Love is definitely more than you think!

Love is definitely more than you think!
By Don Twobears

A little history here, if you will, this is my article and I want to see if there are others that are seeing the things that I do. I grew up around “sock-hops, vinyl and chrome, Old Harley and Indian Motorcycles, Studebaker’s and the Like”. In school we had the Pledge of Allegiance and a Prayer every morning and we called our Teachers Mrs. or Mr. and their last name. Other things like “Children should be seen and not heard” and our Parents would spank us for a wrong doing. We learned from them and other adults what “Respect” was and we were very careful when speaking or acting around them. We wanted to please our Parents and wanted them to be proud of us and to love us unconditionally.

Yuppers, we are “Old Foggy’s” now and our Parents, by in large, are all gone but not forgotten…ever! We still hold to many of the things they taught us, things like being “Honest and Straight-forward”, we long for the days where a Hand-Shake would seal a deal. We miss the days of listening to music and it was simple but true in nature and always leaning to the things concerning the Heart. Life was not as tough as we thought it was and an occasional scary movie, would be just that a scary movie and nothing more. We had good food and clean drinking water and on occasion a “Coke Cola, a Pepsi, or a Fanta” or two, we were happy most of the time and knew Life had it’s ups and downs.

There is something missing today, a rather fundamental part of life, that was very common in my young days…Love. I am not talking about “I love my car” (we did too to a degree) or “I Love my School”. I am talking about in Music. These last few generations do not write “Love Songs”.

I can remember when I was about 15 years old and we were stationed in the Philippines, Clark AFB. I was sitting in the Teen Club and listening to a band, “Jay and the Hitch-hikers”. They were really good but they lacked something, especially when they performed any “Beach Boys” songs. They did not have anyone that could hit all those really high notes. I must guess that mattered to me, so as they practiced, I would doodle and quietly sing all the high parts, my voice had not changed yet. Obviously I was not as quite about it as I thought and after one song, Jay came over and sat down and asked me a question. “Hey…would you like to join the band and sing all those high parts for us?” To be very honest, I thought I had died and gone to Heaven, a little embarrassed I said sure.

Moving forward in time. I once asked if I could sing the song “Last Kiss” by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers and oddly enough Jay said alright. I asked if we could play it like a Ballad, nice and slow and heart-rending, as a “Blue Song.” I was scared out of my mind, but we began. In the beginning of the song, all the kids were slow dancing and by halfway through, they were standing there and simply listening to us. By the end of the Song, all you could hear was crying and through tears, girls were asking their guys, “That’s never going to happen to us…right?” So now you may have an idea of what I am talking about. Today there are no real LOVE SONGS! No more pulling the heart strings, no more listening to the Heart Beat, what does this mean?!

Being a Dad, my Daughter grew up in a house of music, more of what I like really, the “Golden Oldies”. Of course she had a few other likes in music as well, some I didn’t particularly care for, but that is like every generation past as well. My Mom and Dad though “Rockabilly” was of the devil, “kids out there jumping up and down, shaking their butts! Ye Gods and little fishes! Grow up!” Well, I Love the “Big Band Era” too, Tommy James, Duke Wellington and the like, but that’s another story. My Daughter came running in the house with her buddy JJ and told me they heard this song this new song and it’s fantastic! “Dad…you just have to hear this!” “Okay, what’s the name of the tune?” I asked. Sheepishly she said “Bats outta hell, er something like that.” Instantly, I walked to my Record collection and pulled the album out “Bats out of Hell” and played the song (Yes, I know! I wasn’t saved yet, okay!) “That’s it!! Wow…you just heard it too?!” The album was almost 20 years old! Was this a trend? Was this the beginning of the end for LOVE SONGS?! Think about this for a moment!

2 Timothy 3:1-7 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Now…what do ya think?

A world without LOVE…a World without LOVE SONGS…no one wants to have their Heart-Strings Strummed any more! What good will ever come of this?! I talk with young people on occasion and I ask them frequently, why are there no LOVE SONGS being written? They simply have a blank stare.

Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”

Wow! Evidently…stuff just got serious! Now we understand where all the Love went to! How sad, my Friends…how utterly sad that is! And so now, we MUST ask the really honest question that no one wants to look at, “Who is responsible for this?!” Don’t sit back and blame it all on the kids! All of us already know, kids emulate their Parents! So was it you and I…as Parents? We did our fair share, that’s for sure. I am as guilty of this as anyone else, I was not saved to Jesus Christ as my Daughter was growing up. Thankfully, the Lord does hear Prayer of the Fervent sort, because now days my Daughter Loves Country music, the ones about relationships and Love. And so do I, bring on the Love!

So as I sit here, writing this article, my mind is flooded with Music and Songs of my Past and I feel not only responsibility, but of happiness and of Love as well. We all make mistakes, we have fallen short of the Glory of the Lord! Thankfully, the Lord knows us better than we could ever know ourselves and HE is always willing to intervene in areas we did not. This is to point to the fact the Rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ is so very close at hand.

So now I must also ask, where is all the Revival of the old ways of Believing Jesus Christ died for us on a cruel Roman Cross on Calvary, where have all the old Hymns gone to, the “Old Rugged Cross” and the like? Please understand, I have nothing against “Progressive Worship Music”, until it extinguishes the LOVE of the Lord God in our lives. Always remember, anything outside of Jesus Christ…is Sin. Sin has a special result…DEATH. The depth of Sin is lying squarely on your shoulders and one day you will be required to face each and every one of them…all by yourself. The only Sin that is not remembered is the Sin that is covered by the Blood of Jesus Christ from the Cross!

1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

So if we no longer want to write Love Songs, is there Love in us, or have we lost that as well?! I’m here asking the question, but you must look inside yourselves and answer that question. I simply can not handle the idea of a world without Love, without Love Songs and if we no longer have Love, then I must guess there is no longer a God for anyone either. Oddly enough, that is a choice my Friends!

John 3:16 means more than we give it credit for, doesn’t it?!

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

I use the King James version of the Bible and all emphasis is mine.