I haven’t been a huge fan of many Christian bands throughout my life. David Crowder Band and Delirious? are at the top of the list, but I’ve got a soft spot for dc Talk and Steven Curtis Chapman. One of my favorite Christian bands, though, is a lot more obscure than the Newsboys or Audio Adrenaline.
Caedmon’s Call was folksy and hip before Marcus Mumford was out of grade school. I remember buying each of the band’s CDs and listening to them nonstop. I enjoyed their worship collaborations with Mac Powell and how they pushed the envelope of contemporary Christian music.
I haven’t listened to Caedmon’s Call much recently, but one of their songs isn’t ever too far from my mind. “Love Alone” is a tremendous song about how we can’t make it on our own. We need Jesus to hold our hands if we’re going to hope to make it through this life. The chorus says this:
Give me your hand to hold
‘Cause I can’t stand to love alone
And love alone is not enough to hold us up
We’ve got to touch your robe
So swing your rope down low
Swing your rope down low
I love that image of Jesus swinging his rope down low. Like the bleeding woman in Luke we need to touch Jesus’ robe. If we can just touch his robe, then like the woman, we’ll find healing and wholeness. Unfortunately for us Jesus isn’t going to just go walking past us. Very often it feels like he is out of reach because of the circumstances we’re facing or what life is throwing at us.
Jesus loves us too much, though, to hang his robe just out of reach. He’s not like the older brother who keeps the toy just out of the reach of his younger, shorter brother. As far as we may feel from Jesus, he is willing to swing his rope down low. No matter how low we feel we’ve fallen, Jesus is always willing to swing his rope lower so that we can touch his robe.
As I’ve been thinking about the changes going on in my life, I’m happy that Jesus will swing his rope down low. It’s not that I doubt God’s call on my life, but there are moments when I feel lower than others, when I need a little more faith. I’m happy to say that in those moments Jesus has swung his rope down low so I could touch his rope. And I’m confident in saying that when those moments occur again, when I’m feeling even lower, Jesus’ rope will still be there.
What helps you find the rope in your low moments?
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