Just another Saturday?

Good evening.

This post is being typed off the cuff.  What do I mean by that?  It will most likely be disjointed and not include all of the details that I set out to include originally...  whatever.  I hope it can spawn some conversation and more importantly, action.

My hope is not to offend anyone, but rather to offer a post to think, to ask questions, be it of yourself, me, God or a local preacher man or whatever.  If I do offend anyone, I pray that it's not because of an idea that I've poorly conveyed, but rather an area of your life where you KNOW IN YOUR HEART you can do better.

This may end up being quite long... I really have no idea at this point. Let's go...

I'm home alone tonight and had planned to play guitar, and quite loudly, but still have not gotten around to that for various reasons and that's mostly why I'm writing this.  It's 9pm and I should be heading to bed but something is bothering me...

This weekend, Saturday March 17th, Sunday, March 18th, saw me and my family, my beautiful and gorgeous bride Lesley and our two sons Robby and Caleb, heading up North to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  It's spring break from school so Momma and the boys are going to to stay up there until Friday when my mother-in-law will return them to me next Friday as she's coming down for a separate event.

We had an open invite via facebook to see my cousins' husbands band play at a bar in Manly, Iowa.  Roughly a 1/2 hour from the in-laws house. We decided that we would leave our house late Saturday morning after my Bible study and breakfast at home to stop at Momma's cousins house to let the kids get together and play and the adults to have a little catch-up time. We would then proceed to G'ma & G'pa's house for supper and head out sometime later for the metropolis known as Manly, Iowa.

We executed that plan to a 'T', as they say.  On our path North from Pleasant Hill, we started listening to a book on cd called, Erasing Hell, by Francis Chan & Preston Sprinkle.  The subtitle of the book is "what God said about eternity, and the things we've made up".

I will say that after the first 15 minutes of the book, rougly speaking, I wasn't sure I wanted to proceed, but knew we had to and deep down, really wanted to.

We did.

Again, some clarity.  I'm not going get into the guts of this book (you should for yourselves!!) but rather a series of events that rattled me a bit and in turn, influenced my current typing/ramblings.

So we're listening to disc one and Preston Sprinkle, one of the authors who is also reading this book for the recording, is discussing various different authors' perceptions of hell, and says that "A happier portrait of hell was painted by the band AC/DC, who said that “hell ain’t a bad place to be”–it’s where all our friends are.".

 It's clear at this point that neither Chan nor Spencer is a big AC/DC fan. I believe the song that they're truly trying to refer to is "Highway To Hell", but that's splitting hairs.

Regardless of what song it is, the band is the same and so is the message.  The song Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be is from the album Let There Be Rock. This was the fourth non-KISS album that I purchased.  You see, I was a huge KISS fan back in 1982 when I purchased Def Leppard's High N' Dry album as my first non-KISS record.  My second non-KISS record was Ozzy Osbournes Diary Of A Madman only a couple of months before the plane crash that would claim guitarist Randy Rhoads' life.  The fourth non-KISS album that I purchased with my paper route money was AC/DC's Let There Be Rock, which contained the song Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be.

To be 100% honest and forthcoming, I was born and raised Catholic, though I never took any of it too seriously (religion in general, that is, not just Catholicism).  That being said, I've always had a little bit of a nagging feeling that I shouldn't be listening to that song, or songs like it.  I argued, to myself mostly, that lyrics themselves weren't harmful if you had the proper upbringing.  After all, it was the music that I was listening too, not the lyrics.

That song, Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be, seems to be mostly about a woman of ill repute who isn't treating a man, of equal, uhhh... "repute", as he wishes to be treated.  I think the "artist" is referring more to a man-made "hell on earth" as opposed to a post-life destination for punishment.

Now the song Highway To Hell is a different story altogether.  I believe this is actually the song that the authors are referring too. Here the singer and chief lyricist, Bon Scott, says, "Going down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too... I'm on the highway to hell".

A small discrepency to be sure and the point is not lost.  Now, back to the point.

We go to see the band play on Saturday night.  We arrive at the bar at an hour when we would normally be getting ready for bed.  It was roughly 8:30pm.  There were plenty of people standing outside of the The Thirsty Dog, as there is no smoking in the bars now. We walk up and pay our cover charge, proceed inside and find a lone barstool where we will set up shop for the next 3+ hours of our lives.

When my cousin and her husband, a guitarist in the band that we are going to see, spot us, we have a brief discussion and then part ways for the opening band.  After the opening band does their thing, we convene briefly again and I ask what kind of stuff they're set list consist of?

He invites me back to see a beautiful Paul Reed Smith guitar that my cousin (his wife) got him for a birthday present and shows me the set list. To my surprise and utter disbelief, the song, Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be, is in the second set!!

I have not heard this song in a good many years and now I've heard it brought up in a book where I'm attempting to advance my knowledge of the Bible, and a band I'm going to see on St. Patty's day (talk about irony!!!) and it occurs on the same day...

I'm dumbfounded, to say the least.

Not only am I offended by the language used by the bands on stage and by the actions of some of the folks witnessing the band, I am reminded, quite pointedly, of my own past.  Playing in these types of bands and participating in this type of lifestyle.  The desire to live this kind of life.  The thinking that all of this crap was in some way "cool".

I've introduced many people to this kind of music (and many others!) and defended it vehemently while being either embarrassed or ashamed to introduce people to Jesus, the gospel or the Bible in general.

I suck. I am ashamed...  to tears.

The dichotomy of this past Saturday was, and still is, staggering and as I do not really believe in coincidence, a punch in my pretty little face.  (ahem...)

The message that my beautiful and gorgeous bride has written on our bulletin board is like a flashing beacon everyday as I walk by it, "Imagine what you want your kids to become  -  be that".


As a Christian, I've got work to do.  We all do. In light of my recent post, Mortality, time is of the essence.

The Bible is our blueprint for life.

The next election is not important.  Gas prices are not the most compelling issue in our lives. Which college we did/did not go to bears no importance. Whether or not the U.S.A. is involved in the U.N. is not important. Who wins the mis-named Superbowl or World Series is surely not important.  What we eat for supper tomorrow night is not important.  What kind of car we drive is not important. What kind of guitar/amp I play is not important.  Where we live is not important. What style of music we play in church is not important.  What we do for a living or where we work is not important.

Before I worry about any of this other stuff, most of which should be considered blessings, I hereby pledge to immerse myself in the Word of God and encourage you all to do the same.

I encourage questions, feedback (positive or negative), encouragement, or whatever else.

We are lost.  Time is of the essence.