thought inspired by tenth ave north... and it has nothing to do with them. haha.

02.11.10

Ok, had a pretty cool thought, but I need to explain how it came about first... :)

One of my favoritist bands... (...favoritist? Is that a word? If it wasn’t before, it is now, cuz I said so...and that’s good enough... right? :) ) Right. Anyway, one of my favoritist bands, Tenth Avenue North put out their debut album almost 2 years ago, and I love them. A lot. They are awesome, so check them out., of you haven’t. NOW! ;p So needless to say, that upon hearing the news yesterday that their new album is going to be called The Light Meets The Dark, and its gonna come out in May, well lets just say I've been thinking about them a lot more than I usually do within the past few hours.

Which triggered, among many, a thought. Not just any thought, mind you, but something special. Something cool I had never thought of before. Something, well deep, if you will. Well, maybe not deep, but still, cool nevertheless.

I'm sure you all have probably heard the saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Well, can we apply that to music for a minute? (Hang on, hang on, you'll see how this all ties in and gets deep here in a bit, just hang with me)

So, beauty is in the ear of the hearer. Not as poetic, but whatever. You get it.

I think in the case of Tenth Avenue North though, beauty is in the ears of anyone who HAS ears. (like I said, getting to the deep part, just haaaannngggg on, you impatient little... person! ;) )

Not just from a musical standpoint, like, Mike has this awesome, expressive voice (which is true), or those beats are super catchy and insanely fun (also true), or the statement that every song on the album is kinda like a stress reliever, but better (also true, and getting to the deep part now).

But from a message standpoint. What are these lyrics proclaiming?
The Gospel.
Truth.
Love.
Hope.
Peace.
Freedom.

See where I'm going with this? What are those things? Beautiful. Beautiful to all who hear and believe.

Just look at the chorus of 'Love is Here':

"Love is here, love is now, love is pouring from his hands, from his brow. Love is near, it satisfies. Streams of mercy flowing from His side."

So beauty, not necessarily 'pretty', beauty, but beautiful, in the sense of, well, the Gospel, love, mercy, life!

So, beauty (the gospel) is in the ear of anyone who HAS ears.

Are you getting this?

" Then Jesus said, ' He who has ears to hear, let him hear" – Mark 4:9 (NIV)

" If anyone has hears to hear, let him hear" – Mark 4:23 (NIV)

Strange how Jesus would say this TWICE in one chapter, SEVEN times in all four Gospels. (Matt 11:15, Matt 13:9, Matt 13:43, Mark 4:9, Mark 4: 23, Luke 8:8, Luke 14:35.) (NIV) I guess he really meant it, huh?

I feel like this should just be enough said, but somehow I know it isn't.
The gospel is in the ear of anyone who has ears.

All we have to do is HEAR IT! That is IT, friends. That is it.

So... I guess the first three paragraphs aren’t really necessary, but it kinda sets you up.

All I'm really trying to say is that it's not like we have to strain to hear God's voice in our lives. All we have to do is just listen. I think sometimes we don’t want to hear what God has to say, because we know what he's gonna say, and we don’t like what he's gonna say. That doesn’t mean He's not speaking.
Look at it like this: Just because I mentally checked out when my mom told me to clean my room, doesn’t mean she didn’t tell me to clean my room! It does mean that eventually my room will be a total mess because I never picked things up. (And I'll probably get grounded. But that's besides the point)
God is talking.
All we have to do is sit and hear His voice.

So um, what started this anyway?

Oh yea, I was talking about my favoritist band, Tenth Avenue North, and telling you how Mike quoted one (or is it all) those verses in an interview...

Oh wait, what'd you say? I didn’t tell you that already? Oh, well, I guess I left that lil' detail out. Well, now you know. :)

love and prayers always,

Angie
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"He who has an ear to hear, Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" Revelation 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, & 3:22 (NIV)

Yup, it’s word for word, every single verse.

Are you surprised?

Don’t be. God does things like that when He wants us to get something.