Old Things Made New

It's odd to hear songs from one's youth when we are old...er..., don't you think?  The familiar tunes bring a melancholic fog that covers me and transports me to a past that, even though, often, it wasn't all that great, I tend to glamorize...

Sigh...

As I was driving down back home from a long-overdue grocery trip this afternoon, I began flipping through songs in the radio, searching for something captivating.  I usually do that in the weekends to try to stay current on the music that my students are listening to.  I tell you, however, my ears rarely can stand to stay on any given new song much longer than a few seconds before I need to switch it off...another sign I'm getting so old...

Usually, then, what happens is that I land on one of those overplayed songs from my high school or college days.  Today was no exception, as I stopped the maddening button pushing frenzy as soon as I heard the thrilling sounds of the Edge's characteristic guitar.  U2 was, and still is, my all-time-favorite band, you know?  So I tend to indulge myself in the electrifying melodies of this group once in a while.  Today's song was: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."  I can't believe it's been 31 years of this song's release, but that's another issue.

For some reason, the road from Grove City to Slippery Rock was completely empty this Saturday at mid-day...  the weather was perfect, so my windows were down, and the warm breeze was playing with my hair as I...sorry to say... indulge myself again and pressed a bit too hard on the pedal.  I rode on the desolate street with the background music of a soundtrack that has been with me for a long time, and I experienced something unexpected:  I was not really transported to my past.  I stayed in the present as the song became new to my ears. 

You see, even though I have loved this song for over thirty years, I never, truly listened to its words...until today, that is.  I always got caught up on the hook, and left out the core...

I believe when the Kingdom come

Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes I'm still running.

You broke the bonds
You loosened the chains
You carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believed it
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for...

sigh...

It is my declaration of faith...it is the declaration of my restlessness.  I believe in Christ, but I know there is something new...something else, He wants me to do...and I don't know what it is...but the knowledge keeps me seeking...keeps me looking.  The hope, however, lies on the truth that as I continue seeking Him first... He will reveal it to me...  He is the One Who Makes all things new...He is the One Who Makes old things new.

If He can make U2 sound fresh, I thought, then He can make me stop running and rest in His presence.  Zig zagging, up and down the hilly road I realized, however, that this constant searching is instilled in us by Him, to keep us awake...to keep us from falling into a rut.  And for as long as I stay alive, regardless of my condition or circumstance, the search must continue...until I finally fall into His arms when I get home...when I finally find, what I was looking for.