4th Annual "Jesus On the Radio" celebration!

Most of you are unaware that Matt, Parks, John, Josh, and I have woken up every March 16th since sophomore year to drive to Waffle House in Vestavia in celebration of "Jesus on the Radio," a wonderfully upbeat Guster song involving lots of banjo. Here are the words:

5 a.m., March 16
Jesus on the radio
You took a photograph of me
on your yellow bucket seat
Its too high, its too wide
You're so low you don't know
To get through, to go around

So don't look back
There ain't nothing there to see
Was once like you
Can't say I recognize that face
in that picture that you keep
Its too high, its too wide
You're so low you don't know
To get through, to go around
To get through, to go around

The lyrics should explain the date and time for this tradition. The explanation for Waffle House is simple: what else can you do at 5 AM?

This year was a little different: Matt and John are in Ireland, Josh is in North Carolina, and Parks is MIA, so I celebrated by myself. Waking up at 4:45 AM, I jumped in the car, turned the song on repeat, and drove to Vestavia, singing at the top of my lungs. Breakfast sucked and service was terrible, but that's all part of the experience. Then I returned (music: on, singing: loud) to hear the final 7 of 13 total repetitions of our celebrated song.

Now, one could argue that this anecdote is a reason for sadness, since I had to celebrate a tradition by myself. But, I argue that each March 16th has found me in a new and exciting place in life. For each, I may not have been excited about where I was at the time, but God gracefully continued working in new ways. Here's a recap:

Sophomore year, March 16th, 2005: Things kind of sucked! I was frustrated with girls, I was in the middle of my hardest semester, and Dr. Holloway was trying to kill my faith (well, not really).
March 16th, 2006, Junior Year: Things are pretty good! I'm in the middle of a very thoughtful, intellectually active semester. I've been reading Wendell Berry essays, and I'm becoming friends with Kristen. Immediately after breakfast, we go distribute the second issue of the Headless Platform.
March 16th, 2007: I didn't know it, but I had the single best time of college ahead of me. Roughly twelve hours after breakfast, we left for Spring Break. Roughly 24 hours after breakfast I actually got to sleep again.

Now, the irony here is that the celebration disproves the meaning of the song. "So don't look back; there ain't nothing there to see." We celebrate because we can and should look back.

This post has been very sappy. But cut me some slack. Things seem tough right now, and I need some cheer. Who knows what the next year holds?