What're you going to wear?

NOTE: I added an edit at the end, I felt like I kind of left it hanging and wanted to add a tad more.

          So, I know this is super cliche and lame, but I think I'm going to share some thoughts based on song lyrics *groan...* I know... It's such weak blogging but bear with me, I might be able to do it well. I'm just exploring my options as a blogger.

          If you want some extra reading, read this next paragraph. If you don't want to read my useless rambles, well, find another blog, but the next paragraph is extra useless rambles that have minimal meaning, so feel free to skip it if you'd like.

          As some of you may or may not know, one of my favorite (yes, I did just say favorite) bands is As Cities Burn. I'm sure part of the reason for this is that they were one of the first bands I saw while I was at Cornerstone Music Festival in 2007 (so much fun). They touch some fairly big issues in some of their songs. Unfortunately, they broke up almost two years ago now... Fortunately, two of them are touring as Hawkboy. We'll see how that goes. Anyways, if you read that, congratulations. Moving onward...

          The song I'm interested in (in regards to this post) is Gates. It was released on itunes as a bonus track to Hell or Highwater, As Cities Burn's last album. While it's not a terribly complex song by any means, it has some interesting lyrics. Here they are (because I know none of you have heard the song):

Now, I'm sure I won't do it justice, but here it goes.

In the beginning of the song, Cody (sing/songwriter/guitarist/frontman) says, "Somehow your blood makes you blind to our divide." Which is really fairly easy to interpret. It plainly expresses the perplexing fact that somehow, through Christ's sacrifice, we have been saved. Because of Christ's sacrifice, we are no longer separated from God. At least for me, sometimes, it's not so much the "how" of our salvation, but the "why." But to be honest, that's not the part of the song I really wanted to ramble about.

          Later on in the song, after an awesome bridge containing the melody to "I Love You, Lord" (even cooler live), Cody goes on to sing,

We will wear compassion

We will wear it

And the gates of Hell

Won't stand against it.

To be honest, I'm not sure why this hits me, but it tends to. I mean, compassion. We hear and say the word a lot, but I'm going to go straight to Webster (aka, dictionary.com).

Compassion-a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

If we are to be compassionate, we will want to alleviate suffering, right? What better way than to help people overcome the greatest suffering of all: living a life void of life (Romans 8:6a). I mean, if we're compassionate, we will want to show people Christ. If we are showing people Christ, who can stand against us (Romans 8:31b)? No it's not easy; no it's not a cakewalk.

Alright, I think I've sufficiently rambled, and I feel like I've run out of educated/useful thoughts. I'm gonna stop before it becomes a (bigger) train wreck. Think about the rambles though. I know I didn't go too deep, but think about it.

Also, I realize the title doesn't really fit what I ended up writing, but that's ok.

EDIT: After the fact, I decided that I really wanted to say at least a little something about the "wearing" part of the lyrics. I mean, wearing compassion. That's an interesting phrase. You don't typically think of wearing anything except for clothes and a facial expression. "We will wear compassion." When you wear something, it's basically a part of you for that day that you wear it, right? Think about what it would mean to actually wear compassion, to have it become part of you for a day, a week, a year, a lifetime (because shouldn't we always be wearing compassion?). What do you think that would look like? (not necessarily a rhetorical question)