Goofy Foot

I have determined, as of approximately 3pm yesterday, that Switchfoot is my new favorite band. Their predecessors, the OC Supertones, will always hold a special place in my heart. I mean, what other Ska band, or better -- Christian band, can claim to have the greatest lyrics of all time. They don't say that themselves, but if one was to pay attention to the things they said (especially in their earliest CDs), one couldn't help but get pumped up, or possibly convicted, or even encouraged. In one of their songs, they remind us all that we "need faith deeper than a t-shirt or a sticker," which rings so true in a culture that considers an instrument of death "trendy."

So why switch to Switchfoot? For one, although I lack a complete collection of Switchfoot, New Way to be Human is a pretty mellow CD and very enjoyable at the end of a long day. And despite Beautiful Letdown's fist track, Meant to Live, it is also relatively laid back musically.

The biggest reason for declaring this band as my favorite involves the lyrics. In both New Way to be Human and Beautiful Letdown one major theme seems to follow along the lines of their song "Meant to Live," we were all meant to live for something more than the materialism that Hollywood and MTV try to sell us, and although that "something more" is never given the name of God or Christ, if one knows this is a Christian band, it is a message pretty hard to miss.

New Way to be Human is my favorite CD (I've listened to it three times in the past 15hours) because there are songs that describe my worst fears as well as songs that declare my greatest hope and ambitions for this life.

"Company Car," describes a man who once had great dreams and ambitions, only to trade them for "that which is attainable/ Not what I'm looking for," the American rat race. I would hate to find myself twenty years from now living the American dream in (and of) comfort, because I know that the worth of selling out to Christ is far greater than anything that they show on Cribs or Pimp My Ride, even if it does mean sleeping in a ditch in some strange country or being beaten for my faith. As I stand at a crossroads, which are these few years at Texas State, I hope and pray that the decisions I make lead to the glorification of God, and not the attemted glorification of myself, for God is eternal, but as Switchfoot says, "all the riches of the kings end up in wills."

My favorite song (I'm slowly narrowing my scope, soon I'm going to pick my favorite verse, favorite line, and then favorite word that Switchfoot says) is by far "Amy's Song." At the end of my life if people can say of me what is said of Amy, then I know that I lived a life worth living and fought the good fight. I can't really say much more than that, you just need to listen to the song yourself.


Dan

PS -- the youth pastor at my church, Jason, pointed out how ridiculous storage places are. We have so much crap that we can't keep it all in our house, and so we rent a monthly shed to keep it somewhere. Why don't we sell all that excess stuff and give the money to -- those missionaries in India :). As Jason said, God blesses us with money and things, so that we may use that money and things to bring glory to His name. We should not seek satisfaction or fulfillment in those things.

PPS -- my favorite word is "You" w/ a capital Y. :)