No more night

No more night, no more pain

No more tears, never crying again.

Praises to the great I AM

We will live in the light of the risen Lamb.

- No More Night, words and music by Walt Harrah

Easter 1996 - our family, including Kim, Holly, and Mom

There is nothing that can shake your world to the core like the death of someone you love. Especially when you have no time to prepare for it. Seventeen years ago tonight, like this year on a Thursday, it happened. I don't remember ever experiencing uncontrollable sobbing before that. Or eyes that were burning because when trying to cry, there was nothing left in the tear ducts. Or being awake for almost 48 hours straight. It was terrible.

As I wrote two years ago, this anniversary has progressed from a day of pure mourning to a day of honer and celebration. And it has turned into a day to remember not only Kim, but my mother, my niece, and other people I love who have passed on. Today has been a great day of reflection, thankfulness, and sweet memories.

But in this world wracked by sin and death, the pain is still there. 

Which is why last night was so sweet.

Our choir was rehearsing for this Sunday, and it just so happened that the anthem for this Sunday is No More Night. Wait, no. "It just so happened...?" No, it was from God. I went expecting to prepare for leading worship, but instead I worshipped on the spot. Chill bumps, teary eyes, and a sense of God's presence. Because as I sang, I saw a glimpse of the future. I thought about how inconsolable I have been after death left its ugly fingerprints on our lives, and I was filled with awe at the thought of "no more tears, never crying again."

But even greater was the truth that we will be praising the great I AM, the Lord of everything, forever. And that the light will come from the light of the world, the risen Lamb of God...Jesus.

Listen for yourself:

I still believe I have plenty of work to do here, living out the resurrection in my daily life to make the reign of Jesus a reality in today's world. But it is good to know that there is a day coming when all the pain will be a thing of the past. Jesus will come to unite heaven and earth in a glorious culmination of the work that he began in Bethlehem.

And as we sing the anthem this Sunday, all that will be pulsating from every lyric and every note.

No more night.

Amen.

Come to me

A few days ago I wrote about the Matchbox Twenty / Goo Goo Dolls concert I attended. While the post was about how much I enjoyed finally seeing Matchbox Twenty, at the end I mentioned how one Goo Goo Dolls song, their latest, lingered with me long after the concert. That song was called Come to Me, and to me it's full of meaning. Here is a video of it, complete with lyrics:



What was it about this song? On the surface, it's a just love song. And I certainly believe that was all the writer intended. But it's a love song with themes that strike to heart of unconditional love. Lines like "Come to me with secrets bared, I'll love you more so don't be scared" and "I don't care about where you've been, Don't be sad and don't explain" are full of the kind of love and acceptance we all crave.

In fact, the whole second verse strikes at the heart of what it makes such an awesome song. The object of the writer's affection has been burning photos, trying to erase the past on her own. The song says, you don't need to do that. All you have to do is come to me. "This is where we start again...start again."

And then, "Today's the day I make you mine, get me to the church on time.' A wedding. Marriage. A fresh start with an eternal commitment to love each other forever.
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Yes, I'm sure it was meant as a simple love song. But it dug deep into my soul as I could hear my Redeemer Jesus calling out, "Come to me." All through the Bible, God uses the picture of marriage to demonstrate the relationship of God and his people. For example, in Isaiah 62:5 we see this:

As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

The Song of Solomon is a pretty frank picture of romantic love between a bridegroom and his bride, and most believe it was intended to be a picture of God's love for his people. The whole book of Hosea is a painful lesson where the prophet marries an unfaithful woman and God uses it as an object lesson of what it's like for God when we abandon him for other "lovers." In John 3:29, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the bridegroom. Paul exhorts husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

And topping it off, in case we didn't get it before -  At the very end of the Bible, in Revelation 21:9, one of the angels who is showing John a vision of the end of all things says, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." Of course, the Lamb is "the Lamb who was slain" - Jesus. So he is the bridegroom and we are the bride.
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And so, through this love song, I could hear God's voice calling out to me: Come to me. You are my sweetest friend. I will take you back to where you belong - where you've always belonged. I'll love you more so don't be scared. And more than anything else, this is where we start again...

Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

He who was seated on the throne said, "I making everything new!" (Revelation 21:5)

....start again.

Message received

I don't remember my dreams very much. I would say that I don't dream very much, but I know better. Scientists say that we dream every night when we enter deep sleep, but we only remember some of them.

The one last night? Oh, I remember.

This was only the third time I remember dreaming about my mother since her passing. Maybe because my subconscious thinks it's painful, or maybe...well, I have no idea. But for some reason I don't dream about her.  I wish I would, because during the dream - for just a few minutes - she's alive and with us. Dreams can seem so real.

As I've mentioned before in this blog, dreams are fascinating to me and I think they are often very meaningful. Movies (like Inception), stories, and other media that explore the nature of dreams are some of my favorites. I have come to believe that most dreams:

• Help us process what happened that day, or
• Bring to the forefront what our deepest desires are, or  
• Are used by God to get a message to us.

So last night, I spent some time my Mom. It was sweet. It was also very familiar. Like she did so many times, she was giving me some advice. I can hear her now, telling me what she would do and why. I think this was the third type of dream, because 1) the advice was so wise, and 2) if God wanted to get my attention, yeah, hearing from my Mom would do that.

What was it about? Oh no...that's between my mother and me. And it sounds really good to say that, even if it was a dream.

Message received, Lord.

At long last

Friday night was a long time coming.

I have been a fan of Matchbox Twenty for years, but somehow I had missed seeing them in concert. Ever. I love music more than I can describe and catching a live concert is one of my favorite things in the world. I've been blessed to see more of my favorite artists than I can possibly list. (I started to try, and then gave up. Thank the Lord for the backspace key.) Some of them several times. But never Matchbox Twenty.

They are a favorite for several reasons. The melodies that Rob Thomas writes stick in your brain, and have a way of being likable the first time I hear them. The lyrics on many songs dig deep into the human condition and ask all the right questions about who we are, what motivates us, and what haunts us. Sometimes the lyrics even give a picture of the answers to those questions - intentionally or not.

On example of all this is their latest release, called Our Song. I liked it the first time I heard it. And the lyrics...

I don't know if someone else could handle me

I don't know what I'm supposed to be

You're the only one who really sees...you get me. 

Don't we all want someone like that, who gets us?

But you know what? Mostly it's just fun music. It's music that I associate with how much I love spending time with my nieces and nephew, because we've spent countless hours listening to their music on road trips. It's fun.

And then there's Bright Lights. A few years ago I took a shot at making a list of my five favorite songs. Sure, a list like that will change over time. But it made the list. I consider it the perfect rock ballad. And so this moment was the highlight of their concert:



Wow!

Awesome, awesome night. But I've failed to mention: they shared the evening with another iconic group, Goo Goo Dolls. And it was a new song from them that had lyrics that had me thinking even as my head hit the pillow.

And that will be the subject of my next post..............