Escaping Alive!

I must confess that I am not much of a country music fan. That is not to say that I never listen to it, it is just not my first choice. None of the presets on my car radio are set to country stations and you won't find much of it in my CD or record collection. As a mandolin player, I do have an affinity for bluegrass, and I am rather partial to Southern Rock and Country Rock and folk. But country just has never really appealed to me. There are exceptions of course. For example, I really like Elvis and I am a big fan of Hank Williams.

We have just returned from our denomination's General Assembly (some folks call this a convocation) in Nashville and we were privileged to be able to spend some time visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame. (As a side note, we heard a young man play and sing that evening named Willie Huston - he was a very talented singer-songwriter and a wonderful banjo player. I encourage you to check his Facebook page to hear some of his music.) No doubt the reader is aware that any museum devoted to country music must have a Hank Williams display. There was a picture of Williams from late in his career with a hand written note, "I'll never get out of this world alive."

This is, of course, the title of his last song to make the radio before his death. It is a song about a man who is a hard-luck, ne'er do well, who complains that "no matter how I struggle, no matter how I strive, / I'll never get out of this world alive." As we looked at the portrait and the writing, my daughter commented, "Of course not, none of us will." Perhaps that is exactly the point.

Perhaps Williams was struggling to express the faith he had claimed in "I Saw the Light" even as he struggled with his personal demons and brokenness. Perhaps he never intended the comment to be more than a superficial proclamation of a universla truth. Either way, I beleive his statement is entirely profound for people of faith. No one will ever get out of this world alive. But we may certainly get out of this world with life.

No matter the depths of our struggles, or the heights of our mountains that must be climbed - no matter how deep our valleys and how black the shadows - we are promised life, full and abundant, overflowing and eternal. The contrast between the struggles of the songwriters (Williams co-wrote it with Fred Rose) and the declaration of hopelessness of the hook line, there is hope for us who claim new life in Jesus. While I am not a country music fan, many fans claim it is a reflection of life and struggle and triumph, and in this song at least we hear the struggle of living. But I encourage us to look beyond the hopelessness of "I'll never get out of this world alive" to the promise of hope that we share in Christ Jesus as Lord. We are a people of joy, not because life is always wonderful, but because we will never get out alive! But we will get out with life. Thanks be to God in Christ!