Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Oh God, don't you hear them? Their lips are burning!

These are lyrics from some friends of ours, Dignan. They are amazing, by the way. You should check them out.

Got to see them play last night in Houston. It was soooo good for my soul.

Those words summate the past week of tour, though. I noticed that in this last week of tour I was coming across so many interesting people, mostly in the state of Texas. I met people whose lives are crying out to something bigger than themselves.

The one that probably sticks out the most, was a guy that I met at our show in Ft. Worth. He invited our band to stay at his house, which was comfortably convenient after staying hotels every night. Some sense of home was much appreciated.

The next night, we played in Plano and he was at that show as well. After our set, he and I stood outside at our van and trailer and talked for about half an hour. He began to share a bit of his life story.

He told me about how he is only 18, but had been in and out of jail, how his mom disowned him when he was 15, how his mom's boyfriend abused him and how his parents turned their backs on him. Consequently, he's been an alcoholic and drug addict for some time.

And then he said a few things that I haven't been able to forget. One of the things he said was, "I have a pretty fucked up life, but I'm one of the happiest people you will ever meet, because I have my health, I'm a decently good looking guy and I have a place to live."

The day before this, my computer was stolen along with my bookbag containing a bunch of my personal belongings and I was totally bent out of shape about it. His statement put so many things in perspective.

He then told me, "I think I'm going to start going back to church, man. I mean, I think it's the least I can do for someone who's blessed me with all of this. And it's not even so much that I owe it to Him, but it's a privilege for me to be able to do this."

I was blown away. Now, many fully devoted followers of Christ would argue that God deserves more than an hour a week. And I would agree. But, man, if a kid is willing to start with an hour a week, we'll take that. That's a step in the right direction. And maybe 6 months from now, he'll be up to two hours a week. And who knows after that.

This kid is one representative of people I've met on the road. And those people are representatives of large numbers of people all over the world.

"Oh God, don't you hear them? Their lips are burning!"

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