I drive a lot. I'm not sure why or how it always ends up happening, but it seems like I always end up spending a lot of my free days driving for at least an hour or two somewhere to see someone or some thing. It's been that way since college for me, really, as the job I had in school required me to drive a lot during the weekends. Driving has become something that I look forward to and enjoy because it's fairly easy going, it provides a lot of time for one to think and it's a time that I can blare and connect through music- my favorite part.
There's nothing like throwing on some of your favorite tunes and hitting the road by yourself. You don't have to stress about playing DJ or worry about what anyone else wants to listen to. You can throw your music into shuffle mode, hit skip as many times as you want and then land on something that fits exactly how you're feeling without having to worry about whether or not any one else in the car is feeling it. It's a great time to let out emotions, be honest with yourself and play steering wheel drums as loud as you want. This was something I got to do today, and there was one song in particular that I connected really well with that I never have before on an interesting level.
This afternoon during my shuffle session, the song 'The Good, the Bad, the Ugly," came on by Lecrae (no relation to the movie, 'The Good, the Bad, the Ugly). If there's one thing I like about listening to Lecrae, it's his lyrics. Sure, he's revitalized and set a new standard within the Christian hip-hop world with his style and quality of music, but more so than that, he's set a high standard of honesty within his song writing that I don't find in a lot of music. This was something that I connected with today in a new way.
As a writer, myself, I know how hard it can be to be honest in writing, especially when that writing is for other people and available for the entire world-wide-web to read. It's a place of vulnerability and a place that's hard to go to because it exposes everything to everyone. It's kind of like standing naked out in public, but instead of everyone seeing your body on display, it's your heart, mind and soul. It can be scary.
Anyway, in this song, Lecrae opens up his past for the world to see; all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly parts. He talks about the drugs he used to struggle with, the girls he used to mess around with, and even more than that, he confesses the abortion he supported in order to keep his life the way he wanted it. Really, if you stop the beat and just hear the words, it's a song of complete vulnerability and honesty, confessing to his fans, followers and friends who he once was and what he's once done.
Today was the first time I think I'd really listened to that song before, and it really meant a lot to me. As a brother in Christ, and as a man trying to live a life of honesty and accountability, to hear someone put that kind of intense messiness out for the world to see was really inspiring. It spoke to me heart and I sympathized with him, just through a song. I became aware of the fact that the Church is really full of messy people who are sometimes pretending to look clean all the time. If we were really honest about our good, bad and ugly sides, I think the Church might be closer together than it is. It's just my opinion, but I think if Christians stopped trying to look like a bunch of perfect people and instead were real and honest about our imperfections, we might begin to see more perfection.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: The good, the bad and the uglier the Church, the prettier it will be.