Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Fly Like An Eagle" (Steve Miller Band)

    




Good Tuesday  to ya!!  Don't Panic...Winter is over in 17 days!!!  Well at least the calendar thinks its over by then.  I confess to you that I must be in the minority of loving snow days...The nice warm drinks, Perry Mason on DVD, a continual eating frenzy, and surfing the net are all ways that I spend my time.   Yep, we have finally hit that transition to where playing in the snow is not as much fun as it used to be for me or any of my children.  Hence...Perry Mason.  

After enough snow days, parents and students alike, begin to think of creative ways to spend their time.  You never can tell, they may even discover the joy of listening to an entire album start to finish (highly recommend Chicago Transit Authority...double cd), playing a board game, or reading a good book. These are all ways that time can be spent on a day where outside activities are limited or at the very least the ability to get outside is unsure. One thing however is guaranteed..."Time keeps on slippin...slippin...slippin....into the future."  "tick, tock, tick"....."doot doot doodoo". 

"Fly Like An Eagle" - Steve Miller Band from the 1976 album Fly Like An Eagle

 

Believe it or not, "Fly Like An Eagle" was kept out of the #1 position on Billboard's Hot 100 by Barbara Streisand's (UGH!) "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" for the week of March 7, 1977. That's 38 years ago for you statisticians out there.   Seems like I don't hear "Evergreen" played anymore...there must be something to the fact that GOOD music spans generations.  Draw your own conjectures...The Musical Notes does however wish to go on record as saying we are NOT Barbara Steisand fans... in the event that wasn't clear.  

Steve Miller's parents were jazz enthusiasts and served as Best Man and Maid of Honor at the wedding of Les Paul and Mary Ford.  Yep, THAT Les Paul.  It is no wonder that Miller wound up being a Rock and Roll act with the longevity that he has had.  It seems that musical influences, talent and time are literally on his side. 

For a nearly a decade, (1973-1982), Steve Miller Band records would dominate the charts.  He peaked with two #2 smash hit full lengths, 1973's The Joker, and 1977's Book Of Dreams.  In between these #2s, the band would release the full length, #3 smash, Fly Like an Eagle, featuring the title track as one of 3 top 20 singles from the album ("Take The Money And Run, #11 and "Rock'n Me" going all the way to #1).  

"Fly Like An Eagle" actually has a prelude on the album cut called "Space Intro", which is always played live prior to "Fly Like An Eagle".  While being bluesy and ethereal it is the perfect set up for the infectious..."tick tock tick...doot doot doo doo" that opens "Fly Like An Eagle". 

If you ponder the opening phrase of "Fly Like An Eagle", ("Time keeps on tickin', tickin', tickin', into the future") for very long, you soon find yourself realizing that time slipping away is a guaranteed fact.  That unless you are Dr. Emmitt Brown (Back To The Future), you can't control the passage of time from one second to the next.  Time passing is inevitable, inescapable, and unavoidable.  Time will go by.  The question that I have for you today is.....What do we do with our time, how do we redeem our time?  How do make sure that time is on our side?

I hate to admit it, but I join a vast group of people that have a tendency for procrastination.  I migrate toward making things happen at the last minute.  While I like to think myself a good planner, far too often I find the stress of a deadline looming, where there should be peace in a job well accomplished early.  Perhaps many of you suffer from being citizens of the nation of procrastination.

 There is no way to get around the fact that time is limited for us as physical human beings. Choices about how to spend this limited resource are abundant.  Charles Thomas Studd wrote a lengthy poem about life choices.  The last phrase of the poem is "Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last."  This poses a very important question, friend how do we redeem the time? What is in our history, our skill set, our circle of influence, our temperament that allows us to do things that will last in a kingdom perspective? Is our time spent on the temporal, earthly, and man made things or are we focusing every minute to "die daily for Christ"?  Do we work as if it is work we are doing for Jesus?  Do we surrender all that we are for his bride, the church?  Do we choose to do what we want to do, or as followers of Jesus do we go about the "good works" that He already has planned for us?

The following passage is from Isaiah 40 and I think it speaks to the steadfastness that we should have when using our time for the Lord.

  

³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint.

We've tackled the subject of time before in The Notes.  (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Wasted On The Way")  It is also a subject with which the Bible refers to extensively.  The 3rd chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes is entirely devoted to the way that time is divided up in our lives and serves as the inspiration for the 1962 hit by The Byrds, "Turn, Turn, Turn".  

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, New International Version

3 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

(Also a featured song at Tuesday's Musical Notes - The email, soon to be featured as a first of the month blog)

I am convicted today that I don't do enough. I choose to do far many things that I want to do instead of what Jesus has placed before me.  I don't redeem enough of my time in God honoring ways.  My only benchmark is me.  I can't compare myself to you, nor can you compare yourself to anyone else.  God has gifted you in a myriad of ways.  Are you using your time to utilize your tools?  This week take a moment of time to reflect.  I think reflection is a good Biblical principle and a God honoring way of spending time.  God rested on the 7th day and reflected that His creation was good.  Reflect on your life.  How have we redeemed our time?  What has God allowed us to do in our lives that we can use to glorify him now? Are there changes we should make?  Make them now!  Don't wait!  "Tick...tock...tick...."

"Spending Time" - Stellar Kart from 2005's All Gas. No Brake.

 

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy W Cross