When a familiar song takes on a whole new meaning....

[janetplanet]

Isin’t it crazy how a song can take on a whole new meaning sometimes?

Now, I’m not even going to pretend that I’ve been a Hawk Nelson fan from the start. I wish I had been though; so many missed concerts of this amazing band that love I love so much. However, I’ve had their first album “Letters to the President” for quite some time now. I’ve listened to it often, and I know all the lyrics to all the songs. I’ve seen them perform these songs live, as well as on TV, video/DVD, and on-line performances.

Their song, “Take Me” has been one of those songs that I knew very well and have heard countless times. I have it in FOUR different versions (two acoustic, CD edit and radio edit). I can sing to every lyric and I can air guitar it quite well, if I do say so myself, hehe. That song, however, was never more than just another Hawk Nelson song.

Recently I went through a very tough period. I will leave the details out, but know it was VERY hard. I had to shed lots of tears and spent lots of time in prayer. In one of the entries in my prayer journal I wrote the line, “I need You more than ever!” It was exactly how I felt; I really did need Him more than ever. I knew that line was from a Hawk Nelson song. In fact, I could see Jason singing it in my head as I wrote it. However, that was really the only line I was focusing on.

For some reason I wanted to hear some old school Hawk Nelson, so I got out my “Letters to the President” CD and popped it in. Man, such great music. (Side note: Danny and I have a very in depth philosophical discussion: which president is Jason writing a letter to? Of which country? Why is a Canadian writing a letter to the president? Why should a president pass on his letter to a parliament? Which parliament? Which states don’t care? Was he inspired by 2Pac? Poor Tommy!)

Anyways….

I popped in my “Letters to the President” Cd and was blasting it in my car. It made me feel better. I love Hawk Nelson and that album is just so cool and fun. I sang “California” and did my arm like them in the “Whooas." I also sang through other faves such as “Things We Go Through,” “Every Little Thing,” “Right Here,” “Recess,” etc. I was having fun bumping around in my car to all these fun songs.

But then, then I got to track 8, and well, the lyrics just hit hard.

Can you hear me? Does anyone around me
Feel the way that I feel now?

I stopped, listened, and turned it up. THAT WAS ME!! That’s exactly how I was feeling at the moment.  I too was wondering if anyone could hear my pain, or if anyone else felt that same pain.

Cause from the window where I sometimes cry
I just want to see Your face tonight

YES!! YES!! I pictured myself crying in front of the window in my room. That’s exactly how I felt.  I thought back to when I wrote in my prayer journal about how I needed Him.  In fact, I was crying when I wrote that.

Then the killer

And I'm willing to lose everything I am
Cause I need you more than ever

THAT WAS THE LINE!! The line that I prayed to God in my prayer journal. At this point my eyes were filling up with tears.

The lyrics just kept hitting home….

I need Your help to find where I've been going wrong so far

Yes, that was yet another one of my prayers. Where have I been going wrong? Is this all my fault?

Take me under Your wing tonight
Make me so perfect in Your eyes
Hold on cause it will be alright
You're not alone.

MAN!, the chorus had me in tears. That’s exactly what I wanted from God, from Him to care for me and love me when other’s couldn’t, for Him to mold me into the perfect person He wanted me to be, for Him to hold me so I wouldn’t be alone going through this, because I felt so alone going through this and having no one to talk about it.  (I imagine the last 2 lines are God's response to him)

But yes, it just kept going

When You're near me, I feel like I just found me
In the traces of the boy from yesterday

You might have to refer back to this entry to understand why this line is so perfect: ( http://janetplanet.livejournal.com/420598.html)

And yes, I know I’m a girl, but the line still fits.

But in a world that is so black and white
I will take the steps to change my life
And I won't be coming back to here again

YES!! I don’t want to get into too much detail as to how this line hits it on the nail, but know it does

I need Your loving hand to guide me
Through the maze of all the things inside me

I was all confused; absolutely nothing was making sense. I really need him to guide me through everything.

Then I'll know that I'm alright

Only He can make me alright

(pre-chorus and chorus repeat)

Please help me get from worse to better
Before these tears soak through this lonely sweater

This line was just completely fitting. I shed so many tears, and I was lonely, and I wanted things to get from worse to better.

And let me know that I'm alright

Deep down, this is really what I wanted to hear

I still have one strike of this match left
And I'm holding on to my last breath

There was one more thing I wanted to try, and I knew that would probably be the last thing I could do to save it all. I was holding my breath, wishing it would actually work.

And its getting a little dark around to see here

Oh boy, WAS IT dark.

(Chorus repeats 2x)

And You'll be here forever, forever You'll stay
And You promised to love me, You'll love me always
You'll love me for always, You'll love me for always
Always

This is exactly what I needed to be reminded of. He will be there forever; even if I lost everything else HE would still be there. He has promised to love me always, and even if all the other "love" around me failed and disappeared, His wouldn’t. It will NEVER leave me; His love will be with me ALWAYS.

At this point I was in complete tears. This song was me right at the moment; it was perfectly describing what I was going through and it was also telling me EXACTLY what I needed to hear.

Even though “Someone Else Before” is a song I love, I had to press repeat on “Take Me.” I can’t tell you how many times I pushed that repeat button, I simply needed to hear that song.

For the entire month that I was going through this terrible ordeal I had “Take Me” as my go to song. It was constantly playing, and honestly, I really do think it helped me get through that bad month.

And to think, I had this song for how many years without it ever being anything more than another pretty Hawk Nelson song?

That is the power of music and God working through them even after all this time after it was originally written.

Here is my fave live performance of this song.

Click to view

Now, Jason would be the first to say he is not the best vocalist in the world (I would be the second, hehe). The appeal of Jason is that his voice is unique, and he writes amazing songs with the rest of Hawk Nelson. Part of the appeal of Hawk nelson is seeing how the guys interact with each other, and seeing how crazy they all can get on-stage. The other part is seeing their genuine hearts that love God above all else and seeing that worship side come out while they are on stage.

Man, Immma miss it all!

(Please note I was writing up this entry before the news broke today, appropriate that today is the day I finish it. I will write my thoughts on everything on a separate post)