Listen...

Over the past couple of days I've been thinking a lot about how unspoken things sometimes resonate with us and speak to us on another level.

I recall hearing on a documentary once, that the Reverend W Awdry gained inspiration for Thomas the Tank Engine by listening to two steam engines travelling uphill along a railway line. One of them, a slow lumbering giant was making a slow rhythmic with it's steam... "I can't make it... I can't make it". At the same time, a smaller more nimble engine caught up to it and started to pass by with a quicker sound "yesyoucanyesyoucanyesyoucan!"

You can almost here the sounds in your head now... can't you? Admit it.

The reason I've been thinking about this is because I was recently listening to a version of one of the main songs from the soundtrack to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (In Time by Robbie Robb). It's a song I like listening to because it reminds me that good things (whether that be in this world or the next), will eventually come to those who are prepared to wait and trust in God... and it's a useful and warm reminder when the journey seems long and hard.

I bought the soundtrack to the film some time ago but was a little disappointed with the version on the CD... it seemed to lack something. I hadn't noticed, but the film version differs in that it has an electric guitar playing a solo backing track (by Stevie Salas) at the same time.

I only discovered this by chance, when browsing YouTube. A talented guitarist by the name of Marcus Wright had been motivated by a friend to painstakingly recreate the riffs and it is so much better with them restored.

Here is the song:

With merely the words it sounds like someone is merely singing to themselves and their companion about how things will improve... but the guitar work adds a hidden voice an unseen one that speaks to me of reassurance, providence and faithfulness.

Elijah had a similar experience on Mount Horeb (although sadly, I don't think God played guitar).

The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

1 Kings 19:11-13

God doesn't always speak to us through the obvious and explosive... often he is right there with us whispering away through the subtle things we encounter and observe.

I find these experiences far more personal, but in order to be able to appreciate them, I need to listen carefully.

I wonder if you've had similar experiences along these lines.

I'll finish up with one last example... Elgar's Nimrod. It's normally only reserved for times of national tragedy... what a sad waste! It's not actually about sadness, Elgar wrote it in honour of his best friend, Augustus J Jaeger in an effort to capture his nobility.

Whenever I hear it, it speaks to me a of a warm, ever growing brooding divine affection from God above, for the listener below.

How can I hear a tune as beautiful and as full of life as that... and attribute it to grief and mourning?

Anyway I shall let Elgar and God speak for themselves: