Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Frey "You Found Me" Discussion Blog

A friend of mine in CO is having a discussion group at his weekly Tribe of Jesus meeting about the Frey song listed above and asked for those far away to give their input to help with the discussion. I thought it was interesting and wanted to see what you all thought as well. Here is a copy of what I emailed my friend with some links to videos we discussed. Please post your responses to the lyrics, videos, or my thoughts. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obhdTlImFBo
I couldn't figure out how to email ToJ so I'm emailing you. I first searched for the song and the video for Lost came up. Having never watched Lost, I hated the video and was confused by the song. Everyone else seemed to love it. Here's the link to that: http://www.musicloversgroup.com/the-fray-you-found-me-video-and-lyrics/

Next I read the words below the video and it seemed to be a fairly hopeless song. I thought it was interesting how the main character is upset that God didn't find him. I've always thought of my journey with God as me chasing after him, and following him... so to think of someone being upset that God didn't follow them was interesting - eye opening. I thought that the girl he talked about was placed in God's role in his life and that is why he was so hopeless... to believe that she was the only one to know him and really be everything for him leaves him "lost and insecure" when she is gone. From a Xn perspective, it was nice to think that my identity was placed in something or I should say someone bigger. That thought right there made me want to evangelize (if you will) the neighborhood: "There is something bigger, permanent, all-encompassing, and cannot let you down people!!!"

I toyed with what the person was "surrounded" with for a while. I went from despair, to the Holy Spirit, to blood. Blood made me listen to the song a few more times and made me think that the person died and that is why they "found" God. This made sense with the "just a little too late" part.

Finally, I went to comment back to you and realized I could see another video of the song that was probably the music video you were talking about and not the Lost trailer I found.
I liked this video much better. It was obviously a take on the City Of Angels movie with the band members being the angels. On one hand I liked the irony of God's hosts being all around the person who died in the video and they just missed God's presence because (as I believe anyway) God is always here, regardless of if he is recognized by others. But I thought the band members played the angels with a nonchalant attitude, as if God was around, but didn't care. This, I think, is a very real assumption many people have. If they can allow a god in their reality, I think many feel s/he just doesn't care about us.

I finally read some comments on the song from other youtube users and was intrigued by the sense of power people felt when they belted this song out in the shower. I couldn't decided if misery loved company or if they felt justified in their anger because others had spent time waiting to hear from God and didn't... this justification meant their pain was not a repercussion from their prior action but God's fault for not lighting a burning bush in their apartment.

Overall, I think this song is mostly about expectations and the disappointment felt when these are not met. Interesting how those who do not believe in God or a god at all still blame God when their expectations in life are not met. Lots more thoughts, but hard to get them out when I'm not in a discussion and only writing solo. :)

6 comments:

Liz said...

I just found you because I heard the song and was wondering if anybody else didn't really understand it. At first, I thought, "oh cool The Fray is singing about God", but then I realized, "oh wait! They're saying God was too late and was never there when they needed him"... but they have it all wrong. It reminds me of the Footprints poem, that when you think you are alone and you can't feel God's love, that is when HE was carrying you. You would have never made it through if HE hadn't been carrying you. So yes, you were right. It's funny that the people who don't believe in God are the first ones to blame HIM for not being there when they needed HIM. God is not a genie, HE is the creator of the universe who wants to have a personal relationship with his children, not a "I'll call on you when I need you" kind of relationship. He is a good God, and just like a good friend, he expects that you look to HIM through the bad AND the good, not just the bad.

ginni said...

Hi Pearcia! I didn't know you had a blog, now I do! I hope it's okay if I check in from time to time

bebeloves said...

I'm happy to have found your thoughts/comments on this song. I had heard it several times over the past few days on Christan radio and loved the tune. So I looked up the lyrics and became a bit disappointed....I was waiting for the punchline...you know, the part where hope comes in. Only I feel I'm missing that somehow.

The song takes me back to a dark place that I don't want to go back to...disappointment leads to depression/despondency/ despair...I don't need that, do any of us? While it is a very real part of human existence at some point, it is not the end...which is kind of the point to Christianity. He died but rose again so that it is not the end.

These lyrics take me back to a time in my life where I was going down a road that I thought was harmless, but led me where I least expected it to......and now I don't ever want to go back there because it leads to darkness, loneliness, bitterness and loss of hope.

Thank God that He doesn't leave us on the floor! Even when I'm lying there, crying my eyes out and feeling hopelessly confused, I can cry out to him and Joy comes in the morning:)

So I can totally relate to the feelings in the song, but I just can't stay in that place or it's horrible....I need to be reminded that yes, it really hurts...yes, it seems unfair...but the TRUTH is God is right here with me even when it doesn't feel like it. And the TRUTH, He will set me free.

bebeloves said...

Hmmmm...just read some more about this song and came across an interesting theory. Seems that perhaps this song is in conversation form between God and the songwriter. So for example, when it says "where were you? Where were you?" it is the writer asking God that...then it says "Surrounded" that would be God answering...

The best part is at the end God says "To find me, To find me" as an answer for why this person may have had to go through the things he was anguishing over....

I still feel too much sadness/depression when I hear the song...but maybe it is just hitting too close to home for me right now as I am struggling to hold onto my faith at times....doing all I can to keep myself from falling away. But I do think maybe the theory of it being a conversation all the way through the song might be that "punchline" I was looking for....

Joshua Guild said...

This is a song about a church that has failed to do it's job. We are ambassadors of Christ. This song is symbolic of the insecure world we live in and an apathetical church that does not love enough to go seeking after the lost, the broken hearted, the least of these, the blind, the imprisoned, the sick, the hungry, the thirsty and more.

Joshua Guild
http://holytriage.info

Cloo said...

If you look at it as a conversion between him and God its actually comforting.

Man: Lost and insecure
God: You found me, you found me
Man: Lying on the floor
God: Surrounded, surrounded
Man: Why’d you have to wait?
God: Where were you, where were you?
Man: Just a little late
God: You found me, you found me!