Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Missing You" (John Waite/Alison Krauss)

Good day!  Felicitous Salutations!  Top 'O the mornin' to ya!!  Howdy!  Hey there! 

No matter how you say it, welcome to Tuesday!  It's time for your weekly "Skip to my Lou" through the annals of popular music history with a bit of "seasoning" to flavor the tunes that we all know and love.   Surgeon Generals Warning: Reading Tuesday's Musical Notes may make us all have a "things that make us go hmm..." moment of pondering.  You may now return to your regular broadcast...

It's Tuesday's Musical Notes, coming to you from the palatial 2nd story offices of your humble blogger and resident missionary musicologist. We hope that you enjoy your weekly heart string pulling down memory lane.  Missed a Tuesday!  No worries every week of Tuesday's Musical Notes has been preserved for posterity in our archives.  You can scroll down the monthly list or search by song or artist to see what you've missed.  

Yup, The Notes is published every week!!!  What?   Didn't you know that?  No wonder we've been missing you...

"Missing You" by John Waite from the 1984 album No Brakes

or for those of you who like both kinds of music, Country and Western...

"Missing You" by Alison Krauss and John Waite from Alison Krauss' 2007 album, A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection AND John Waite's Downtown: Journey of a Heart

John Waite came to the attention of music lovers as the lead vocalist/bassist for the band The Babys in the late 70's.  ("Isn't it Time" and "Every Time I Think of You" (both of which peaked at #13 and coincidentally, "Every Time I Think of You is "the first line of today's feature song)  

5 albums later, he went on to debut his solo effort Ignition, garnering some critical acclaim, and having 2 singles that hit the charts.  International attention would come at the release of his 2nd album, No Brakes which features his only #1 song, "Missing You".   He has 10 solo projects to his credit, the latest being 2011's Rough & Tumble.  

Waite's #1 hit "Missing You" is a lesson in the ironic. Don'tcha think?  After the breakup with the love of his life, he proclaims that he never misses her all the while, his heart breaks as he continues to pine for the relationship.  The video, which had a steady rotation when MTV actually played music videos, is a lesson in being at the wrong place at the wrong time.  Poor Mr. Waite...his true love was right there and he couldn't hear her because he was listening and singing his song about not missing her... The lesson here...timing is everything.

I am positive that you have heard the phrase "Time is short".  Not to be morose, but have you ever really give that statement much thought?  I confess, the more "seasoned" I become, the more I contemplate how the time that I have left is spent. Life expectancy on the earth is between 70-80 years.  Your life expectancy is determined by many factors, one of which is where you live.  Here's an interesting article about that particular aspect of life expectancy:  "Life Expectancy by Country" - wikipedia.org

With only having an average of 80 years, one would think we would attempt to have a larger impact on our world given the time we have.  Let's face it, 80 years in the scope of history is very small  if you accept (and we here at The Notes do) the Biblical account of the universe existing for only about 6,000 years ("Age of the Earth" articles from answersingenesis.org) Imagine the microscopic speck your life would be on the timeline if you accept the GO-zillion year model of earth's existence to which some scientists ascribe.    It boggles the mind...

Regardless of your "earth-age" leanings, our lives are not very long.  We really should make the most of them.  One of my favorite Bible characters was King David.  He was not perfect.  In fact, he was a murderous, lust-filled adulterer, but God used him to be one of the most beloved kings in Israel's history and an ancestor to Jesus.  The New Testament says this about David, "Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep;" (Acts 13:36 New International Version of the Bible) Let me provide some context.  Paul had been asked by the leaders of the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch (a village spread over 7 hills in modern eastern Turkey) to speak.  He began by describing Israel's history in relation to the coming of Jesus, who as a result of His resurrection saw no death or decay to His body.  Paul was relating that Jesus was alive, unlike David, Israel's most revered king, who served his purpose for his generation, died, and his body decayed.  Paul was attempting to encourage the Jews and some non-Jews who worshiped God to revere Jesus far more than they did David and to believe the Gospel regarding His life and return.  

Our point today, however, is how Paul described the impact that David's life had.  Paul says that the underscore to David's living was that "he fulfilled his purpose for his generation" (emphasis mine).  This statement would lead me to believe that David was motivated to spend every moment of his life and expend every ounce of energy he had towards doing God's will for his life.  Did David mess up?  Many times.  Did David give up?  Not according to the account of his life in the Bible.  David's example begs the question for you and me?  Are we fulfilling our purpose for our generation?  What kind of influence do you have on your world?  

How do you guarantee that you have maximized your influence and fulfilled your purpose on your generation?  According to Jesus, "Love God and then love others as much as you do yourself" (The Gospel of Jesus according to Matthew, chapter 22, verses 37-39 NIV/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/English Standard Version of the Bible parallel)  Jesus called these 2 ways of living, the Greatest Commandments.  

Jesus also called us to turn away from the wrong things we do.  "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!" (Matthew 4:17 NIV)  This same mantra is echoed by Jesus' disciple Peter in his message of Acts 3 "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord" (read Peter's message in its entirety here:  Acts of the Apostles chapter 3 NIV/The Message/ESV)  You see one of the benefits of turning from your wrong and doing God's right is refreshing from God.  

So dear friend, what is the best way to spend your "moment" on the timeline of history?  Believe that Jesus was who He said He was and did what the Bible says He did and will do.  Repent of your wrong, embracing God's right.  Allow Jesus to have the authority in your life.  By doing this you show that you love God.  (The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple John, chapter 14 NIV/The Message/ESV)  Tell others about your love for God, His love for them, and love them like you do yourself.  By doing this you ensure that you are fulfilling your purpose.  These things enable you to have influence in your generation.  And at the end of your existence, folks will have a reason to be...missing you... without any irony...

'Til Tuesday

Serving HIM by serving You,

randy