Sleepless Nights, Steve Green, and Magnolia

I had a lot of trouble falling asleep last night. My roommate decided that he wanted to stay up until 2 A.M. with the very bright white sink light and his desk lamp on, so basically, it was like all the lights were on. Also, for some odd reason, he had the air conditioning turned off. I was wondering why I felt so hot and sticky until 1:30 when I said, “Is the air conditioning on?” This prompted him to turn it on. I don’t care if it’s cold … that’s what blankets are for.

The half hour from 1:30 to 2:00 was one of the longest half hours of my life. I laid my head on my pillow hoping that I would fall asleep, but just my luck, the song that has been in my head ever since I came here to Bryan decided to play again through the speakers of my cranium and not stop. It doesn’t help that this song is one of the most convicting songs I have ever heard in my entire life. And here it is, circling through my head constantly for half an hour, making me think about my life. I think the best help will be to quote the lyrics that were in my head:

May all who come behind us find us faithful.
May the fire of our devotion light our way.
May the footprints that we leave,
Lead them to believe.
May the lives we live inspire them to obey.

Having those lyrics run through your head as you are trying to go to sleep is very disquieting. I finally prated that I would be able to fall asleep and eventually did although I was very tired in the morning and the lyrics were still running through my brain.

They don’t write songs like this anymore. Going back and listening to the lyrics of Steve Green’s older songs has been quite the journey. They are all poetic and beautiful, unlike any of the music I have heard come out of most Christian artists today.

In other news, I was sitting watching the end of Magnolia the other night and the whole message of the movie finally hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t know why this didn’t happen to me the first time I watched the movie. Maybe I was just so overwhelmed in cinematic ecstasy that I didn’t take the time to really think about what Jim Kurring says at the end of the movie.

Every character in the movie essentially has an issue with their past or present that needs forgiveness by another character. Jim gives a monologue at the end all about forgiveness and what we, as humans, can forgive. It has turned into, at least for me, one of the most powerful movies I have ever seen.

Enough for tonight.