Born to Break the Chains

I heard a song the other day while listening to my favorite radio station, K-Love.  I'm terrible at understanding lyrics with just my ear, so I always catch parts of a song--missing the point of it until I later go home and google the lyrics.  Well, this was one of those songs.  The artist was singing about birthdays, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what birthdays had to do with Christianity.  So I looked up the lyrics, and nearly fell to the floor as I understood the meaning of the song.  It's absolutely beautiful.

If you get a chance, look at the lyrics to Casting Crown's "Just Another Birthday" by clicking here.

Then take a moment to watch this video featuring the lead singer, Mark Hall:

What a precious Daddy that young girl has.  Mark was right when he explained we all need a loving father figure to pour into us, making us feel secure and safe.  This truly is one of the staples to a solid life, and those without it are far more likely to crumble.

In the lyrics posted above, we walk through a young girl's life, up until the age of twenty-one.  She first tells us of how heartbroken she was when her Daddy never showed up.  Then we see her again a few years later.  She has tried to fill this huge void in her heart with everything possible--sports, friends, alcohol, boys, even sex.  I for one can't blame her for doing this.  She used logical sense to turn towards the things that the world says "make it all better."  She is trying to fill her desire for a father.

At the end of the song, this young mother is watching her daughter laugh and play at her birthday party.  Thanking God for his grace and redemption, she whispers softly to herself, "You are my happy birthday, and you were born to break the chains."

This young girl may or may not know her father either, but her mother has a heavenly hope that surpasses all question and doubt that this young life will survive.  Her mom found the way to peace and restoration, and through that she will train up her child.  This is breaking the cycle.  

You see, the young mother in the song faced many choices throughout her life.  One of those choices was to keep her baby or abort it.  Another could have been to accept the bible study invitation her friend extended to her.  And one of the most important decisions she had, was the one to choose God.  Not just the safe, Americanized Christian God who asks us to go to church on Sunday and be nice to one anther.  No, this woman chose the real thing.

She wanted a God with passion and intimacy.  A God who wants to love her through and through to the very depths of her soul.  A God whose grace humbled her to the point of brokenness, so broken, in fact, that she remained that way until he walked her through the long and bitter-sweet healing process.  

This is the God who filled her void.  This is the God who made her whole and new again, the God who gave her hope and life to pass on to her children, regardless of her circumstances or income.  This woman chose to be a cycle breaker.  She chose to break the cycle of fatherless homes in her family.  No longer did she want to follow in the mistakes of those before her.  This time, she would choose differently, and she would choose right--a decision that will affect her family for generations to come.

Rise up cycle-breakers.

How will you choose?

Da Truth- Fourplay

Music: Rock & Rap

Welcome to MEDIA MONTH!!! We are going to start of with Music Week. This week we are going to examine all different types of music and how they relate to our relationship with God. :)

Today we are going to look at a few popular Rock and Rap songs and examine the lyrics and what the message being sent really is. I think we all struggle with understanding what we are actually supporting through the media. We tend to just agree with whatever is catchy or entertaining, but this is one of the devil’s tactics he uses to separate us from God.

This first song my roommate enlightened me on. It came out in the 90’s so some of you may or may not remember it. This song is also pretty deep about what it is saying, so I would recommend the 16+ crowd to check out this one, and the next ones are more for everyone.

Before last night, if I would have heard this song on the radio I probably would have turned it up and sang along with the chorus, thinking nothing other than, “gee, this was such a happy song.” But when my roommate showed me the lyrics, I was appalled. Check this out.

First verse:

“She says she lives for me.” [You should NEVER live for someone else. That leads to a path of destruction and depression.]

“She goes down on me.”

“chop another line..” [cocaine line]

Chorus:

“I want something else to get me through this.” [as in a drug]

Verse 2:

“I was taking sips of it to my nose” [snorting some kind of drug]

“Doing Crystal meth will lift you up until you break.”

“Then I bumped up and took the hit that I was given.”

“The place where I fell asleep inside of you.” [probably referring to sex.]

Verse 3:

There’s too much to type everything in the 3^rd verse, but I think if you listen you read along with the video you discovered quite a few things.

“We tripped on the urge to feel alive, but now I’m struggling to survive.”

“Nothing is all right.”

When you receive the full context of the song it breaks your heart. This is a genuinely sad song about the misery a couple finds in living. They are searching for something to make them feel better like drugs or sex, but the last verse says nothing helps and nothing is alright. How heart-retching is that? And I always thought it was a happy song..In 1997 that song went to #4 in the U.S. billboards, #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks list, and was a top 40 hit in the U.K. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Charmed_Life#Charts]

Now for a recent rap hit. “No Hands” by Waka Flocka Flame. I’m not going to say anything about it, just watch the video and ignore the catchy tune, just read the words and think about this.

DISCLAIMER: I am by NO means promoting this music or these lyrics. I am not encouraging cuss words or anything about this music. This is strictly for learning purposes and revealing how much we let the media influence us indirectly.

THIS IS WHAT WE ARE PUTTING IN OUR MIND EVERYDAY! Even if you don’t listen to it, the chances are you are around people who do. Think of this as the equivalent to reading a page with these lyrics in it. Add whatever other music you listen to and think about how many words you have put in your head in one day. If you made a book of these lyrics, I doubt you would sit down and read it.

My excuse was always that I was listening to it for the "beat." Even though we know that's a lie, if I did listen to it for the beat, the lyrics are still going into my head subconsciously. Think of the impact that is having on your thought life, your spiritual life, your actual life.

Come back tomorrow and we will take a closer look at Country music! :)