be a minor reflection in an ocean of omnibenevolence. The amazing this is that we don’t have to measure up to God, he does not call us to the impossible task of reaching up or earning some hierarchy. Rather God, in his love for his own creation stepped down, demolishing what was previously understood as love. Because Christ stepped down I now have the ability, in spite of my circumstances, to stand up and face that which is trying to build a barrier between myself and “my glory, the One who lifts my head high” (Psalm 3:3).
Coffee, Music, and All Things Jesus 
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