My Opening Scene

Yesterday as I was standing in the bathroom getting ready for the day with my roommate Jason something hit me.  We were standing there, looking into the mirror and as we had synchronized deodorant swipes I realized something…my life felt like a sitcom.  I think it would be a very funny one too.

This brought to my mind a question that I’ve been thinking about recently, but maybe even for years. 

If your life had a soundtrack, what songs would be on it and what scenes would they match up with?

Through the next few blog posts I think I am going to share some of the themes and songs that would line up with various parts of my life.  Some of these I’m proud to share, others are a little more embarrassing but I know that it’s been a great story so far and the rest is going to be great too.

My opening scene would be set in the early morning dusk as the sun is barely behind Massanutten Mountain.  It was 2005, I was a senior in high school and life had been changing very quickly and I had no idea what was really going on.  I was in a photo journalism class and had been beginning to take photos of my life and began to have an objective view of my own life and my legacy at Spotswood.

At some point during this year my Mom had said something to the effect of “Jeremy, when I was a kid we had to walk to school two miles in the snow with no shoes, uphill both ways.” I took this as a personal offense and challenge so that night I geared up with video camera and ipod in my backpack.  At 3:00am I left my house in Harrisonburg and took off on my 13.8-mile walk to Spotswood High School.  I brought an apple with me, I guess I thought that if I started eating healthy at that moment it would help me out on this journey…it did not.

About an hour into my journey I reached the top of 33 east in Harrisonburg.  The last of the streetlights were wishing me well as I walked deeper and deeper into the cold darkness along the highway.  I walked for hours and finally reached Penn Laird as the sun was beginning to rise and the song that changed my life came on my ipod.

Hurt by Johnny Cash.

The sun blazed over the mountains as the lyrics rang out in my life like I’d never heard before…

“what have I become?

my sweetest friend

everyone I know

goes away in the end

and you could have it all

my empire of dirt

I will let you down

I will make you hurt”

At this point I had hurt so many people in my life.  The previous summer I had gotten in trouble with the law in a situation involving breaking and entering and criminal trespassing as a result of dangerous amounts of alcohol consumption.  I spent my senior year of high school living with terrible relationships with my Mom and Dad and most teachers at the school knew my past and treated me as a “troubled” student.

I don’t think I’ve ever had so much time to not talk and to be silent in my mind as I did that day.  The walk took me from 3:00am until 7:45 as I walked up the hill into the high school.  As the sun rose that morning I think for the first time the Lord began to whisper something to me…

“Jeremy, you’ve made a mess of your life so far.  But, I have amazing plans for you, if you’ll listen.  I know you don’t believe it but I can redeem you.  Even if your sin has stained you as dark as crimson I can make you white as freshly fallen snow.  Will you let me redeem you?”

            (see Isaiah 1:18 and Jeremiah 29:11)

When I look back at my life this is my opening scene.  This was a pivotal moment, I meant for this to be a silly story and to prove to my Mom that I was right and that she was wrong but in the end, Jesus did what he does…he showed up.  I’ve never been the same since that morning…and for that I am so thankful.

What is your pivotal moment?

If you’re life had a soundtrack what would be the opening song?

May we come to hear the music of our lives.

May we come to see the meta-narrative that is all around us.

May we come and taste that the Lord, our God, is good.