Harry Chapin was a folk singer who was popular in the early 1970s. When I would listen to his songs when I ws in my early 20's, I noticed his songs were stories about life. I knew many of his songs word for word, but not until I was in Dr. Bennett's class on Ecclesiastes and had to relate it to everyday life did Harry Chapin's words take on new meaning to me.
Cat's in the Cradle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHdVEk1tHco
A child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."
My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."
Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."
I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind.
"He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."
"Cats in the Cradle" is a song about a man caught up in his job and he finds that he misses all the pleasures of seeing his son grow up. Now he is an old man and his son is too busy to spend time with him. "My boy was just like me." The message is, take time to enjoy the gifts from God.
Circle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu9dfdYCZhM
The above performance was given in Hamilton, ONT. Harry would die 11 months later. My understanding is that this was his last recorded concert. Here are the lyrics:
Circle
All my life's a circle;
Sunrise and sundown; (Ecclesiastes 1:5)
Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
Till the daybreak comes around.
All my life's a circle;
But I can't tell you why;
Season's spinning round again;
The years keep rollin' by.
It seems like I've been here before;
I can't remember when;
But I have this funny feeling;
That we'll all be together again.
No straight lines make up my life; (Ecc. 1:15, 7:13)
And all my roads have bends;
There's no clear-cut beginnings;
And so far no dead-ends.
Chorus
I found you a thousand times;
I guess you done the same;
But then we lose each other;
It's like a children's game;
As I find you here again;
A thought runs through my mind;
Our love is like a circle;
Let's go 'round one more time.
The words to "Circle" reflect many points that we have studied in Ecclesiastes. While I have no idea if Harry Chapin was a student of the Bible, I have seen that many of his songs are a mirror of life, and the Bible is the book of life. The first few lines of "Circle" seem to resemble the ongoing nature of life. In the second verse of the song, I see Chapin singing about how he can't see the future or change the future. I see the sovereignty of God here - the singer is not in control.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Vanity of Possessions
I remember my sophomore year at Nyack. I began to seek God and ask him "Lord, why is it that signs and wonders aren't being manifested in my life?" I really wanted to be able to walk into the fullness of what God had for me, but I couldn't understand why this was something that seemed so far away from me.
One day, I was laying prostrate in my room praying, and God began to speak to me. He said
One day, I was laying prostrate in my room praying, and God began to speak to me. He said
"It grieves me that you can walk into a clothes, and stand for 15 mintues deciding what you will or will not where when there are people on the other side of the world who don't have a 2 pair of shoes to wear. Your identity is NOT found in what you where...your identity is found in me!"
That really hit and convicted me. Where I came from (Brooklyn...holla) fashion is everything. Unless you don't have the latest Jordans on your feet, your a nobody. However, in the midst of my college experience, God began to deal with me about this and make it plain to me that part of my identity was found in things that have no real value. Qoheleth would call it vanity. I loved the response that people would give me when I'd come out my room with something fresh and costly every day. It made me feel good, affirmed me. I found myself thriving off of that attention until i'd wait so long to decide what to put on in the mornings that I'd be late for class. I wanted to fully into the anointing of God with bypassing this issue in my life, and God called me on it.
How many of us have this struggle? I know I did. But, in the midst of that I thank God that i was able to go to the Phillipines and see real poverty. I was able to see what it's truly like to live in the slums and not have clothes, nor running water. It shocked me, and now...my identity isn't found in what I wear, but in whom he's has made me to be through what his son has done.
We've All Got Wood and Nails
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A36I4L31Hzc
This song and video I've been listening to the past week or so. The lyrics caught me off hand, and very musch so, describe the position I am in at the moment. The song talks about being in a place of complete hopelessness, brokeness, and anger. I feel the artist is talking about how much he is striving for Christ but feels like he does not deserve to find him. He feels like nothing he does in this life is good enough or will mean a thing when he is gone. This feeling that nothing will matter when it's over reminds me of Ecclesiastes 9:5-6.
"The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered. Whatever they did in their lifetime - loving, hating, envying - is all long gone. They no longer play a part in anything here on earth."
This song and video I've been listening to the past week or so. The lyrics caught me off hand, and very musch so, describe the position I am in at the moment. The song talks about being in a place of complete hopelessness, brokeness, and anger. I feel the artist is talking about how much he is striving for Christ but feels like he does not deserve to find him. He feels like nothing he does in this life is good enough or will mean a thing when he is gone. This feeling that nothing will matter when it's over reminds me of Ecclesiastes 9:5-6.
"The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered. Whatever they did in their lifetime - loving, hating, envying - is all long gone. They no longer play a part in anything here on earth."
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Book of Ecclesiastes Sculpture in the Gilgal Garden and the Almond Tree
- The picture is of the rock for the Gilgal Grasshopper, it was carved from a boulder at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was carved by Thomas Child. He represented parts of Ecclesiastes 12 in his carvings.
~The almond tree -"The almond tree shall flourish." 12:5
~The grasshopper -"The grasshopper shall be a burden" 12:5
~The engraved knot -"The silver cord be loosed or the golden bow be broken." 12:6
~The brown pitcher -"The pitcher be broken at the fountain." 12:6
~The broken wheel inside the little hut -"The wheel broken at the cistern." 12:6
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Hurt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO9dbmJ_2zU
A Cool Old Man
Johnny Cash was a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Primarily a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many genres including rockabilly, rock and roll, blues, gospel and folk. He was known for his distinctive bass-baritone voice and was known by his nick name “the man in black”. He traditionally started his concerts with the introduction "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash". Much of Cash's music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption. He sold over 90 million albums in his nearly fifty-year career and came to occupy a commanding position in music history. In 1997 he was diagnosed to have autonomic neuropathy secondary to diabetes. His album American IV (2002) contained Cash's response to his illness in the form of songs of a more somber tone. The video that was released for “Hurt” a cover of the song by Nine Inch Nails, fit Cash's view of his past and feelings of regret. The video for the song, from American IV, is now generally recognized as his epitaph and received particular critical and popular acclaim. (Information taken from Wikipedia)
Eccleciastes 2:10-11 says, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun.”
This video showed a life full of talent, acclaim, wealth, fame, success and almost everything one can ever dream of, yet at the end of his life one cannot help but deeply feel that this life also had its large share of sorrows and regrets. Indeed, “there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work (3:22)… it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him – for this is his lot… Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work – this is a gift of God.” (5:18-19).
“Death is the destiny of every man” (7:2) all of us living should take this to heart. So what are we to do: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13)
A Cool Old Man
Johnny Cash was a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Primarily a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many genres including rockabilly, rock and roll, blues, gospel and folk. He was known for his distinctive bass-baritone voice and was known by his nick name “the man in black”. He traditionally started his concerts with the introduction "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash". Much of Cash's music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption. He sold over 90 million albums in his nearly fifty-year career and came to occupy a commanding position in music history. In 1997 he was diagnosed to have autonomic neuropathy secondary to diabetes. His album American IV (2002) contained Cash's response to his illness in the form of songs of a more somber tone. The video that was released for “Hurt” a cover of the song by Nine Inch Nails, fit Cash's view of his past and feelings of regret. The video for the song, from American IV, is now generally recognized as his epitaph and received particular critical and popular acclaim. (Information taken from Wikipedia)
Eccleciastes 2:10-11 says, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun.”
This video showed a life full of talent, acclaim, wealth, fame, success and almost everything one can ever dream of, yet at the end of his life one cannot help but deeply feel that this life also had its large share of sorrows and regrets. Indeed, “there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work (3:22)… it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him – for this is his lot… Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work – this is a gift of God.” (5:18-19).
“Death is the destiny of every man” (7:2) all of us living should take this to heart. So what are we to do: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Contentment
Ecclesiastes 5:10
Whoever loves money never has money enough;
Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless.
Adam Sandler plays Michael Newman, a workaholic architect who finds a remote control that lets him change parts of his past and future. He was always using it because he was never satisfied. He finally realized at the end that he already had a great life and family.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-19
18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.
Instead of wanting more and more, be content with the things that God has blessed us with.
Whoever loves money never has money enough;
Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless.
Adam Sandler plays Michael Newman, a workaholic architect who finds a remote control that lets him change parts of his past and future. He was always using it because he was never satisfied. He finally realized at the end that he already had a great life and family.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-19
18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.
Instead of wanting more and more, be content with the things that God has blessed us with.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
What Friends Are For
Ecclesiastes 4:9-11
9Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
As I was reading through this week’s reading in Ecclesiastes, I read over the verse above, probably over and over. Here I am reminded by God that I am not able to things by myself. God did not create me to be myself but to have other people to be a part of my life. This weekend some of the Hmong girls had a get together to provide encouragement and have fellowship. Sometimes we get so involved in our busy lives and that we forget to see each other’s struggle. This weekend’s gathering was a reminder that we are not alone. There are sister’s on campus and at home who wishes to help each other in our times of struggle.
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