Song of the Summer

The end of the summer is rapidly nearing, and my fall semester abroad is closer than ever. As is my semi-regular custom, it's time to evaluate which song that came out this summer meant the most to me or captured my life best at that moment. This summer, unlike previous ones, the choice is easy. If you know me well, it's no secret that I'm an enormous fan of the band Relient K. I even got the pleasure of seeing them in concert last month. I showed Matt Thiessen how much I loved him by wearing my Switchfoot shirt to his concert.
This summer, Relient K released their 7th album, Collapsible Lung. My song of the summer is Track 11 on this CD, which happens to be the title track. The song "Collapsible Lung" features the chorus: "Between the miles of open road, I lost sight of what might matter the most. I stumbled into the great unknown and found... time won't slow down." And isn't that the truth... All of us lead busy, productive lives, travelling down the miles and miles of open road. It's easy to lose track of time. I've done it all too often. I'm only 20 years old, and it already seems like several years have sped by like a European train. Before we know it, we'll be getting by on our collapsible lungs, hobbling around on our replaceable hips, waiting for time to finally slow down.... But it won't.
I'm about to head over to Europe for four months. Knowing the nature of time, I expect it to whiz by in a flash of sound, color, and motion. We can't slow down time. But treasuring it... treasuring it as a precious gift... that's how to make your time count. So even if we can't slow down that wicked engineer, ceaselessly shoveling coals into the train of time faster than we bargained for, we can make our time worthwhile. We can live out our vocations. When I'm in England, I have the freedom to live out my vocations of son, brother, friend, and a handful of other priceless titles to the best of my ability. This way maybe--just maybe--when I'm full of years, getting by with my collapsible lung, I can look back and know that I didn't lost sight of what might matter the most. Time will never be slow... but it can be meaningful.
I encourage you all, if you haven't heard it already, to give "Collapsible Lung" a listen. It's really a brilliant tune. (they say "brilliant" in England, right?)