time, tempo, trouble - and learning to fly

I've got the lyrics to one of Andrew Peterson's songs in my head this morning; it's actually, I've just discovered, a Mary Chapin Carpenter song, but I learned it from Andrew. :) It's called Why Walk When You Can Fly - and it's off his Clear to Venus album, which I would highly recommend. (shameless plug endethed.)

In this world there's a whole lot of trouble, baby
In this world there's a whole lot of pain
In this world there's a whole lot of trouble
But a whole lot of ground to gain...

Those words sum up a lot for me right now. Have you ever had one of those days where the awfulness of the Fall and of sin and its consequences just overwhelm you? I woke up in that mode, grieving over a couple of situations in my life that simply stink, and there is nothing to be done about them - they could have been avoided if we weren't all so stupid (those of us involved in them) but they couldn't have been either, because we were broken as kids by the stupidity resulting from the brokenness of other people - and so the cycle goes, all the way back through history, and here we are, broken-hearted, completely crushed, and grieving, and wondering if there's a way out... and yet knowing and trusting that there is. (That's the ground to gain, in time, by grace, mercy, love, compassion, hope...and all those good things...)

And then I look at pictures of the earthquake in China and the grief-stricken faces of the people who are hurt, broken, lost, who have lost... and I think, sheesh, Hap, what are you griping about? You have a roof over your head, food on the table, and friends and family that love you dearly. You have a job, and two ridiculously nice guitars, and more books than you have even been able to read. Sure, there's loss, and it stinks, but it's nothing like this... those poor people... and so many of them without that hope, who don't know that there's ground to gain... who don't have a home, don't have a job now because their office building collapsed, who lost people they loved, who don't know the King of Glory or the hope of heaven ... I am richly blessed, so what am I crying about?

And yet the God of all grace sees every tear, knows where it comes from, and is no less concerned for my heartache than He is for that of China...

I knew someone once who had a weird thing for Bob Dylan (depressing music, but occasionally lyrically brilliant), and the words to this song have stuck with me: Series of Dreams - this bit is my favorite:

Thinking of a series of dreams
Where the time and the tempo fly
And there's no exit in any direction
'Cept the one that you can't see with your eyes

Thank You, God that it exists... May time and tempo fly today, for all who need it to - and may we find the Way out of this broken, hopeless world (in all the ways that manifests itself), so we may fly to You. Amen.


lol... glimpse into Happy's head: I finished typing that, and all I could think was, "Fly, you fools! Fly!" - Gandalf, from one of the Lord of the Rings movies....