Something is Always Wrong
Back in my grad school days at Millersville University, the rock band "Toad the Wet Sprocket" (TTWS) came through M.U. to do a show then head out. Nearly great bands seem consigned to the college and club circuit, like the first ring of Limbo in Dante's Inferno.
I am sure that there is an interesting tale as to how this band came to name itself "Toad the Wet Sprocket." Uncharacteristically, I am not going to pursue finding this out...instead I am going to savor the mystery for a spell.
TTWS's best known song is "Something is Always Wrong." Yesterday, while labeling and stuffing over 1,000 enveloped at my high school, I heard this song on Pandora/my I-Phone. Before leaving home, I wisely decided to pack my earbuds so I could listen to music while doing the drudgery. Learned that lesson from my dishwashing days...music makes the mendaciously mundane tolerable.
Considering how I am feeling about my Ph.D./Dissertation right now, this tune might as well be my theme song. Sending out letter to parents about the research, hence the labeling and stuffing of the envelopes, is my attempt to perform CPR on the work that appears to be suffocating on an apathetic lack of air (interest). Not one to give up, I plan to breathe my air of care into the lungs of the school body and community until it comes to...last night, a parent commended me for my "patience and persistence" on not giving up. So, there are signs of life.
A story about this song "Something is Always Wrong" came to my mind as I hummed along. I recalled that the lead singer at the concert told a tale about when the band went to record this song at the studio. He shared that when they went do so, they found all of their equipment stolen.
Here is the liner notes about the incident:
"It's a good thing we decided to record acoustically because the day before the session our rehearsal space had been broken into and all our gear was stolen. So with borrowed guitars and shakers, and a lot of help from our friend, Bruce Winter, we proceeded. The recording was punctuated by the filling out of police reports and dusting for fingerprints, all of which added an ironic element in light of the song's lyrical content."
As an acoustic song, the "realness" of the message and music is clear. Knowing the back story, makes the ironic twist even more interesting. I think that the song was better for the theft...it provided an emotional umph. TTWS is a great band...one that deserves better.
Often, when we encounter trouble and adversity, we start to think that God is asleep in the bottom of the boat (Mark 4:38) as if faith can develop in a still pool, while we are on our favorite flotation device, drinking something cool, as we are listening to Pandora on our I-Pod/earbuds. God's goal in the sailing is to go from fear to faith. We have to be in waters of fear before faith (real faith) can grip us. Am I fearful about the Dissertation? You betcha...and angry, frustrated, and defeated at times. Yet, I soldier on.
True, maybe God is absent from the work. It is a possibility that He has done an Ichabod (1 Sam 4: 19-22). However, I have faith that God is in this work as I have spent many years on this journey. There have been many storms in the past that God has seen me through. And, He will see me through this lack of wind, while the harbor is in sight. I plan to row like mad and pray that the Holy Spirit will come and gust. May it be so.
Will you join me in my boat of prayer?
I am sure that there is an interesting tale as to how this band came to name itself "Toad the Wet Sprocket." Uncharacteristically, I am not going to pursue finding this out...instead I am going to savor the mystery for a spell.
TTWS's best known song is "Something is Always Wrong." Yesterday, while labeling and stuffing over 1,000 enveloped at my high school, I heard this song on Pandora/my I-Phone. Before leaving home, I wisely decided to pack my earbuds so I could listen to music while doing the drudgery. Learned that lesson from my dishwashing days...music makes the mendaciously mundane tolerable.
Considering how I am feeling about my Ph.D./Dissertation right now, this tune might as well be my theme song. Sending out letter to parents about the research, hence the labeling and stuffing of the envelopes, is my attempt to perform CPR on the work that appears to be suffocating on an apathetic lack of air (interest). Not one to give up, I plan to breathe my air of care into the lungs of the school body and community until it comes to...last night, a parent commended me for my "patience and persistence" on not giving up. So, there are signs of life.
A story about this song "Something is Always Wrong" came to my mind as I hummed along. I recalled that the lead singer at the concert told a tale about when the band went to record this song at the studio. He shared that when they went do so, they found all of their equipment stolen.
Here is the liner notes about the incident:
"It's a good thing we decided to record acoustically because the day before the session our rehearsal space had been broken into and all our gear was stolen. So with borrowed guitars and shakers, and a lot of help from our friend, Bruce Winter, we proceeded. The recording was punctuated by the filling out of police reports and dusting for fingerprints, all of which added an ironic element in light of the song's lyrical content."
As an acoustic song, the "realness" of the message and music is clear. Knowing the back story, makes the ironic twist even more interesting. I think that the song was better for the theft...it provided an emotional umph. TTWS is a great band...one that deserves better.
Often, when we encounter trouble and adversity, we start to think that God is asleep in the bottom of the boat (Mark 4:38) as if faith can develop in a still pool, while we are on our favorite flotation device, drinking something cool, as we are listening to Pandora on our I-Pod/earbuds. God's goal in the sailing is to go from fear to faith. We have to be in waters of fear before faith (real faith) can grip us. Am I fearful about the Dissertation? You betcha...and angry, frustrated, and defeated at times. Yet, I soldier on.
True, maybe God is absent from the work. It is a possibility that He has done an Ichabod (1 Sam 4: 19-22). However, I have faith that God is in this work as I have spent many years on this journey. There have been many storms in the past that God has seen me through. And, He will see me through this lack of wind, while the harbor is in sight. I plan to row like mad and pray that the Holy Spirit will come and gust. May it be so.
Will you join me in my boat of prayer?
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