A Car, A Torch, A Death

I miss blogging about songs.  I am going to start that up again, I think. But only with songs that are significant to me and have a valuable lesson we can all learn from.  It's no secret that I am fan of Twenty One Pilots.  They are a band from Columbus, Ohio and honestly, have some of the most thought provoking lyrics, which stem from their deep faith in God.

It's hard to describe their style, but imagine, if you will...throwing Elton John, Billy Joel, Muse, Freddy Mercury and Eminem in a blender and setting it to high until they are nice and pureed, and then pouring into a 2 man band shaped mold and letting if harden for a few days, you'd have a close idea of what they may sound like.

Anyway, check out these lyrics.  I will give my interpretation afterwards:

A Car, A Torch, A Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TIFo-GCWy8


The air begins to feel a little thin
As I start the car and then I begin
To add the miles piled up behind me
I barely feel a smile deep inside me

And I begin to envy the headlights driving south
I want to crack the door so I can just fall out
But then I remember when you packed my car
You reached in the back and buckled up your heart

For me to drive away with
I began to understand
Why God died

The demons sat there waiting on her porch
It was a little dark so we held a makeshift torch
And when my car was far out of sight
He crept in her room and stayed there for the night

And then I felt chills in my bones
The breath I saw was not my own
I knew my skin that wrapped my frame
Wasn't made to play this game

And then I saw Him, torch in hand
He laid it out, what he had planned
And then I said, I'll take the grave
Please, just send them all my way

I began to understand
Why God died

The air begins to feel a little thin
As we're waiting for the morning to begin
But for now you told me to hold this jar
And when I looked inside, I saw
It held your heart

For me to walk away with
I began to understand
Why God died

---

Most of their lyrics are word picturesque, if that makes sense.  Rather than coming right out and saying what they mean, they paint a picture with their words so that we, the listener, can interpret them in our own words.  Kind of like an artist does with a painting.  A lot of their lyrics seem kind of dark, but they also offer a glimmer of light and hope, which as you know, can penetrate the darkest of days.  That's probably why I like these guys so much, because they lyrics are so relate-able. This is just MY interpretation.  I don't feel my interpretation is the "right" one.  It's just what I get from the song.

This particular song starts off with the singer feeling lost.  He is trying to escape from what he's dealing with (packing the miles behind me) and can't even bring himself to smile. He starts to envy that cars headed the other direction, because they seem to be facing their troubles head on rather than trying to escape them.  He wishes he could just "fall out of the car" and not have to deal with anything any longer.  Then the last two lines of the 2nd section are the glimmer of hope.  He remembers that he isn't alone.  God (who this song is referring to) is with him.  (He buckled up His heart in the back).  He realizes then that he starts to understand why Jesus died for him...to offer him hope. To offer him salvation.

The next section is about another person that he knows that is dealing with issues in her life.  The makeshift torch represents him perhaps sharing a little of his faith with her.  After he left, Jesus continued to watch over her.

As he drove away, he felt a bad presence again, and felt like he just wasn't made to be able to deal with that on his own, but that's when he saw Jesus with His own torch in His hand.  He told the singer, "Hey, I will take the grave for you...just send all your problems my way...I'll deal with them Myself."

And again, the singer realizes just why God died for him.

And the final section, the singer takes solace that whenever he feels "the air is thin" he can count on Jesus being there for him, and once again, he recalls that Jesus died for him.

--

To me, that is a beautiful picture that perfectly describes reality.  Many Christians don't like to admit that they have struggles.  We are perhaps conditioned by some to believe that life is good all the time and that having faith in God is always easy.  It's not.  It's ok to have questions.  It's ok to have struggles.  We just need to take solace in the fact that Christ did indeed die for us, and that no matter what happens, He is there.

That is all.
Gregg