Rockin' out--a Lenten Meditation

I like to lift to music. Loud music. Very loud hard rock Christian music. Something abut it just gets me going. I have my own play list too called Lifting Music. On it, I have Flyleaf, Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Pillar and many others. Each with a good solid base line, pounding drums, great guitar riffs. There's a couple of songs that just get me going when they come on.

Pillar has a song called Fireproof that just gets the blood flowing and the energy pumping. The guitar and base from Fireproof get me going, and then the words just spur it on even more.

Skillet has two songs from their Awake album that kick me into high gear. These two songs by Skillet are on the opposite thematic spectrum. Their song Hero is about the need for a savior, someone to help in times of trouble. On the other hand their song Monster is about our sinful nature wanting to come forth and how it feels like sometimes we have a monster inside of us, controlling us, moving us, leading us to where we don't want to go. Why do these get me going? I don't know to tell the truth. I think it's a combination of lyrics and music that pump my blood and I get that second wind.

At those moments, the world disappears, and it's just me, the weights and God. Nothing else but that.

I called this a Lenten meditation because these three songs are my favorite to work out to and they are amazing songs that exemplify what Lent is. Lent is the time looking forward to Easter, looking forward to celebrating Jesus' resurrection. But in order to get to the resurrection, we have to look at His death. Monster is the reason why Jesus died, because of that monster inside us all that just wants to rip out and destroy everything. That feeling you get when you hold it all back when someone says something just down right mean to you, yeah, that's the monster right there. Jesus died because of the Monster.

Hero talks about needing someone to fight for what's right, no one's going to die tonight. The monster is what causes the need for the Hero to save us so that we won't face death.

And then there's Fireproof. Because of our Hero defeating the Monster, we can't be touched, destroyed, hurt anymore by the Monster. Yes, the Monster will always be inside us, but it ain't got any control over us. Why? Because the Hero made us Fireproof against the Monster.

There's one more important part of my exercise routine and that's cool down. My cool downs are a lot different than my lifting. It's simple, quiet, slow. And my music matches that. I call it my Centering Playlist. It's soft, quiet praise music that settles me, calms me down. I walk around the gym for a bit or I peddle the bike very slowly, focusing, relaxing, calming my body down.

As we approach Easter, we have the Hero who fought the Monster and won. Because of Easter, we can slow down and be calm.

And yes, I actually think about these things while I'm lifting. It's just me, my music and God.

How do you see the coming of Easter through the eyes of Monster, Hero and Fireproof?

Fireproof


Monster


Hero