March 30, 2005
Randy Stonehill's "Christmas at Denny's"
When I was growing up, we really didn't have much to listen to. I don't remember ever listening to Mongolian radio, and I doubt there were more than a few stations. What we had, we wore dog-eared in the eight years we lived in Mongolia. Two Christian artists whose music we had a lot of were Randy Stonehill and Michael Card. Ever since then, I've found a special place in my heart for those two singers. When Mom and Dad visited Nikki and me last semester, they left behind a CD with some songs of Stonehill's that I hadn't heard in years. It was a tremendous delight to pore through them again ... they brought back a lot of memories.
This song, in particular, touched me. Both for its bitter, almost "unchristian" tone, and for the odd beauty of it. I've found a link to the lyrics here, so I won't type it this time. My life is nowhere near as painful as that of the singer of this song, but it still touches me. There's something in me that resonates to it, particularly its last verse. "The fools we've become ... the price that we've paid ... when I was a boy, I believed in Christmas, a miracle season to make a new start ... I don't need no miracle, sweet baby Jesus, just help me find some kind of hope in my heart."
"if only, if only, if only ... but somewhere down the road, I gave up that fight ..."
