Broken

First off, I know what you're thinking: another Jack Johnson blog?  Well, music is something that I can relate to.  I've been playing music ever since I can remember, and plus, you can never have too much Jack Johnson.  The song that I want to talk about this time is a song called Broken.  The song talks about Jack and another person, although it is never revealed who Jack Johnson is talking about.  We can get a lot from it by a line from the chorus though.  The chorus is: "Without you I was broken, but I'd rather be broke down with you by my side."

The question is, who is the 'you' that Jack Johnson is talking about?  Without out this person, he was broken, but even if he is broken, he'd rather have this person there.  So I ask myself who am I broken without?  Well a few answers come to mind: my family and friends are two big ones, but those only cover some aspects of my 'broken-ness.'  The one person that we are all truly broken without is Jesus Christ.

We are completely broken without him.  Acts 4:12 reads, "..for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."  It is only in and through Christ that we can return to live with God.  Even with him in our lives, we will still face some "breakdowns."  It's inevitable.  But remember, without him we are broken, but we'd much rather be broke down with him by our side.  When we have those breakdowns, He'll be there to lift us up and to help us through it.  May we always strive to have him by our side.

Saturday's Gone?

One of my favorite musicians, Jack Johnson, wrote a song called Taylor which not only is a catchy song, but it has great lyrics as well.  There is one line that sticks out to me every time I listen to it though.  It says, "He thinks that singing on Sunday's gonna save his soul, now that Saturday's gone."  This line gets me thinking about what religion is, and how big of a role should it play in our lives.

Let's start with the first question, what is religion?  My first thoughts would be something you believe.  As I pondered more and more about it, I realized that it's much more than just a belief.  Religion is something you live.  It's a way of life. 

Now for the second question, how big of a role should religion play in our lives?  My first thoughts are we have church on Sunday and occasionally a youth group activity in the middle of the week.  Those are the things that involve going to church, but do we have to physically go to the church for it to have an impact in our lives?  Absolutely not.  We have to take the things we learn there and apply them to our lives to help others and ourselves.

Matthew 7:21 reads, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."  We must live our religion in order to enter into the Kingdom of heaven, not just believe it.  We must follow in the footsteps of the only perfect man to walk the face of the earth, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He will never lead us astray.