Memphis May Fire

While a lot of things have changed in my life during the past couple months, one that has not is my main taste in music.  I love metal.  I know it's weird, dumb, strange, irritating, and a whole lot of other adjectives to most people, so I try to avoid playing it around people I know do not enjoy it.  I think that if someone has a particular genre they don't like, all of the songs in that genre will sound the same to them and I'm no different.  While I have tried to be more well-rounded and more receptive to other types, I have only experienced modest success.  So I'm glad that there is music that is Christian-themed and metal at the same time.  This makes me think of another artist I enjoy, LeCrae. 

LeCrae belongs in this discussion because he makes music in another genre that has not been typical for ‘Christian’ music.  His rap albums are Jesus-themed and also quite popular.
Rick Warren, in his popular book The Purpose Driven Life, kills it for me in chapter 8.  He says, "even worse, ‘worship’ is often misused to refer to a particular style of music.....worship has nothing to do with the style or volume or speed of a song.  God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all.....If it is offered to God in spirit and truth, it is an act of worship....Christians often disagree over the style of music used in worship.....But there is no biblical style!...There is no such thing as ‘Christian’ music, only Christian lyrics.....If I played a song for you without the words, you’d have no way of knowing if it were a ‘Christian’ song." 
I think this type of music can reach people who wouldn’t hear the message any other way.  I know the amount of people who listen to metal is not huge, but it exists.  One time I went and saw Impending Doom at a concert that was mostly secular.  The lead singer of this Christian deathcore band did not hesitate one bit, "I don’t care if you hate me, if you hate what I believe, if you hate everything I stand for, I just want you to know that Jesus loves you and died for your salvation."
On Friday night, I finally went to a DFW concert and saw Memphis May Fire.  I've been here half a year and it's still weird to me that bands I like are less than 20 miles away.  I met some kids from a CFB school, so that was cool.  However, overall the show was not a good experience.  Grandpa Mills is officially done with concerts.  My back was killing me from standing for hours in line and then at the concert, I grew weary of getting kicked in the head by crowd surfing high schoolers and live music doesn't even sound good.  I can't believe I spent money on that.  But I guess I have no room to complain because I did it to myself.  Longgg story short, I learned my lesson.  As always I have to learn the hard way.  The things of this world will not satisfy you.  There is nothing on earth that can fill our God-shaped chasm, as I fondly like to call it.  I just watch people everyday try to make themselves satisfied with things that will never truly make them happy.  We need Jesus, plain and simple.  That money I spent on entertainment and myself is gone.  It has no lasting value.  But contentment in God alone will bring you a peace like no other. 

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

― Albert Einstein