Today's quote is officially blognapped from my brother's site exactly one month and one day ago. I've been hanging on to this little gem, and today it becomes glaringly obvious that now is the day it is destined to be posted here (all you Calvinists will be pleased… Bye)

No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious and charitable institutions become, the music will still be wonderful. If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC

 

-Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) 

One of the things Shae and I have been blessed with in our brotherhood, is a shared affinity for music, both beautiful and gritty. Though I've even been called a 'music snob', I've found examples of the glorious in nearly every genre of music, both profound and profane.  Eric Johnson. Joe Satriani. Django Reinhart. Jeff Beck. Charlie 'Bird' Parker. Vernon Reid. Miles Davis. Alex Lifeson. Bob Dylan. B.B. King. Phil Keaggy. John Petrucci. Johnny Cash. Thelonius Monk. John Coltrane. Wes Montgomery. And the list goes on. Why? Because in our human existence, we need beauty as much as we need bread. No one knows why, but without beauty, we die. The great theologian Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) once said, "Music is way beyond rational thinking. It doesn't have to make sense." In that aspect, it's much like the Gospel of the Kingdom–it doesn't make sense. It doesn't easily resolve into the neat little roots we expect it to. The languages of the soul (music and perfect Love) don't make sense. And don't have to. 

As of Saturday, May 12, shaeman(dot)com is now officially relegated to the pages of history, along with Kurt Vonnegut.  Let it be said that as much as we blog about the corruption of government, the need for reformation in The Church, and the redemption/reformation/rejection of our culture, when we are all relegated to the annals of our short history, that we lived lives that celebrated the Glorious existence of God. That the language of our soul would sing into eternity "All hail the power of Jesus' name…"

"Music. Music. I hear music. Music over my head…."

 

Requiescat In Pace, Shaeman. 

*Be sure and update your reader to the revamped Refinery site to keep up with (and pray for) Shaeman and the new church plant.