Month: April 2024

For an introduction and Chapter 1 go here.

Jon Foreman, Switchfoot & Me

Ch. 2 – Beautiful, Broken Humanity

Life moved forward, and more music came along with it. Switchfoot’s second album, New Way to Be Human contained more of the contemplative words I was growing to love. The title track offered a different perspective on life to consider.

Something More, a reflection of the writings of Augustine, hit again on the longing for deeper meaning in life. And since I had my first mesmerizing encounter with Augustine’s writings that year, it’s no wonder this song’s lyrics appealed to me.

To be honest though, I don’t really remember a whole lot about experiencing this album at the time of its release.  When I look back at what my life held that year, this lack of remembering is not really a surprise.

It was the year I watched my baby sister die of cancer. The year I started dating the boy who would become my husband. The year I graduated high school and moved out from home and into a new freedom living with a friend. The year I made myself ill carrying so many college credits I couldn’t think straight. The year of my first massive wrestle with faith and doubt. The year of reveling in the fun of independence. The year of my first encounter with the way stifled grief could assail a sensitive soul.

It is no wonder that the only song that really stands out from that time is Only Hope. A wildly popular movie (that was so sad I never should have watched it) made it impossible to miss this song. And though the movie featured a very beautiful version of this song by Mandy Moore, I will always go back with favor to that calm and soothing voice I was learning to love. I didn’t know the last line of this song’s chorus would come to me again and again over the years, a declaration (and sometimes a plea) of what becomes so clear in the midst of both joy and pain.

I know now You’re my only hope

And in spite of the blurry memory, I must have listened to the album more than my brain recalls, because 24 years later when life felt stripped of all hope, the chorus of Let that be Enough was the prayer that echoed in my mind. A prayer that whispered in my suffering like a gentle lullaby.

Let me know that you hear me
Let me know your touch
Let me know that you love me
Let that be enough

Amazing how God plants gifts within us, knowing what we need because He knows our story from beginning to end. And in the darkest of moments we can discover a gift that’s been sitting there waiting for us all along. Words to pray when we have no words of our own.

Words are a gift priceless beyond measure; something we often take for granted until they are not there.

One of the sorrows of many of life’s sufferings is the way it can rob us of our words. Stripped of the strength to pour them out or possibly even to take them in, we realize a vast source of sustenance has been withdrawn.

This has been my experience to some degree in recent years, and it has been a painful one. But right now it seems that cloud is lightening, and it is such a joy to find the richness of words right there waiting for me.

My relationship with words as a means of assimilating life runs deep. Lately I find myself taking in words like a ravenous soul. And the desire to pour them out is there in equal measure. However, my writing “muscle” feels weak and is stumbling to regain its footing.

To that end, I am going to attempt a little series here. A focus that has been on my mind to write about for years is feeling like a beautiful place to “take up my pen” again. I hope it may provide some encouragement for all, as well as give me a chance to explore something I deeply love and get a little mental exercise to boot!

So without further ado, here we go…

Jon Foreman, Switchfoot & Me

Chapter 1 – Meeting the Legend

Sitting cross-legged on my bed my teenage eyes scanned a CD club catalog, eagerly circling the albums that were going to arrive as my pile of CDs for a penny. I don’t know if anyone else remembers such clubs, but to me they seemed like stumbling across a treasure chest.

While choosing my selections a particular album cover caught my eye. I’d never heard of the band, and didn’t really understand the album title; but I was intrigued, so I added it to my list.

When my cache of music arrived, I found myself holding The Legend of Chin in my hands.

A voice that soothed me drew me in, and as I entered, I found the words of a budding poet who spoke to so many of my thoughts and feelings I was amazed.

Might Have Ben Hur touched a spot in my dreamy adolescent heart. Chem6A was a happy thrill to sing along with. The calming stillness of Don’t Be There and You gave me a place to rest.

And the song that held me like no other was the one that gave both expression and hope to a soul already weighed down by shadows of melancholy. Life and Love and Why put into words the struggles of my mind as I wrestled with my encounters with the darkness and light in the world. And then it affirmed the Light I had come to know; the one that overcomes the darkness.

Could it be true
Can life be new
Could it be all that I am
Is in You

Clarifying words that reminded me I was not alone as I warily set my toes onto the path life held for me.