Nothing Lasts

Yesterday I saw “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button“, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. I went, thinking it would be an interesting film to see how someone is born looking very old, and ages backwards as he grows older.

Unexpectedly, I sat riveted to the screen for the entire film, not wanting to miss anything.

The film is worth a watch, but sadly there are few moments in the film that align themselves to a Christian world view. One of the strongest sub-characters in the film is Queenie, a black woman who works in a old-style nursing home in 1918 New Orleans. Unlike Benjamin Button’s father, who is so horrified at the appearance of his elderly-looking newborn son that he nearly throws him in the ocean, Queenie takes the child in and cares for him. Despite a doctor’s opinion that this baby will likely not live long, she is willing to take on the task of caring for “one of the least of these”. As he grows older (and younger), she helps him to see that appearance and abilities are not important; what you are inside is what matters.

Benjamin grows up in this nursing home, seeing people come in, grow more disabled as they live out their final years, and then seeing them die and leave, to be replaced by another person. Exposed to death from a young age, he develops a mantra that he lives by, namely “nothing lasts”. He applies this to his relationships, including that with his childhood friend, Daisy. None of the people he knows last long in his life, either because he outlives them, or because he separates himself from them.

The story was absorbing because it dealt with the life themes that affect me emotionally: Death, birth, and marriage (or lack thereof) and love. Also, the film was made cinematically attractive, with memorable historical scenes from the twentieth century. But what was saddening was the nihilism; despite love, there is no hope, and love ultimately will not fulfill because it won’t be there. True, Benjamin took care of his lover and his child in a financial sense, but he made himself physicaly absent through his decision that he would himself be a burden to these that he loved. “Nothing lasts” was indeed the theme of the film.

Contrast this with the certain knowledge of the existence of God. It allows a person to deal with the losses of life by knowing that if nothing else is reliable, Jesus is faithful and true, and He provides hope during this life and hope beyond the grave.

Keith Green‘s third album, So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt from 1980 had a song that goes beyond Benjamin Button’s phrase. Grace By Which I Stand happens to include the phrase “nothing lasts”, but qualifies it by adding “except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus”.

Lord,
The feelings are not the same,
I guess I’m older,
I guess I’ve changed.

And how I wish it had been explained,
That as you’re growing
You must remember,

That nothing lasts,
Except the grace of God,
By which I stand,
In Jesus.

I know that I would
Surely fall away,
Except for grace,
By which I’m saved.

Lord,
I remember that special way,
I vowed to serve you,
When it was brand new.
But like Peter,
I can’t even watch and pray,
One hour with you,
And I bet,
I could deny you too.

But nothing lasts,
Except the grace of God,
By which I stand,
In Jesus.

I’m sure that my whole life would waste away,
Except for grace,
By which I’m saved.

But nothing lasts,
Except the grace of God,
By which I stand,
In Jesus.

I know that I would
Surely fall away,
Except for grace,
By which I’m saved.

Tags: death, Keith Green, past

If you’ve ever felt like you were just going through the motions of life, trying to make everyone think you were just fine, when inside you were dying, this song is for you. It reminds me that Jesus knows how I feel, that He’s been there already, and He has the solution: To give Him your burden, your struggle, your pain, and let Him carry it for you. In exchange, He gives you security, safety, and peace. What better cure could there be to the problems of life?

From Don Francisco’s 1981 album The Traveler, listen to his beautiful song, Give Your Heart A Home.

I hear your hollow laughter
Your sighs of secret pain
Pretending and inventing
Just to hide your shame
Plastic smiles and faces
Blinkin’ back the tears
Empty friends and places
All magnify your fears

If you’re tired and weary,
Weak and heavy laden
I can understand how
It feels to be alone
I will take your burden,
If you’ll let Me love you,
Wrap My arms around you,
Give your heart a home

It hurts to watch you struggle
And try so hard to win
But trade your precious birthright
For candy-coated sin
Wasting precious moments
Restless and confused
Building up defenses
For fear that you’ll be used

If you’re tired and weary,
Weak and heavy laden
I can understand how
It feels to be alone
I will take your burden,
If you’ll let Me love you,
Wrap My arms around you,
Give your heart a home

Take My yoke upon you
And walk here by My side
Let Me heal your heartaches,
Dry the tears you’ve cried
Never will I leave you,
Never turn away
Keep you through the darkness
Lead you through the day

If you’re tired and weary,
Weak and heavy laden
I can understand how
It feels to be alone
I will take your burden,
If you’ll let Me love you,
Wrap My arms around you,
Give your heart a home

Wrap My arms around you,
Give your heart a home

You can get a copy of this album from          Don Francisco’s web site here. Look for “Our Oldies”.

Tags: Don Francisco, healing, home, peace

No personal info or story this time. This is just a song that makes me feel good, that points my heart back to my Father in heaven, and reminds me that it’s all about Him. Performed by Degarmo & Key from their 1983 album Mission Of Mercy, this is Let The Whole World Sing. Sing!

From the beginning You spoke the Word
And from creation Your song was heard
You taught the stars in the sky to sing,
Almighty Father let everything you’ve made
Give praises to Your holy name
Let everything on earth proclaim

Let the whole world sing
Sing hallelujah to the King
Let the whole world sing
Lift up your voices, let them ring
Let them ring

The angels came to announce his birth,
A Savior born to redeem the earth
The sky was darkened when Jesus died,
Creation watched as He sacrificed for me
And yet He rolled the stone away,
Triumphant over death and grave

Let the whole world sing
Sing hallelujah to the King
Let the whole world sing
Lift up your voices, let them ring
Let them ring

All of my life
I looked for the reason You created me
I realized my life
Was given just
To sing a song of praise to Thee!

Let the whole world sing
Sing hallelujah to the King
Let the whole world sing
Lift up your voices let them ring

Let the whole world sing
Sing hallelujah to the King
Let the whole world sing
Lift up your voices let them ring, let them ring

Ring
Let the whole world sing

Tags: Degarmo & Key, Praise

We are still early enough in our winter weather here in Nebraska that the snow has not been heavy so far this year. I know there are other places in the U.S. that have had way too much snow.

Me? I like snow, at least through the end of February. The child in me still revels in that blizzard that closes everything down, forcing us to stay home and live differently for a couple of days.

And following along with the theme of snow, here is a nice little song I recorded off of KCRO years ago on a day when it was – yup, you guessed it — snowing. I don’t know who recorded this version that I have (the announcer never named the artist, and it must not have been a big enough hit to have the information survive to today, 27 years into the future), but what I did learn from my research on the Internet is that it was Stephanie Booshada who made it popular. Called Somewhere It’s Snowing, I’ve not heard her version, but she and a David Stearman are the two authors of the lyris. Perhaps this version was David singing it:

[Addendum, 11/26/2011: The internet now shows more info about this song. It was indeed performed by David Stearman, on his 1982 album Together Forever.

I once read in a poem
When snow covers the earth
That it hides the world’s scars
And gives nature new birth
And they say when a man turns
From sin to the Lord
That forgiveness like snow
Covers him evermore

And somewhere it’s snowing,
See the soft drifting down
As the snowflakes surrender
To the hardening ground
Like the good grace of Jesus
That now covers our sin
In the kingdom of heaven
It’s snowing again.

And it’s told that the angels
Lift their hearts and rejoice
When one traveler turns homeward
From his way to the Lord’s
If somewhere someone’s turning,
He’s giving his all
Then God’s grace like the snow,
Is beginning to fall

And somewhere it’s snowing,
See the soft drifting down
As the snowflakes surrender
To the hardening ground
Like the good grace of Jesus
That now covers our sin
In the kingdom of heaven
It’s snowing again.

You can purchase this track at this website

Tags: peace, snow