Skillet: Lucy

A few years ago the band Skillet came out with a song, Lucy. There was much speculation over the meaning of this song, who Lucy is/was, etc. This is a quote from John Cooper, lead singer of Skillet on the true meaning of the song:

“..this week is the very first time that I’ve ever told what this song is about, because, uh, it’s very special to me, but I feel like it’s time to talk about it a little bit, so.. listen up while I tell you a story about a young girl and a young guy who found themselves in a hard situation. They didn’t know what to do when they found out that she was pregnant; they were young, they didn’t have any money, they were scared, they didn’t want to tell anybody, they didn’t know what to do, and the only option that they could see was to terminate the pregnancy. So that’s what they decided to do… they went to a clinic, they had the procedure done, and at first they felt relieved that all their problems had gone away. But then something happened that they did not expect… and that’s over the next few weeks, which turned into a few months, they began to feel an intense sadness… and a pain and an agony and a guilt that wouldn’t go away. They didn’t know what to do, so they finally went to see a counselor; they said look — tell us what to do, we just don’t know, and the counselor made a suggestion. The counselor said here’s what you need to do — stop acting like you had a procedure, and act like you had a death in the family. So the couple went home and they made three decisions; number one, they decided to have a funeral service for the baby; number two, they bought a tiny little headstone; and they last decision to make was what to name the baby. After a couple weeks they finally decided they would call her… Lucy.”

Now, listen to the song and watch the video, lyrics are below.

Hey Lucy, I remember your name
I left a dozen roses on your grave today
I'm in the grass on my knees, wipe the leaves away
I just came to talk for a while, got some things I need to say

Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her
I'd give up all the world to see
That little piece of Heaven looking back at me

Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her
I've gotta live with the choices I made
And I can't live with myself today

Hey Lucy, I remembered your birthday
They said it'd bring some closure to say your name
I know I'd do it all different if I had the chance
But all I got are these roses to give
And they can't help me make amends

Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her
I'd give up all the world to see
That little piece of Heaven looking back at me

Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her
I've gotta live with the choices I made
And I can't live with myself today

Here we are, now you're in my arms
I never wanted anything so bad
Here we are for a brand new start
Living the life that we could've had

Me and Lucy walking hand in hand
Me and Lucy never wanna end
Just another moment in your eyes
I'll see you in another life in Heaven
Where we never say goodbye

Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her
I'd give up all the world to see
That little piece of Heaven looking back at me

Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her
I've gotta live with the choices I made
And I can't live with myself today

Here we are, now you're in my arms
Here we are for a brand new start
I got to live with the choices I've made
And I can't live with myself today

Me and Lucy walking hand in hand
Me and Lucy never wanna end
I've got to live with the choices I've made
And I can't live with myself today

Hey Lucy, I remember your name

Remembering and Rekindling the Relationship

For Valentine's Day my wife asked me not to buy her flowers. Due to the cost of cards these days we decided that we were not going to spend money on them when we can just as easily tell each other how we feel and the cards usually end up in the garbage within a couple of days. And due to our schedules and the inability to find a sitter for the kids (due a bit to laziness on my part) on Valentine's Day we were not able to enjoy a date or even dinner alone.

But, something needed to be done for my wife on Valentine's Day so I made some last minute preparations, put the kids to bed and presented my wife with a box of scrapbooks, pictures notes, letters, and cards from our dating years and early married life. Along with this box I gathered up some music from our past and we enjoyed sitting together and walking down memory lane and remembering our journey up to this point. It was quite nice and is something that we have not taken the time to do for some time.

As we looked through this box of memories and talked I came to several conclusions; (1) I love my wife, (2) I used to be much more romantic than I am today, (3) I used to take time to do the little and special things, and (4) I need to start honoring my wife the way I honored her while we were dating and during the "honey moon" stage.

These last few days this continues to run through my mind as I look to find ways to honor her more and show her just how much I do love her and I have found that it is a lot more difficult than it used to be and that I am out of practice in this area.

A gentleman came to me today and we got to talking about the way he used to feel when he came to Christ, the way he was "on fire" to learn about Christ, develop a relationship with Him, tell other people about Christ, and serve in the church. And he asked; "What happened?" He said that anymore he just doesn't have the drive to do any of these things and finds that it is difficult to even make it to church anymore. As we talked more I came to understand that; (1) this man still loves Christ, nothing has changed that, (2) he used to be more passionate and "on fire" in his relationship with Christ, (3) the time and energy he used to spend serving Christ was not thought of as a sacrifice, and (4) he desperately needs to get back to the habits that he used to have for loving Christ and serving Him.

 There is great danger when we neglect to be romantic and show the love for our spouses, the chemistry within a marriage decreases, our spouse begins to wonder if the love still exists, and soon we find that the marriage is hanging by a thin string. In the same way, when we neglect to love Christ and push through the wall that Satan and the world is constantly putting in front of us, we soon find that we that our relationship with Christ is hanging by a thin string.

If this is where you are I urge you to sit down with Christ, walk down memory lane, and remember your journey with Him up to this point. He will reveal memories to you and will rekindle the passion and the relationship that you have with Him.

Status of 2010

I was tooloing around on facebook this evening and came across something called My Year in Status - 2010. It takes all of your facebook statuses for the year (or a lot of them at least) and puts them together as a collage. I especially liked the fact that I could go through and pick and choose which statuses to include in the collage.


It was interesting to see the statuses that were shared throughout the year from the standpoint of what I was doing as well as what I felt was important enough to share as a status. It brought back a lot of memories from this past year.

Great memories of family, friends, jobs, thoughts, fears, and successes!

Tub Time

A very productive evening with dinner out of the way, baths in process, and then the words ring through the house; "help, help, uhhh, help, Zion pooped in the tub!"

I am not a trained poop remover, for that I'm thankful. I can't imagine what being a "poop remover" would include. So, when I walked into the bathroom to see the two kids standing next to the tub, Kim practically rolling on the floor laughing, and the entire family looking to me for action, I hesitated on "step one".

I asked for a bucket and Kim brought a camera! Smart, now we can share this experience with our friends a loved ones!

WARNING: GRAPHIC (POOP RELATED) PHOTO BELOW

Being a parent is full of unexpected happenings, most leave memories etched on our lives far into the future. Sometimes we are left with great joy, other times we are left with a tub full of poop! Sometimes we know the exact thing to say or do, other times we are left with our hands in the air in search of what our next move should be. Either way, we are trusted to love our children and ALL the poop they leave in our homes and our lives!