No End At All

In case you haven't been able to tell by now, I'm a big fan of music. I've been playing/listening to music since a very early age (at least age 4 for playing, listening was surely before), and it's something that really gets me through a lot of days to keep me from going crazy. I'm one of those people that needs some kind of noise to get work done. For my noise, I prefer to have some music going, whether that be some classical orchestration, hard rock, or some quiet acoustic stuff. People that have lived with me, or been around me for any appreciable length of time, can attest to that.

It's funny how there are times when a song can really speak to an individual, and it's amazing how many times people can relate to a song when they are going through a hard time or needing something to say the words that they can't say themselves, or simply going through their day. Of course, the music doesn't even need to have words to make an impact. I can still remember a song that I had playing when I was reading The Hobbit what seems like forever ago when I was still in middle school. The "New World Symphony" by Antonin Dvorak was playing while I was reading a section of that novel, and now whenever I re-read that book or see something that reminds of it, I can think of that song playing while I was reading it. They've essentially merged in my mind. It's the soundtrack to that part of my life.

There have been many other instances for me personally. Matchbox Twenty's "Mad Season" was the first album that I bought with my own money. Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony 3rd Movement is perhaps some of the most gorgeous music ever composed, and most heart-breaking if you listen to it under sad circumstances. My favorite piece of all time to play for an audience is the Mephisto Waltz by Franz Liszt. The favorite piece to play for myself is something much slower, the Barcarolle by Frederic Chopin. I woke up to a song affectionately called "The Butterfly Song" by one Josh Murphy for an entire semester my sophomore year. When I make a CD mix I like to start it with a rocker, and end with a slow, introspective song. My first impression of a movie is usually based on the soundtrack. If I'm needing to create a slide-show or some other presentation that can use music, I probably spend more time picking what I deem to be the perfect song than I do putting the show together. I guess it's just how I'm wired.

So all that build up to get to the point of saying that I recently got a new album (for $5 actually) by a Christian group called Disciple. One of the really cool things that they do, is in the liner notes where they put the lyrics for their songs, they place scripture references for each of their songs that show where they got the inspiration for the message of that song. For this particular song (the title of this post), they referenced Romans 8:38-39 that says "38)For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39)neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The lyrics for the chorus go like this:

Feel this grace shining in, There's nowhere that you've not
Walked with me on, carried me on
There is nowhere I can go,
Even in the depths of the sea, You're not too far away
When I wake, when I sleep, You are capturing me
With a love that knows no end at all.

It's a good reminder in times when it's easy to forget. Everything of this world is short-lived. It only lasts for an instant. God's love, however, will last forever. In times when things feel like they're never going to end, just remember that everything in this world will end. What matters is what doesn't.