String Theory--Jason Truby

Better late than never . . .

I was ecstatic to finally find this 2004 album on Ebay! This instrumental-acoustic guitar album by ex-Living Sacrfice and ex-POD guitarist Jason Truby is a must get. These 24 songs, ranging in length from under 30-seconds to about 4 minutes, truly reveal a sincerely heartfelt, gifted and skilled guitarist. The liner notes of the CD give little insights to the creation or message of each song (including what kind of guitar he uses in the song itself-he uses over 14 different ones!). This is an absolutely beautiful and rich album that allows a musical glimpse into the soul of an extremely sincere artist.

Faith We Can Understand

We live in such a bi-polar society. There are cynics that question every big event reported by the media and come up with alternate theories in an attempt to reveal the truth that is being covered up. At the same time, there are a few of us that actually believe that aliens built the pyramids for humans, ohhh, and that they came down to earth to seed the planet with the human species. I don't believe, however, that most people are illogical or simply crazy (Well, maybe except those looking at the skies waiting for our Martian mommies to bring us back home). Most people look at a body of evidence and interpret the facts in the most reasonable and logical way that their brains allow. In the majority of cases, nothing is believed unless it is scientifically proven or lines up with clear logic.

My question is what role does faith play in our hearts and minds? I look in Hebrews 11 and see that it is with faith that "we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible". That's tough. Faith always seems passive--that I allow myself to believe something without seeing any convincing piece of evidence. So, do we walk around, believing anything that looks spiritual or must there be a strong collection of facts and data that confirm the existence of God? How is faith itself the way we understand things that don't make any rational sense?

Beyond What We Can See

• Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.

• Reality, in fact, is always something you couldn't have guessed. That's one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It's a religion you couldn't have guessed.

• If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

Perhaps you can find a running theme in these quotes from CS Lewis. There is something within us as humans that draw us away from the everyday reality we experience. It's said in Ecclesiasties this way, that God has put "eternity" into our hearts. As much as I know that Christ's teachings are immediately applicable to any situation in our daily life, there is something about having an intimate relationship with Jesus that is simply transcendent--the more time I spend with Him, the farther I am lifted from ordinary life. Now, this doesn't mean that I can now escape the realities of being human. Yet, I find comfort that living isn't bound by my own reason, that I can truly live without having to figure out all the philosophical meanings of life (even though I personally love thinking about these things on occasion). It is awesome that God has given us the ability to imagine and to create such amazing things through our Art. If you needed any evidence that humans are really the daughters and sons of God, just consider this single attribute.

Both Lewis and JRR Tolkien held the personal belief that main story of the Gospel--that God came down in the form of man, was crucified for our sins and rose again on the third day with the promise of His return--was truth, but also a true myth. If you think back to many myths from the Greeks and Romans, this story resembles these pagan myths in some ways, but, especially to Tolkien, what set the Gospel apart was that it is the only true myth or fairy story because it has to be lived out in our daily lives.