Tried and true

If you've been reading my blogs for awhile you're probably aware that their content is of somewhat a serious nature. I hope they appear as well thoughtout and inciteful, because I really do feel that the purpose for writing is to share personal thoughts and lessons learned throughout life. Why else would God give us the ability to think critically. However the thoughts don't always have to be quite so weighted and serious. That being said I would like to explain my passion for music and a band that I've loved for a long time.

I've always been a huge music fan, because it has the ability to translate thought and emotion into a language that's much easier for me to discern. However, it wasn't until my junior year in high school that I discovered the joy of hearing an entire album on CD. I soon however, realized I had a problem. Since I had been listening to only country music since I was eight years old I wanted to make up for lost time and spent entirely too much on cd's. Unfortuately I signed up for one of those monthly cd clubs and quickly dropped what started as hundreds of dollars every month on music. Soon I learned how to control my spending habits , but I've spent over $3,000 on CD's to date. When I got into college I realized that I could by CD's used, which meant I could still buy good CD's for a fraction of the price.

I only tell you this, because it was in my freshman year at a used CD store that I found a copy of the "Clumsy" album by Our Lady Peace who I had heard good things about and this particular album had come out to good reviews three years earlier. I had heard two songs from the album on the radio and liked them, but what awaited me on the album affected me deeply. The album was personal, but seemed to be more vulnerable than most, describing specific events in life and the feelings that come with them. All of these thoughts were played on the backdrop of a single present theme, hope. The hope on this album encouraged and perplexed me because in each of their songs I saw this light at the end of the tunnel, but I also saw this inner struggle that kept the writer from the end of the tunnel. I now realize that in order to reach the end of that tunnel we have to actively seek the reason we are kept from that light that dangles in the distance. That's what made "Clumsy" such a powerful album and Our Lady Peace interpereted that point in ones life in such a realistic way. This album started my love affair with this band that I continue to respect and admire today.

Then on my birthday in 2001 they came out with a new album entitled "Spiritual Machines." This album will always be one of my favorite albums of all time. The theme was based on a Ray Kurzweil novel of the same name. The book and the album both talk about the possibility of machines one day taking over the world. What makes this so brilliant is that the music didn't lose it's introspective and emotional core that the band had become masters at. Once again the album harbored a powerful hope that said that even in the most difficult and improbable circumstance we still have hope.

Just when I thought the ship had sailed and the sun had set on the Our Lady Peace glory days they released a new album in Oct of '05 entitled "Healthy in Paranoid Times." As I put the CD in I realized no real departure from the sound that made them great in the past, but what really caught my attention was the song booklet that came with the album. The first thing I noticed was there were no lyrics, no credits, no thank yous, just a list. A list? yeah a list. A list that included things that went on during the recording of the album.

1165 days were needed to record healthy in paranoid times
Within these 1165 days...
43 songs were written and recorded
220 Hours were spent flying on airplanes
10 Different studios were used
2000 hours were spent both discussing and playing music
6000 gigabytes of hard drive storage was needed for recording
58 packages of guitar strings were used
11000 dollars was spent on food for the band

All of these seem very ordinary and unassuming, but what followed was truly a contrast from the previously mentioned items.

30 active wars were fought across the globe
Iraq was invaded for a second time
9.8 million people died from AIDS
19.2 million people had cosmetic surgery in North America
2000 american soldiers died in Iraq
300,000 civilians died in Darfur
2 million were displaced in Darfur

The rest of the list and the songs on the album no longer focused on a longing for better days, but emphasized an importance in the now and for today. All around us we see issues and problems in our surroundings, whether it be our town, state, country, or world. The question that the album left me with was: What are you going to do about it? There's nothing wrong with hope. It is good, but when all we ever do is wait to one day be happy I believe there's a flaw. Jesus even challenged the apostles to go forth with all they had learned and experienced to deliver a life changing message of hope. We should all have HOPE that what we're DOING has purpose. Healthy in Paranoid Times is the perfect mix of living in the now and hoping that actions taken will one day open the eyes and hearts of people involved in present day situations.
While some thoughts are presented in secular mediums, God still has power to bring good out of it. I'm not certain of the faith or belief system of the band members in Our Lady Peace, but they have always been an inspiration to me. As scripture encourages us to analyze EVERYTHING and keep what is good, I believe that this includes popular thoughts and art of our day. If that means using lyrics from one of my favorite bands to inspire and encourage others I don't think that is so far from Jesus's ministry and Paul's methods in spreading the gospel. May you seek God in everything and may you be encouraged and inspired by the most unlikliest of sources.