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Well, the other day, I was listening to Only the Good Die Young by Billy Joel and these lines got my attention:

You say your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation
She never cared for me
But did she ever say a prayer for me?

Now, all the lyrics in this song criticise the church about it stance on abstinence and it’s fairly obvious that Billy Joel had no idea what he was writing about. However, these lines got me thinking that he has a point.

The church seems to be all-too-ready to judge people based on the things they do and it’s all-too-easy to turn down your nose at people who don’t attend church/aren’t Christian. But how often do we find ourselves praying for these people? Jesus told us that we should love our enemies and pray for them. What could be better than these people coming to know Jesus? I know I struggle with this, so I’m quite sure other people must, too. Instead of judging people who don’t know God, try praying for them.

Yeah, someone just linked me to this song by Disciple (a band whom I’ve never heard of before, but are apparently quite popular) which is about someone wishing they had expressed their feelings for someone before they are ‘lying there in this hospital bed’.

This song not only inspired me to write a blog post, it’s inspired me to make the most of today and to value all time spent with those whom I care about.

I’ve heard it said that one should not let a dispute/argument see the end of the day and this song just reminds me of that.

I guess I’m just trying to say: live every day like it’s your last and treat those you love like you may never talk to them again.

Song: Things Left Unsaid – Disciple (YouTube link)
Lyrics @ SongMeanings

The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot’s fourth studio album does anything but live up to it’s name (the ‘letdown’ part, at least). I find it difficult to place Switchfoot in one genre – some say they’re a Christian band (they say they’re not), some say their rock, some say pop, some say alternate rock and a few misguided people even say they’re ‘emo’.

However, that’s not important. What matters is that this album contains a wide variety of sounds and (perhaps more importantly) some of the best lyrics I’ve ever heard. For me, lyrics make a song and Switchfoot’s lyrics are excellent. Their songwriter/lead-singer, Jon Foreman, has an incredible talent which allows him to write songs about big issues in life without sounding ‘preachy’.

The album starts off with an awesome rock song called ‘Meant To Live’ which is about how far the human race has fallen ("We were meant to live for so much more! Have we lost ourselves?"), progresses to what is perhaps Switchfoot’s most famous song – a slow rock balled ‘Dare You To Move’, challenges our materialistic lifestyle in ‘Gone’ and finishes on a somber note with ‘On Fire’ and ‘Twenty-Four’.

I have no idea how many times I’ve listened to this album, but I never get tired of it. Switchfoot may not be your cup of tea, but If you haven’t heard anything by them, check out The Beautiful Letdown.