Hello Hurricane: An essay on Boldness

Before you read this, go to Switchfoot's myspace and listen to the title track of their new album, Hello Hurricane. Here's the link http://www.myspace.com/switchfoot .

In my opinion one of their best songs yet. But I want to take a closer look at these lyrics:

Hello Hurricane
You're not enough
You can't silence my love
I've got doors and windows boarded up
All your dead end fury is not enough
You can't silence my love

Im a fighter fighting for control
Im a fighter fighting for my soul
Everything inside of me surrenders
You can't silence my love
You can't silence my love

They made me think thats for sure. But I just started to really dive into the message it was proclaiming. The words declare that not even a hurricane can silence my love. But what does that mean? I think it declares our fearless and unrelenting love for our Savior. We're taking every stop we can to ensure that we're living for him and not giving in to pressures from this world. And the bridge drives it home for me. We really are soldiers of Christ in this world, and as soldiers we are constantly under attack from the enemy. Spiritually, mentally, physically, we are just assaulted every day. How do we prevail? By surrender.

This song declares a bold surrender. A confident submission to Christ. I recall Hebrews 4:14-16 where it says that we should be confident because of what Christ has done for us. Yes, This song gets me pumped up to go into the world and fight for Christ. But I don't think that is what this song means to convey. As Christians the greatest thing we can do for God today is surrender and admit we aren't capable of doing anything that God couldn't just have done for himself. That's really hard for me to swallow, honestly. I don't like not having control, I hate admitting that the circumstances are beyond me.

But as I just look at my life and see the "blood red" skies rolling in, all the challenges and opposition that I will face in this life, I see that I really am inadequate. And now that I realize this, I feel so relieved. We have a God that is bigger than this earth. He's bigger than our struggles. When the storms come and we get swept away God is always chasing after us. The hardest part is admitting our need.

We live in a society bent on self preservation and success. If you can't do it yourself then you aren't man enough. If you aren't pretty then you're a failure. If I cheat on my taxes just this one time, I'll make so much more money. If I work hard enough then I'll make enough money to be happy. If i do this.... Don't you see the problem. Our proclamation should be one of boldness! We should greet the trials and storms with the declaration that anything that comes our way is not enough. Nothing can overcome the love that Christ has in our life. When hard times come the world tends to look at Christians. When we respond with that characteristic joy of Christ, people notice. Hello hurricane, you can't silence my love. Hello hurricane, I have Christ. Hello hurricane, I won't be overcome. In fact, we will overcome. Christ has given us victory! We have a joy burning inside of us that enables us to face the storms of life boldly!

Now the question changes. No longer do we ask, "What can I do for Christ today?", although that is a valid question. Now we can proclaim. "I surrender Christ, I need you today, use me however you want." Everything I have I count as lost. Do we really believe that? Imagine how great life can be if we have nothing holding us back. Material goods mean nothing, Christ means everything. I recall a sermon that Dan Slagle preached at Faithbridge a while ago. He talked about being a dangerous Christian. We shouldn't live life passively. We shouldn't wake up, go to school/work, come home, go to bed, repeat. Sure those actions will be a part of our lives, but what will our story look like? How will we be remembered. With that surrender we can make the focus of our life Jesus Christ. We can be dangerous to Satan. People are going to notice. If you're a dangerous Christian the fight will just got harder, but the rewards in heaven will be greater.

For a second just contemplate the miracle of your salvation. How could a God powerful and awesome enough to create and control a hurricane love you with a furious and passionate love? I agree it doesn't make much sense. So my closing challenge would be this: don't cower from the world and its struggles. Be bold. Live dangerously. Hello Hurricane, you can't silence my love! Let this be the cry of your heart. This all starts with surrender. Stand before a holy perfect God and tell him that you aren't enough. Paul was the first to tell everyone that he was the worst of sinners. Through his admittance he served as a mouthpiece to bring God even further glory. God I admit that I'm a wretched sinner. God I admit that without your love my life is meaningless. I surrender to you. Have you way with me. Allow me to say with conviction, Hello Hurricane.

-matt