Child of the 80’s or the Kingdom?

Similar to everyone in life, I’m embracing my age on an annual basis. It’s an interesting facet of life, isn’t it? One year is hardly enough time to really, truly realize your age and more so, to fully realize the experiences that you have while you are that age. Maybe this recent encounter – flashback would be more like it – will help connect the dots.

My newest interest has been making playlists on my iPod. I know, I know…you wondering just how slow I am? Well, I am a slow learner, but that’s not the point. The point is, as ‘mix tapes’ were to me in the 80’s – so goes the playlists on my iPod now! Seriously, there IS an art to a quality mix-tape and the same goes for an iPod playlist. It’s obvious by now: I’m a child of the 80’s.

On a recent trip home, I was sitting in the Phoenix airport waiting for my connection and I felt this real sense of urgency to make an 80’s playlist. Everything song you can think of – within reason (and budget). So, I got onto iTunes music store and began selecting songs and downloading. First song, “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins. Second song, “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds (classic drum fill – a must have). Third song, “Things Can Only Get Better” by Howard Jones. And the list went on and on. The verdict is still not in on my 80s jams playlist, which basically means my wife hasn’t heard it yet. ;)

Once the plane was in the air, I got out my iPod and decided to take a listen to my new playlist. Every song took me back in time to places that I hadn’t been in a while. Good times and bad times. When the song “Things Can Only Get Better” came on, I started remembering back to a trip my family took to Florida. We were visiting my grandparents. I had a mix tape that I was listening to on my Sony Walkman and it was made up of songs that I had recorded off the radio. One of those songs was “Things Can Only Get Better”. The song just put me in a good mood then…and as I began to realize on this plane, it was doing it now as well.

In the middle of passive listening, I became active when I heard Howard Jones sing, “And do you feel scared? I do, but I won’t stop and falter. And if we throw it all away, things can only get better.”

I immediately paused my iPod and felt like I REALLY needed to listen to these words.

I started the song over and started listening very closely to the words. This was something I had not done in 1985, probably because I was in seventh grade at the time. Whatever the case, this song was stirring my thought process.

Is it possible that my attraction to this song in 1985, even without really knowing the words was something God knew I would revisit in order to confirm a Kingdom principle I’m dealing with in 2007?

While listening closely to the words of this song, all I could hear is another ‘hit song’ (the Gospel…if you will). “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39 TNIV) Howard Jones’ song is about surrender. It’s about the theology of weakness. It’s about the one of the things that we share as humanity: brokenness. It’s about the path to wholeness and initiating the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. It’s about surrender.

Check out the lyrics:

Were not scared to lose it all, security throw through the wall.
Future dreams we have to realize.
A thousand skeptic hands won’t keep us from the things we plan,
unless were clinging to the things we prize

And do you feel scared? I do, but I wont stop and falter.
And if we threw it all away, things can only get better.

Treating today as though it was the last, the final show.
Get to sixty and feel no regret.
It may take a little time, a lonely path, an uphill climb.
Success or failure will not alter it.

And do you feel scared? I do, but I wont stop and falter.
And if we threw it all away, things can only get better.

The words create tension by challenging us to face our fears and at the same time encourage us to unify and build community around that same fear. The words are convicting and yet the music feels like a celebration. It’s a beautiful paradox. Remind you of something? Better yet, remind you of Someone?

Henri Nouwen wrote these words when reflecting on Jesus: “We are living in this short time. We can live in it creatively when we live it…detached from the results of our work. And when we live it…crying with those who weep and wail. But it is the expectation of his return which molds our solitude and care into a preparation for the day of great joy.”

It is in surrender that we find security.
It is in fear that we find courage.
It is in weakness and vulnerability that we find strength.
It is in dying that we are born.

If you and I can throw it all away for the sake of showing this world a new community - a new humanity, things can only get better.

We WILL be the salt.
We WILL be the light.
We WILL be the makers of peace.
We WILL be the very thing that creation longs for.

Our calling is invigorating and altogether frightening. Do you feel scared? I do. But I won’t stop and falter.

So, what about this encounter connects the dots?

I find it really interesting that a song that I loved when I was 14-years-old (and wasn’t really paying attention to any of the words, I just loved the groove) is NOW speaking volumes to me 21 years later. It’s just another reminder that even though I really didn’t know Jesus in 1985, He knew me. Even though I consider myself a child of the 80’s, He cleared the way for me to be a child of God – a citizen of His Kingdom and a son of God.