my careless contagion

Some big news is coming which I've been laboring over. Stay tuned. Hang onto your hats! I know, you wait with bated breath.  *** I knew a girl. She was made of something I had never seen. I wonder how many others knew her secret. Did they see what she was made of, or something else? Did they understand what they were looking at was rare and perfect and beautiful or did they see the package it came in, which was also quite compelling?  I knew she was made of something better. I always knew. I secretly admired her most of my life. The last few years it was out in the open. Maybe it scared her, knowing a man saw her that way, but it wasn't anything to fear. I was always the most harmless and gentle man, even more so with her. I never once meant her any harm. If she could have seen my heart, she would have known she could trust me.  She knew I saw her as precious and beautiful. I saw what God did in her heart. I loved her greatly. She cared how I saw her, and, unfortunately, ...

What's this, you say? Why, it is  Michael Card's The Ancient Faith Trilogy . Blogger won't let me post a video, so this is the best I can do. All the music I listened to in my life wasn't as satisfying as music about God. I like the old hymns the best, but this is good, too.  Each song tells a story. I love stories. I love the Word. Stories about the Word? Perfect. You realize after a while the greatest people in the Bible were just the same as you. Made of the same things. The only thing that set them apart was their obedience. That allowed God to do amazing things in their lives and the lives of others.  My life was hard. Harder than it should have been. I fought so many battles I lost count. The devil hates me, as he does all believers, but he seems to attack me relentlessly. There will be more battles. They will get worse. Eventually the enemy will kill me, but not before I get some good licks in. I'm not fighting my own battles. I do what God tells me. Though f...

Into the Unknown was released in 1983 as the band's second album. After a few seconds of listening, you'll notice something is wrong. This isn't the Bad Religion everyone knows. This album, which was seemingly recorded in one key, killed the band. Greg Hetson convinced the principal members to reunite and give it another go a few years after this album bombed. The band even took back all the copies. Even copies people made of the record. It was that embarrassing. No doubt all of those were trashed.  Why am I posting a full album of a doomed record? There is a lesson here. Listen to everything Bad Religion did after this and it's fairly cohesive. There isn't a lot of experimentation. This album taught the band that the audience dictates what a band plays. Even in punk rock where you can seemingly get away with anything. Hardcore music has rigorous standards, believe it or not.  No one has to listen to this. I have my own favorite songs. I think it's a fun album. ...

Let's go back to 1982 when I was 5 years old. Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran. This video is wild. Music videos were kind of a catastrophe back then, especially when they were trying to tell a story in less than 3 and a half minutes. But, this video got me thinking about something. Care to come along? Oh, you're hungry. Grab a bite to eat and then we'll start. First of all, when he says he smells like he sounds, what does that mean? Does he sound good? Does that mean he smells good? If he's a wolf, he may not smell good. Mouth is alive, with juices like wine? What? The lyrics are a dumpster fire. On the surface this song is about a man pursuing a woman for sex. But the lyrics don't really support that. It's like it's written in code we aren't meant to understand.  Since I'm sure everyone knows I'm crazy, I may as well be out with it. I'm reading a book called Monsters Among Us, and some of those monsters are canids, which are like werewol...

I wrote this to Cindy, and even though the context no longer exists, I made a public blunder so must apologize publicly. Thank you for letting me share in this space. It's very humbling to post this. A new post will be along shortly.  *** I wish to write you a better apology. My only request is you don't reply. Relax, I'm not asking to be in your life.  God pointed out specific times when I disrespected you. I apologize for those. God rebuked me thoroughly. I repent of my behavior. I think the worst were things God told both you and I that I tried to press through. It's one thing to chase a woman; quite another to disregard a clear boundary. This isn't the only thing God is dealing with me about. It was the thing that pushed me over the edge with a grotesque display of weakness. I am completely humbled. Humiliated, in fact. God is patient. I'm not asking for forgiveness from you. I don't deserve anything from you. I do not deserve to be your friend right now...

ABBA! Did you know the name ABBA came from the first letters of the band members' names? Now you know. I saw their names and figured as much. Holy crap, those names. They are definitely Swedish. We are back to writing about things without consequence. Whee. Pardon me, but I have a docket full of things to write about and no one is going to do it for me. Sometimes you have to write for the sheer enjoyment of it. Hopefully, someone reads it and likes it, but whatever. If not, they're missing out. C'mon, let's leave the squares at home. We're going on a trip to Sweden!  My first recollection of ABBA was when I was a boy and we lived in Broken Bow. One of my coworkers listened to ABBA. I didn’t know anything about them except they weren’t exactly cool at the time. But, what is this song? I guess it’s a love song. Not really, though. Most love songs are misnomers. They describe not love but lost love, broken love, lust, or something like that. Those aren’t love. Those ar...

"Run away with me," she whispered. And so began their journey together. They ran away in their hearts with one another, into the wilds of whatever is beyond the ordinary. They breathed air that was rare and alive and saw sights reserved for only them. They were in love, and they were free. Those moments were so precious they seemed stolen. Those moments changed their whole lives because they basked in the afterglow of what was and simmered in the anticipation of what was to come. It was infinite, wide open, with no constraints. Their world changed when they fell in love, and when she whispered to him, "Run away with me."  They couldn't run far because they had lives and responsibilities. But the love for one another that coursed through their veins put a shine on everything, making the ordinary more beautiful and wild. She would drive away with kisses in her hair and on her neck and he could sense the lingering smell of her perfume on his fingers and lips. As re...

Van Halen's Jump. What images does this bring to mind? David Lee Roth doing the splits in spandex? Lots of jumping? Eddie Van Halen (who is no longer with us) rocking on his guitar? Big hair? Yeah, it was the 80s. Here is another song that has a deeper meaning when you actually look at the lyrics. When I was a kid I thought it was just a fun song about jumping around. Hey, I wasn't too bright. The synthesizer, though. That’s a big sound.  David Lee Roth is the only singer of Van Halen I will consider, but they had some really epic songs over the years. I read David Lee Roth's autobiography many years ago. He had quite a life. A lot of what he dealt with was how to maintain balance and stability during all the rock and roll fame. He would go to an island somewhere and get lost. I get that.  This song was released in late 1983. (By contrast, Bad Religion released their first album in 1982. The band formed in 1979.) I was six years old. This was Van Halen's most popular si...

The phrase "on a Tuesday," to me, denotes something happening on an ordinary day. Does anything extraordinary happen on a Tuesday? Tuesdays used to be the worst at my old job. If anything bad was going to happen, it would be on a Tuesday. But something wonderful and unexpected happened the first Tuesday in August.  Tuesday was the day Cindy drove by while I was working in her neighborhood and stopped to say hello. I saw her smile and was already in a daze. The whole conversation lasted less than two minutes, but I walked away feeling like a different man. I no longer cared that I was swamped by work, was running out of energy, and was hot and thirsty.  I sent her a text that simply said, "I miss you" the day before. She said she missed me too and thought of me often. She said she couldn't move forward with me at the moment (I know, it was the one downer of the conversation) and I didn't have to wait. How much time did I have to rebut that? When the girl of y...

Rocket Man by Elton John. At this point you're really wondering what's up with dear, old Joshua. Why this particular song? What, you don't like piano ballads from the 70s (1972 to be exact)? Let me frame this song for you. It's not what it appears to be, unless you can see through the veneer. In 1972, probably not many could. Here's a little song about an astronaut. How cute. Actually, this song is whatever you want it to be. This is just my take. This song was covered a million times over the five decades since its release. A notable one I'm familiar with is by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes . I like punk or ska versions of songs because they really tighten up the slack and make more compact songs. When a song has a lot of covers, it shows the strength of the original. A good song can withstand a lot of reinterpretation. Elton John somehow remains relevant, also, probably because of his gay lifestyle (very much promoted these days) and legendary rock/disco past ...