neurological dryer lint

so i picked up Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile yesterday, it sounded like a good idea, and it was, oh, it was. i'd forgotten how much i really dug their music - i think i put it on the side a long time ago because i thought 'a follower of Jesus can't listen to this kind of music, it's bad' and later realized that was foolish. it's been a great relief - and strangely enough driving around listening to the album, i find that the instrumental songs on the album (Pilgrimage, The Mark Has Been Made) provide a good backdrop for prayer, much in the same way i've found Phil Keaggy's Acoustic Sketches does.

it's kinda cool - NIN's Downward Spiral album really was the defining album for my high school years. not that it was a 'downward spiral' at all, though, quite the opposite, things got better and better. but the anger and confusion and disappointment you hear when you listen to it really helped get rid of the layers of fluff that i'd kept over my soul for years - the fake satisfaction with my life; the hopeful, whining laments that maybe it'll get better someday, maybe i won't feel so alone for the rest of my life, things i knew weren't true but i could do little else to better my situation other than try to believe... i started to get honest with myself and fully accepted that my life pretty much sucked and i wasn't happy and couldn't do anything to remedy it myself. i can see how God got me into that position at just the right time to enter stage right and say 'well you know, I've got an idea you might want to try.'

now i listen to that cd and while it reminds me of harder times, it also makes me grateful for where i am now, how far i've been carried in the last seven years.

i think i'm going to try to work on an acoustic cover of We're In This Together or the title track, they'd sound pretty cool like that, imho.