LIFE IS FARE

Fire & Rain – (Mat Kearney)

THE STORY:

“That’s not fair!” – I would often say this to my parents when I was growing up. And I would get the usual response from my dad telling me “Well son, life isn’t fair…”

And I hated when he said that…because his answer always scared me just a little. A friend of mine and mentor told me once years ago, after I had been in some money trouble, “Adrian, you can’t just make mistakes and expect nothing to happen. In life, you will make mistakes, and sometimes we have to pay for them…” and I never forgot that…

Most people have heard and experienced a feeling of déjà vu. It is the French phrase, literally meaning “already seen,” having the sense of having seen something before. But there is another phrase called déjà vécu. This is what most people are experiencing when they think they are experiencing déjà vu. It is the experience of having seen an event before, but in great detail – such as recognizing smells and sounds. I remember one night I kept getting this feeling at every bar visited…it was to the point it was driving me crazy…The déjà vécu was overwhelming…from the sounds, the lights, the way people were looking at me…I went to the same bars, I had the same drinks, delt with the same people, same phone calls, same text messages, and it was just becoming a cylce that was spiraling out of control… I just sat that night at the bar thinking, watching, and listening…and I let the déjà vu turn into a depression about all the decisions and mistakes that had led me to this point in my life. I wanted more to my life…I wanted to be happy. My brother didn’t choose this path…my sister didn’t choose this path either…and it just felt like life wasn’t fair for me…I kept chasing things to make me happy and nothing ever worked out. I remember just wanting to leave and not tell anyone so I kept looking out the bar window for the first cab I could find. As soon as I spotted one I quickly paid my tab and escaped out the side door unnoticed by any of my friends. I remember jumping in shotgun and the lady looked right at me and said, “Where to hun?” and I just said, “Anywhere…I got money. I don’t want to go home yet though…Make stops, pick people up, and I will pay you whatever I owe, I just need to escape for awhile…”

I don’t know how long I rode around in that cab that night…I can’t remember that part but it was long enough that I knew the night was winding down for the driver. I knew the bars had closed and we had been driving around together for awhile dropping several people off at their homes. So I finally asked to go home and when she pulled up I grabbed all the cash out of my pocket to pay what I owed..and she said, “Hun…that last person we dropped off paid your fare…you just go on inside and get some sleep…And cheer up!”

THE QUESTION:

Why are we so afraid of life? Why do we think our life is so unfair? How can we help others find hope…through the fire and rain, where can we find it? Do you believe in the hope? How do we know it is really real? And how can we show that we have faith?

THE ANSWER:

“Do you ever think about me? Do you ever call my name? Ask me now I’ll give you the reasons. My love will not fade through the fire and rain, the fire and rain…”

Mathew William “Mat” Kearney is a hit singer-songwriter born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, where his first dream was to pursue soccer. Kearney attended California State University in Chico, California, on an athletic scholarship for soccer. He began writing music in college by borrowing a friends guitar and developed such a passion for music over sports that he decided to move to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue music. While Kearney was in Chico he began to get caught up in the party scene and once got to the lowest point in his life. He said he found God and knew he wanted more out of life. When asked about this, Kearney says, “This was the first time in my life when I really felt like I understood who Jesus was…It was more than knowing about Him, I felt like He met me in that time and place…” When asked about this song Fire & Rain, Kearney simply says, “This song is about you wanting to experience some sort of redemption and to cover that distance to bring back together love of something that has fallen apart.”

John 3:16 | For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

It is probably the most well known, memorable verse in the Bible…I don’t know about you but when I read it I start to have a little déjà vu…and the déjà vécu of the sitting in my sunday school class as a child reading John 3:16 over and over again. And why is this verse the one verse so many know in the world? It’s not only to teach people about God’s love for literally everyone of the world, it’s also about His promise. It’s a promise greater than you can ever imagine because it’s a promise of eternal life…that’s why to me it is the greatest passages of love in the Bible. God’s love is so powerful…

To the stranger who paid my cab fare that night…if you are out there somewhere I want you to know I am thankful for you…thank you for bring me back to the feeling of real love…

What my mentor and my dad was trying to tell me long ago is that life may not seem fair to you at the moment…it may even seem like it is falling apart in several places…You may have to pay for some of the mistakes you make, but God sent his son to pay the ultimate fare….AND if God is going to put you through a test, rest assured that He will remain faithful and see you through it! I know that’s easy to say and can cause a head shake sometimes but just don’t ever give up… Whenever I start to doubt God’s plans through mistakes I have made, I have found that helping others in times when I, myself, need help is always a way to show faith. That stranger showed me an act of love and paid what was probably a large cab fare that night…Helping other people makes you feel good right? That’s because you are showing people how to love…and God wants to show you how He loves you too. You hear people say sometimes, “Man I just can’t explain it…I can’t tell you how it happened…it was just God. God is just good…” This is because with God’s love for the world there is no déjà vécu moment, people can’t put words to it, and it’s because it is a love that is so different from anything else. Mat Kearney’s song is one of redemption, of a prodigal story, and of a return to the one truest feeling of love that many feel like it has fallen apart…but in reality, God’s love never breaks apart from us…The verse at the bottom of the blog today was once again chosen by my friend serving time in prison right now down south in Mississippi…He writes me last week at the end of his letter, “I pray for peace for now my good friend – please read Matthew 14:27.” Once again God is using him to show me truths that why should we be so afraid of life? We should instead take courage…and trust in God. Through fire and rain I hope we can always be there for each other, always help a friend in need, always help a stranger find love, and always help ourselves get closer to God’s unfailing love. Through all of life’s fares…it’s really not so unfair after all. Tell someone today that you love them…Thank you for reading today, take courage, trust God, and I thank you for your = LOVE. Nothing is impossible…

Matthew 14:27

27 Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! Its is I. Don’t be afraid.”

(Listen below to Fire & Rain by Mat Kearney)