Welcome to Tuesday! According to your GPS, you have arrived at your destination safely! Have any detours along the way? We are certainly glad that you chose to come to this special place where music is discovered and celebrated! We know that you are tired from the long journey and want to encourage you to relax while your place is prepared. To make your stay here as pleasant as possible, we suggest you remember the following tips: 1) listen to all of the music. That seems simple enough, yet it seems that some choose to blitz through the content and not take a moment to savor the delicacies that are offered. 2) read everything. Even if you think it is a familiar song, it has been our experience that every time is like the first and there are always new things to learn. 3) Click...every...link We understand that your time may be limited, however, to achieve the full Tuesday's Musical Notes experience you must go down a few trails that might seem challenging and time-consuming. We promise your time is of the utmost importance to us as well and we would not include anything on your excursion that we thought would be distracting or seem like less of a priority to your time. 4) Explore. There are many other opportunities for you here at Tuesday's Musical Notes. You can use our search engine to see about a favorite musician or song or scroll through The Notes' over 500 entries to ensure the maximization of your overall experience with us. Thanks again for choosing Tuesday's Musical Notes as your destination today. And now as we do each week, here is a little welcome gift to start your time with us today. Enjoy!
Ok, yes, you have us there! It isn't "Separate Ways" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Journey)), or "Wheel In The Sky" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Wheel In The Sky" (Journey)). It isn't "Don't Stop Believin'" or "Any Way You Want It". "Signs of Life" is the 3rd track from the first Journey album that did not feature long-term vocalist Steve Perry (1977-1998) on lead vocal and Steve Smith(1995-1998, 2nd time with the band) on drums. "Signs Of Life" didn't even make it as a single from the Arrival album. (There were only 2 ("Higher Place" and "All The Way", neither of which charted in the top 100).
"Signs Of Life" didn't find its way to radio, or even streaming success due to the lackluster sales of Arrival in comparison to Journey's catalog. Arrival was the first album by the band in over 24 years that did not go Gold. Despite that, it peaked at #56 on Billboard's 200 album chart. Diehard fans liked the album as "Signs Of Life" and the other tracks still have that Journey vibe and arena rock feel that was the root of the 80's successes of the band. Perry's replacement, Steve Augeri, had just enough of the "Perry sound" to satiate fans of the band.
Proving that they don't need to be on life support, Journey continues to tour incessantly and has released 4 albums since Arrival...well, arrived. The most recent is the album Freedom, released this year (2022) by original band member Neil Schon as well as Arrival bandmates Deen Castronova on drums and Jonathan Cain on keys. (Arrival - Journey full album youtube.com) Thus providing proof that the band Journey at nearly 50 is definitely showing Signs of Life...
There has been much that Jesus and His followers have experienced as they continued their transit to Capernaum from Jerusalem. If you need a refresher, just visit the last several weeks of The Notes. You can find them on the left-hand side of your screen under September and October. Today we bear witness in Scripture to another event that only the disciple John records. It seems that miracles happen in Cana. (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "It's A Miracle" (Barry Manilow)
Jesus' reputation was spreading quickly due to the teaching He was doing about Himself, repentance, and the coming kingdom. He was building relationships through people's lives and restoring hope to a region that was sorely in need of a promise. When coming into Cana again, Jesus is met by a royal official, probably a servant of Herod, the Roman-appointed ruler of Galilee. This official had a son who was dying. He came to Jesus in desperation seeking healing for his son. The next moments of the encounter may seem like Jesus is frustrated as He replies, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." The official reiterates his plea for Jesus to go with him to heal his son. Jesus then tells the man, "Go, your son is alive." Why didn't Jesus go with him? I think the next part of the Scripture brings some insight.
John records, "The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home. " Did you catch that? The royal official, who in all likelihood could have demanded and ordered Jesus to accompany him to the boy...believed. He then went home to be with his boy. As they watched the official leave, the folks who witnessed this exchange did not know the outcome nor would they know the results until later if some of them ever did. They did know, however, that this official of the government expressed his belief that what Jesus had said was true.
Can you imagine the journey home for the official? When he left to get help from Jesus, his son was dying. As he went back, he went with the confidence that what Jesus had said was true, his son was alive. By the time he made his arrival home, his son was not only showing signs of life but there was so much excitement about the son's recovery that the official's servants met him with the news! The aristocrat asked his servants when the boy began recovering, and in what I would imagine wasn't a surprise to this nobleman, (remember he...believed) they told him the precise moment that Jesus said..."your son lives", nearly 24 hours prior. The nobleman's belief is amplified and his entire household believed as well. This is becoming a trend with Jesus.
"Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." It seems that we are not unlike those folks in Cana. We live in a cynical world that needs the miraculous to provide credibility to our faith. Even those who profess Jesus have asked for signs and wonders to support our belief in troubled times. I am guilty as charged.
But what do we see from this nobleman? John says that Jesus proclaimed something and the man believed. We aren't told of the official's upbringing, his church, or Sunday School Small Group attendance. We are only told that he had a family and household who were desperate for a solution to their need. Their immediate, yet temporary, need was the healing of the official's son. Their future, yet eternal, need was for salvation from their sins. Here, like the thief who hung beside Jesus (more soon), we don't hear about the servant of Herod's repentance and how he went about evangelizing the entire region. One would surmise that those things could have occurred, yet John doesn't record them. John keeps it simple, "The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home."
How about you friend? Do you believe the Word that Jesus is speaking to you through Holy Spirit? Are you looking for a solution to the immediate? Jesus offers that as well as an unfolding of what your eternity future could be.
If you have never believed in Jesus, show some signs of life today by listening for His ever-present pleading. His message hasn't changed. "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand".
If you are a follower of Jesus, how do you show your signs of life? Are your eyes open to the immediacy of needs all around you? Could you be the sign or wonder that causes someone to believe and secure the permanence of their eternity? Friend, how are your signs of life?
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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