I grew up in the wrong time. My favorite singer growing up was Johnny Cash. His voice spoke to me, with an earnestness that resonated deep within me. Songs about heartache, outlaw life, and the Gospel…he was a man of a different time, speaking all the truth I’d ever wanted to find in music. Then I went to college. I was introduced to this Irish band I’d never heard of. Their music spoke to me. It was true. I started buying (okay, downloading) their CD’s, because that’s what broke college kids did then. As I went through their catalog, there was one song, that for some reason, moved me to tears. It talked about everywhere a man had been, everything he’d experienced…and that he was still running.
Now, many years later, I still know that feeling. I have been all over the map, religiously: I’ve been a youth pastor, I’ve worked with college kids. I’ve stayed out of church, both for personal reasons and because of pain. I’ve made serious mistakes, and I’ve been punished. But one thing remains: I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. And I never will.
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” These words were penned by CS Lewis in his masterpiece work, Mere Christianity. They go hand in hand with the lyrics Bono wrote for this song. There is a spiritual wanderlust that should be present in each of God’s children: a feeling of belonging to both this time and place, but a desire for what is to come. There has to be something more out there than what we can see, touch, smell, or taste…while life is good, it’s not meant to be all that we have. And I have to cling to that hope, that there is more.
fanboypastor 