On Repeat: Changed by Rascal Flatts

So I kind of love country music. A friend of mine has family from the midwest, and the first time she played a country song for me, I begged her to turn it off. My best friend in high school was another huge country fan, so I really had no choice after a year or so, and fell in love with the guitar, southern twang, and all things Nashville. Country concerts are also some of my favorite big stadium shows. Something about thousands of people filling Gillette Stadium and singing along to Tim McGraw just feels right. 

Changed by Rascal Flatts is one of my new favorites. One of the biggest reasons I like country is how comfortable many country artists feel about sharing their faith and spiritual experiences in their rather mainstream music. That's not to say I don't like secular music or have anything against it, but as a Christian, it's nice to hear someone vocalize their journey in faith in a song that's playing on the radio. The opening lines of this song are my favorites:  

I came up, out of the water

Raised my hairs, up to the father

Gave it all to him that day

Felt a new wind kiss my face

Walked away, eyes wide open

Could finally see where I was going

The chorus then goes on to read:

I got off track, I made mistakes

Back slid my way into that place, where souls get lost

lines get crossed and the pain won't go away

I hit my knees, now here I stand

There I was, now here I am...

Here I am. Changed.

Leave a comment with your thoughts and have a great weekend!

Why I Care

"In the village we believe that differences should enrich instead of divide"

The rest of this quote can be found here

This was a quote on an art installation on Rue St. Catherine in the Village of Montreal. The Village is widely known as the most accepting neighborhood of the city and home to a large LGBT community. After all of the fuss with DOMA and the marriage act from last week, I'd like to remind y'all, and myself, of what I think the fight is truly about.

It's not about democrats vs. republicans, civil unions vs. marriage, or state vs. federal law: I support the gay rights movement because we all have the right to be different. 

For example, I'm a Christian, and my faith is something that I am not only open about, but also is a huge part of how I self-identify. I'm also black. And a woman. Without these characteristics, I'd feel lost in the huge world I'm just learning to navigate. So, when I see hatred towards the LGBT community I feel a quick rush of anger which slowly melts into confusion. I grew up in a community similar to the Village in Montreal and learned to love people no matter what they looked like or who they loved. 

Sometimes people question my thoughts on gay rights when they find out about my faith. I once had a friend who was scared to tell me that he was gay because he knew I was a Christian. The first thing I'd like to say is that, while I believe everyone has a right to their opinion, the way my fellow Christians sometimes treat people who are different than them really disappoints me. However, in turn, I don't feel that I have any right to tell them how they should feel, and more importantly, I know I have no right to tell them how God feels about their actions. 

We're all born with differences, and I would be very very bored if everyone I knew was just like me. I understand that accepting others is one of the hardest tasks we're faced with in this world, and I do not pretend that there aren't times when people whose choices I don't agree with frustrate me. I just ask that we remind ourselves to take a inhale of patience and breathe out some of that hate. It's not good for you anyways :)

Questions? Stories to share? Thoughts on DOMA? Leave a comment!