Well, today was the first day of 7in7. For those of you new to the idea, each fall many of my friends and I go through the exercise of writing 7 songs in 7 days. You have to start from scratch every day. And you have to finish every day. It’s a really difficult but awesome experience. And it started today.
So I’m not sure how much I’m going to blog about it this year. I think my focus needs to be on writing not blogging. But I’ll try to write at least a couple to keep you in the loop. I started on Day One with a song that’s been simmering for a while. When we were on the Austin Stone Writer’s Retreat, Aaron showed us a Polish short film called Most. It is a commonly told story about a bridge controller whose son wanders into the gears, and the father must sacrifice the son in order to save those on the train. The film is really powerful. And at the time, I really wanted to explore the idea of the grief of God, but felt it was too heavy of a topic to address without preparing both studying and praying. So I’ve been doing that.
But today was the day I dug back into the idea. I really love what came out. I just so often overlook how painful it must have been for God to sacrifice his Son. I don’t think I could do that. I don’t live in recognition of those feelings. I paint God as this selfless, emotionless being. But His selflessness actually came at great emotional cost. And most days I miss that. The song starts, “You gave Him for us, Your only child, only son.” What a huge statement, what a truth.
Thoughts?
Todd
Incredibly powerful thought and awesome start for a song…but as awesome as that is, what stuck out most in the post was you saying, “It is a commonly told story about a bridge controller whose son wanders into the gears…” Happens all the time. Ha. Good luck with the rest of the song writing.
It took me a while to grasp Jesus as man, thinking, feeling and living as we do. I think that since God is ‘larger than life’, it is not easy to comprehend that He is an emotional entity also. I just cling to my faith and rejoice in the fact that He allows me to learn more about Him and see His love and glory in my every day life.
I’ve thought about the emotional suffering of Jesus, but I don’t think I’ve ever considered the emotional cost God suffered. That’s huge! Looking forward to hearing more from you about this.
i AM A NATIVE, i RE;A;IZE THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW US. i AM A FULL-BLOODED NORTHERN CHEYENNE. OUR FAMILY ARE FULL BLOODED.IN SPIRITURUALITY. i PRAYED FOR YOU IN ESSENCE FOR THE mONKEY AND APES, YOU ARE NOT ONE! JUST ASK ME AND I WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU ARE HERE FOR.