Welcome to Tuesday! Can you sense the change? November always seems to bring about a difference in everything. Retailers are determining how to find that "it" item for the fourth quarter. Families begin the conversation of "where shall we spend the holidays this year?". Planning for the perfect entrees and deserts become a common theme as budgets are made for the special meals that occur between now and January 1, 2020. (Does saying "2020" seem weird to anyone else but me?) Politicians are trying to get those last donations before holiday resources become a priority for everyone. Football teams, except alas the Razorbacks, are trying to get those final wins to insure postseason play. Things just seem to be different in November.
And then there is the calm in the storm. A "lighter" day amidst the cacophony of the final months of the year. Yes, friend, you guessed it...Tuesdays! It brings with it the productivity of not being Monday and the anticipation that tomorrow is hump day. It also brings you your favorite blog, Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! (insert your favorite noisemaker noise right...here!)
Welcome to the best day of the week!!! Let's pull a string and see what comes in...
It would serve as the follow-up single to "Dreams", the #22 smash hit by Van Halen. A typical popular album with see 1-3 single releases. But never being labeled "typical", Van Halen released "Love Comes In" as 1 of 5 singles released from the 1986 #1 album, 5150. The song was a bit of a departure from quintessential Van Halen fare like "Runnin' with the Devil".
Stylistically following in the footsteps of Van Halen's 1984, synthesizers and keyboards became a dominant instrument instead of Eddie Van Halen's soaring guitar solos on many of the tracks from 5150. As seen by our featured video, during the 5150 tours, Sammy Hagar's guitar prowess was put on display as Eddie Van Halen handled keyboard duties on the songs that were heavily weighted toward that instrument.
The music for "Love Walks In" was written by Eddie, with lyrics by Sammy, once again proving the validity of this incarnation of the band Van Halen and solidifying it as a force with which to be reckoned in the mid to late '80s. I don't know about you, but I am fast becoming a Van Hagar fan...
Peaking on the Billboard Hot 100 at #22, "Love Walks In" is at its heart a love ballad. While you won't see it as the soundtrack of a Hallmark movie, you do get the sense that it serves as a defining song for the love ballads of its time.
The feelings at first sight, the befuddlement of new love, and the intense desire to be in the presence of this person all the time are emotions that many have felt throughout the ages. It is a part of the DNA of who we are as humans. And seemingly coming right out of the script of said Hallmark movies is the story from the Bible, found in the book of Genesis, of Isaac and Rebekah.
Abraham was getting old. Sarah, his wife of many years, had passed away (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Sarah Smiles" (Panic! at the Disco)) In an effort to ensure that his son, Isaac married the "right girl", Abraham sent a servant back to the homeland to find a wife for Isaac of his distant family. This marrying of a family member did not hold the stigma that western culture perceives today (remember that Sarah was Abraham's half-sister).
Praying as he went, the servant found his way back to Abraham's kin and God led him straight to Rebekah. The details of the story do the "fill in" much better than I can, but ultimately Isaac, who the Bible says is meditating upon Rebekah's arrival (probably due to the loss of Sarah), sees her and the synthesizers begin. The Bible doesn't say anything about fireworks (or synthesizers for that matter), but it is a sweet moment as Isaac and Rebekah listen again to the servant's retelling of his story of how God put them together.
This story serves a dual purpose. First, it continues the progression of the promise that God made to Abraham about making him into a great nation and securing the land of promise that will eventually become the nation of Israel. Secondly, Rebekah's companionship and willingness to be a servant of God serve to provide comfort to Isaac at the loss of his mother.
One qualifier that I must make. Love may not come walkin' into your circumference. You aren't going to be the one who continues the lineage of the ancestors of Israel. Can God work that way in our lives? Absolutely, but we shouldn't expect it to happen that way.
There are, however, promises from God that are as equally miraculous as Isaac and Rebekah's love story and are true for each of us. He promises that He loves us as shown by Jesus' sacrifice to provide a restoration of our relationship with God. (The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple John, chapter 3, verses 16-17 NASB/The Message/KJV) He promises that if we ask, He will forgive us from ALL of our past, present, and future sins. (1 John 1:9 NASB/The Message/KJV) He promises that once we believe that Jesus did that we can never be snatched from His hand. (John 10:28-29 NASB/The Message/KJV ) He promises that at the end of the age, folks will be judged and spend eternity in either heaven or hell (Revelation NASB/The Message/KJV). These are just 4 of the many promises that God makes to you and I. They are in the Bible. Read it and you'll see. And then you sense the change, nothin' feels the same, all your dreams are strange and love comes walkin' in...
'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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