How the 1980s, R.E.M., Siri, and the Pursuit of Transforming Knowledge all Fit Together
Trolling the mall with my friends I heard the song as we passed an American Eagle.
“It’s the end of the world, as we know it.”
The fella singing was earnest and angsty. The song was hopeful, punchy, and sincere. I loved it. I wanted to listen to it over and again. But I had no idea who it was.
These were the wonder years of my musically formative youth. These were the 80’s.
And in the 80’s, you couldn’t ask Siri who you were listening to. This was well before one could peruse Google’s limitless data stream in order to fetch the name of such a gloriously fun lyric. This would require an old fashioned investigation.
Quick on my feet, a hunter seeking its prey (or a 15-year-old willing to talk to whoever might possess the knowledge), I ran into the store and asked the first person I could find, an early 20-something punk rock kid: leather, eyeshade, and Mohawk.
“Hey man” I said in my coolest I don’t care voice. “Do you know who sings this song?”
“It’s R.E.M, dude.” He said, never looking up from his perusal of the newest Jordache.
“Rem?” I asked.
“No!” He scoffed and offered nothing more.
“Oh, cool…” And the search continued.
Weeks passed, then it played over the speakers as I stocked shelves in the automotive department of Canadian Tire, the Great White North’s equivalent of Wal-Mart.
I found my co-worker, Regina, a cool flirty senior, “Hey, this is R.E M., right?”
“Yeah, I love them!” She said. She was so cool!
“Me too, they are literally my favorite band, ever… What does it stand for?”
“What does what stand for?”
“R.E.M?”
She smiled and exaggerated an eye roll as if to say, you’re dumb but it’s cute, “Rapid Eye Movement.”
“Cool, that’s what I thought,” I said.
I purchased the cassette, put it in my Walkman where it remained for weeks. It wasn’t long until I had every nuance of melody, harmony, and rhythm eternally memorized.
About a year later, a fella pulled up to the red light next to my new mag wheeled, midnight blue, 1976 Toyota Corona, and yelled through my open window over the new song “Losing My Religion” blaring from my speakers. “Hey, is that R.E.M.?”
“Yeah man! Great band!” I said.
“What’s it stand for?” He asked, and I knew I’d met a fellow traveler—a man on a mission, a brother seeking to know.
Without flirting, I give him the same look Regina gave me. “Rapid Eye Movement,” I said.
“Cool, that’s what I thought,” he said. But we both knew…
Now, some thirty years later, when I hear a guitar line over percussive claps and distorted kick with synthesized organ and horns, accompanied by cascading ahhs and a rhythmic melodic female vocalist in the style of Thom Yorke, all I have to do is push a button on my phone and it informs me it’s Farao.
No longer must I live in the tension of weeks of not knowing, months of searching, of just missing the DJ’s intro as the song plays on the radio.
No longer do I listen to one line in a song over and over and still come away with, “Hold me closer Tony Danza.”
Now, thanks to Google, “tiny dancer” couldn’t be clearer.
So it’s good.
Mostly.
But somedays, I feel something has been lost… or maybe I’m just getting old.
We live in a day where knowledge often equals enlightenment, as though knowledge is its own reward.
But I think knowledge by itself is an exercise in vanity. I’ve experienced that when knowledge isn’t earned through persistent, hopeful, curiosity, it loses its power to transform us.
And isn’t that the point of knowledge—that we could be transformed?
I believe that seeking knowledge is meant to lead us to something greater: revelation.
Revelation, that’s what I’m after; that moment where all the biggest questions meet, and love is realized.
I think revelation is where knowledge and love meet. I think revelation is when two become one. It’s about intimacy.
I’ve been writing lately on “the end of the world as we know it.” I’m on a persistent, hopeful, curious, lifelong journey into oneness with my heavenly Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, my wife and kids and…
Somedays I get it: the better answers, the greater encounters, the wide-open spaces, revelation. And somedays I’m tired with what I know.
On those days, I thank God that it’s the end of the world as we know it.
I Don’t Know… But God Is Good
Shortly after my book Prone To Love released I came across a review.
The reviewer was an earnest believer who graciously but systematically challenged many of my core thoughts regarding the perfection of Gods always-good love. The review was thorough, the disagreement thoughtful, surgical and, because of the reviewer’s sincerity and the fact that scripture supported each challenge, convincing. As I read it I felt anxious. Not because the reviewer disagreed, I don’t need agreement. It was how the reviewer used scripture to methodically undermine the truths I had written. I felt a heavy obligation to systematically respond to each question raised. There was one problem, I wasn’t sure I had the answers.
The next time I sat down to write, instead of further developing the book I was working on, a book about sovereign love, a book that releases later this year, I began to develop a rebuttal.
I opened a new Word Doc on my MacBook. But after only ten minutes of writing, I was uneasy. If I responded to each scripture reference, I would be at it for days, maybe even weeks; and after all that, I wasn’t sure I would be able to deliver convincing answers.
Then I heard God laughing.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“I’m trying to get answers to the scriptures used in that review,” I responded.
“Any luck?” He asked.
“Not yet, and it’s a little overwhelming,” I responded.
“Well, whatever you do, don’t make them up.”
I smiled. “Father, You are so good. I love You.”
“I love you.” He replied.
Then I slid my little MacBook navigation arrow up to the left corner of my new Word Doc. I clicked the dark grey dot, which triggered the on-screen prompt, “Do you want to save the changes you made to this document?”
“Don’t Save,” I clicked, smiling again, all anxiety gone. Then I went back to writing what I had been invited to write, I leaned into His pleasure.
My Fathers gracious interruption had done two things. First, He identified the source of my anxiety. I had started defending instead of revealing. Many years earlier I had come to the freeing realization that God doesn’t want, nor need, to be defended, but He loves to be revealed.
And I love to reveal Him. It’s my great joy to seek after and reveal His perfect love nature; to discover wisdom that I might have answers to the questions. That’s why I love Proverbs 4:7
“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
Wisdom, it’s both a gift and mandate. And we have been both invited and instructed to seek after it until we have understanding. And this world needs men and women who have wisdom and understanding – who have the answers. This world needs leaders confident in His always-good love nature.
As believers, it’s not just our joy to discover the answers, it’s our honor to reveal them. And as Christians, we have all felt the cultural pressure, the expectation to provide the answers – all of them, even when we don’t yet know.
That’s why I believe this next phrase is so important.
I don’t know…
As I mentioned, my Fathers gracious interruption of my brief attempt to write a rebuttal had done two things. The second, He empowered me to live in the tension of not knowing. He removed from me the anxious striving to have all the answers and in so doing, He invited me into the process of wisdom and understanding.
I don’t know… is the humble gift we offer to the One who wants nothing more than to reveal Himself more fully to us. I don’t know frees and then empowers us to discover.
You can’t fill a glass that’s already full. My point, greater revelation is only available to those who don’t have it. The willingness to not have an answer is what positions us for THE answer. A humble “I don’t know” will lead us into wisdom and understanding quicker than knowing ever will.
I don’t know is the invitation to discover His goodness in greater measure. Because, while there is plenty I don’t know, there is one thing I am absolutely positive about, God is good.
I don’t know but God is good. That phrase has been one of our family and ministry mottoes for years. It’s a faith statement that has served us well.
The first half of that statement is extremely powerful only because we believe the second half with absolute conviction. We have made it our position on everything.
Why did we experience a miscarriage, I don’t know, but God is good.
Why did we lose our business, I don’t know, but God is good.
Why are we not experiencing breakthrough? I don’t know but God is good.
Why are we being persecuted for loving the lost, choosing honor, seeking His presence, revealing family, hoping where there is no hope, giving beyond comfortable, choosing life, living wildly faithful…
I don’t know, but God is good is the grace that empowers us to live between the tension of not knowing and His invitation to know, to get wisdom and understanding.
Wisdom is the gift given to those who are willing to embrace both mystery and revelation. Understanding is discovered by those willing to live in the tension of not knowing while believing He is good. The answers are imparted to those who have made intimacy the answer.
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)
The good news is, He really wants to tell us the answers! He really wants to give us wisdom and understanding.
I recently stumbled across that contrary review – the one that had briefly caused such anxiety. You know what’s funny; I can answer the questions now. In fact, I was surprised to realize I had unknowingly answered many of them in my forthcoming book.
I am convinced the gospel is easy, He loves us, and we grow sure. Just so, I am convinced ministry is easy, we are loved, we believe it, and we reveal His love.
I don’t know… but God is good and that’s more than enough.
May you grow sure in His pleasure!