Urkel's Brain (song)

I love Jesus first and foremost. I also enjoy a lot of classic television shows, particularly ones that remind me of Jesus. I can hardly think of a more Christlike character on television than Steve Urkel on "Family Matters". There is even an episode where Steve gets saved and gives his heart to The Lord! Of course, while that always brings a revolution in one's heart- and surely it did for Steve- he was still the prince of the geeks and nerds to so many. I can identify as one who's been called Urkel myself (and Irwin "Skippy" Handleman from "Family Ties", for that matter). I take both as compliments. Steve certainly had confidence and determination and I can definitely respect that. Laura came to respect it too eventually as she was finally won over by Urkel's charm, personality, morality and certainly brain.

"Urkel's Brain" 

(Parody of "Purple Rain" by Prince and The Revolution)

(Parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 6/5/2019)

(Proverbs 13:12)

I never meant to cause you any sorrow

I never meant to cause you any pain

I only wanted to spend time with (the) Winslow family

I only wanted to woo you

Laura with Steve Urkel's brain

Urkel's brain, Urkel's name

Urkel's brawn, Urkel's charm

Urkel's looks, Urkel's game

I know you want me (to leave you)

Wearing you down- Urkel's staying

All I ever wanted's to be your geek in armor

I always wanted to be more than just friends

Crazy for you! Could I steal you from another?

Don't feel the same? Our friendship never ends

All the same, you're my flame

Girl, you're sayin' Urkel's insane

Girl, I'm prayin' - Ride Love Train

I only want to be with you

Laura Lee, your royal pain

Harriette, Carl, Eddo 

Winslow- minds are changing

Richie, Rachel- shout out

Mom Estelle please, missing Judy

You take Stefan or Steve, girl

But though it seems (a) no-brainer, you'll find

Who loves you best- no contest

So yes- did I do that? Steve Urkel's saying

Girl, you're swaying (to) polka playing

(Has) Urkel changed or your heart changed?

Like Waldo and Maxine belong together

And 3J's on hand

Urkel's strange but rearranged

Your whole life- Want to see you

Happy- God blessed me! You'll

Wear Steve Urkel's ring!

............................................

Feels Like The First Line (song)

As I'm posting this with the Christmas season upon us, I feel like it's an appropriate choice, even though it may not seem like a natural one to choose at first. (Of course, as it turns out, it's totally natural- it's the fight between the supernatural and natural that I want to start talking about here.) I've noticed that with most Lessons and Carols services at Christmas time, there is a reading from Genesis 3 to start things off. The fall of man is exactly the reason for the rise of Christ. Jesus had to come and die for us and rise again to bring us salvation in order to redeem His creation to Himself. And God promised back in Genesis 3:15, from the very start of everything going wrong, that One would come to put right what once went wrong. Before all that happened, we had perfect union with The Lord in the Garden of Eden. That's the ideal world that Adam and Eve inhabited and one that we will be brought full circle to when Jesus returns and takes us to Heaven- except that Heaven is infinitely better than Eden. Until that time, we who follow Christ live as foreigners in this land. And this song takes a bit of a humorous look at what it was like to be the first inhabitants of a whole new world and the establishment of dating and courtship and marriage in that world. As it turns out, telling a girl that she's the only one for you might be an older line than you think. ;-) However, when it comes to finding the love and fulfillment we desire marriage to bring us, we know it's only a partial picture that's not really complete without a rich relationship with Jesus first. In the end, He's truly the only One for us. I hope that truth is foremost in your heart, soul, mind and strength- and definitely hits you in the feels. :-)

"Feels Like The First Line"
(parody of "Feels Like The First Time" by Foreigner; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 11/17/2015)
(Song of Songs [or Song of Solomon] 4, 6:4-10 and 7:1-10, Genesis 1-3, Matthew 19:1-12, 1 Samuel 1:5-8, Proverbs 12:4 and 31:10-31, Matthew 25:1-13, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 and 9:7-10, 1 Corinthians 7, Proverbs 13:12, 13:19, 17:22, 18:22, 19:14, 19:22, 20:6, 21:9, 21:19, 25:24, 26:9 and 29:20)

(Adam singing:)
I'm alive in the Garden
Made of dust- The Lord made me
And guess what He takes out of me?
He chose a rib while I was asleep

(Flesh) of my flesh- He made the woman of you
And brings her to (the) man- that's me
You're bone of my bones- made of my flesh
You're the only girl for me!

It feels like the first line
It feels like the very first line
It feels like the first line
It feels like the very first line

I have named all wildlife
Couldn't find one suited for me
But now that God formed you
Together we'll make history

And I know you'll just be the mother of all
Living- I'm Adam- You're Eve
I know you're my helpmeet now
You're the girl of my dreams

(Eve singing:)
And it feels like the first line
Like you rehearsed this before
Feels like the first line
Like you're hoping pick up lines work
Feels like the first line
What a precedent for men! Sorry, women.

(It feels like the first line) It feels like the first line
(It feels like the very first line)- I know how he feels
(God leads me to the first guy) Whoa! God leads me to the first guy
(Now there's two of every kind)

(Lead singer singing:)
Open up The Book- Genesis 2:24, yeah

Reveals there in that line
(Christ recites in Matthew 19:5)
Man leaves parents for wife
He cleaves to wife then one flesh's derived
The deal's like us and Christ
Congealed in God's marriage design
(Oh, for real) Eden was the first time
Heaven feels like it revived!
(It feels like Genesis' first lines)
.............................................................................

The Meaning of Life

"We want more than this world's got to offer....we want more than this world's got to offer... we want more than the wars of our fathers...And everything inside screams for second life.......We were meant to live for so much more...have we lost ourselves?"- "Meant to Live" by Switchfoot

"You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense." - Rick Warren

As Rick Warren talks about in his best-selling book, "The Purpose Driven Life", we and all those philosophers that have come before us and the ones here now often can't find the purpose for our lives because we start at the wrong place. As human beings we have a natural tendency to focus in ourselves and so we look to defining life and its purpose in terms of how it affects our own lives particularly. But that's the wrong approach. As Rev. Warren's book states in the first line- "It's not about you."
           Now that's just an affront to our self-centered fragile egos. It takes some real humbling on our parts to remember that there are many things in the world so much bigger than ourselves and everything does not revolve around us. We are but dust blowing in the wind, as Kansas said. But though we started out as dust, God makes something more of us through Jesus. And here we get to the purpose and meaning of life when we change the focus to the One bigger than us- bigger than everything else in the world. Life starts with God Himself- because He is Life. In fact, as Jesus said in John 14:6, He is The Way, The Truth and The Life. No man comes to the Father except through Him.
       After spending most all the time and money in the world on women, wine and song, King Solomon concluded that all of life is vanity! " 'Everything is meaningless,' says The Teacher." (see Ecclesiastes 1:1) What a bleak outlook on life! But read the whole book- that is exactly what life is like without God. It's all meaningless without God. Without God, it's nothing but a set amount of time to kill before time kills us. The kicker is there at the end of the book. "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
        Okay then- so if we start this quest for the meaning of life by looking outward to God instead of inward, where does that take us? Well, here are some Bible verses that speak to this point. God Himself tells us plainly our position in the universe and our purpose. While the Psalmist marvels that God should think of us at all- "What is man that You are mindful of us?" (see Psalms 8). Yet God made us "a little lower than the angels." (again, see Psalms 8). And since Genesis 1:26 tells us that God made us, male and female, in His image- we have an infinite booster shot's worth of self-worth right there! Of course, our worth is not in us- it's in Jesus. It's because we are made in His image that we are infinitely important and valuable. And God loves us with an eternal love because we are His creation. (Jeremiah 31:3)
          And why were we created? What are we here on earth for? What are we? When are we? Where are we? Who are we? Why are we? Well, we need look no further than God. And He says that He created all things- and they were all created "for His pleasure". (Revelation 4:11) That's it right there. We were created to bring God pleasure. Unfortunately, too often we have brought Him nothing but heartache and grief, as Genesis 6:5-8 attests. Fortunately, that's where Jesus comes in- both figuratively and literally. Though we were created to bring God pleasure- and nothing brings Him more pleasure than our willing obedience to Him and worship of Him- we chose instead our own pleasure and chose to sin against God. And the wages of sin is death- and not just physical death. There is also the spiritual death we dwell in outside of Christ- and the eternal second death in Hell. However, after Adam and Eve's sin brought corruption to the whole earth and tainted the human race's bloodline with a sin nature, God still had a plan in mind to put right what once went wrong. And much like Dr. Sam Beckett quite literally in some ways becomes one with the person he Leaps into (on "Quantum Leap"), God became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ. And Jesus paid the price for us and made the sacrifice of His own life for all the sins of the world. And because He lives again, we have forgiveness from God and a restored relationship, all free for the asking. Romans 10:9 says if we confess Jesus as Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. And we can know we have an eternity with Him in Heaven instead. Praise God for His love! (see Philippians 2:1-11)
          When we are in a right relationship with our Creator, everything falls into place. As we seek more and more to obey God and be more like Christ, we come to fulfill one of God's other purposes for our lives. We are created for His pleasure and one of the ways God gets the most pleasure is when we worship Him as He rightfully deserves and thus bring Him glory. He formed and made us for His glory. (see Isaiah 43:7). And the crazy cool thing is this- when we live in right relationship with God and seek to bring Him glory, we also find ourselves most fulfilled and find purpose in our lives. In becoming more like Christ, we become more ourselves than ever before, as C.S. Lewis once noted. Of course, there is a good reason for this. This is how God designed us to be- this is His original intent. He is a relational God and He desires us all to have a relationship with Him. And only in that relationship with Jesus can we truly find the fulfillment and purpose and meaning we are looking for in life. It just doesn't work any other way. Try to save your life- you'll lose it. Try to get ahead and win in life- ultimately, you'll fail and lose. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? If you want to know peace, fulfillment, purpose and meaning in life- they only come in following Jesus. Forget the pursuit of the temporal and rather pursue the eternal. Not only is the eternal all that will last- it's all that really matters in the end. The eternal not only rewards our permanent dwelling in Heaven with Christ- it enriches our time allotted in the land of our sojourn.
          We are here for a reason. God has a purpose in mind for each one of us. He loves us with an eternal love and He has placed eternity in our hearts. To live for His glory and bring Him pleasure is built into our DNA- but it's only realized when we make the choice to follow His call and accept Christ as Savior through faith in His death and Resurrection as payment for all our sins and then live in union with Him- the way that He designed all along. To reject Him and His love is truly a living hell on earth that extends for eternity. To accept Him and His love is pure ecstasy- pure rapture for a captured heart that eternally dwells in His presence in His heavenly realms. He is the meaning of Life-He's The Way of enlightenment and understanding and wisdom- He is The Truth- there is no other. We either live with anathema or we can join an anthem of the everlasting Hallelujah chorus! Praise God for His love. :-)
           So the call goes out to us all- forget about our own lives and pursuits- deny them all; yes, deny our very selves- take up our own cross and follow Jesus. It's a daily process and thankfully, one that He prearranges and ordains and maintains all the while working through our surrendered will and being. (See Matthew 6:24-28).God is faithful- even when we're not. (1 Corinthians 1:4-9). And what is His command? Love The Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength- and love thy neighbor as thyself. And speak The Truth in Love. (See Matthew 22:34-40 and Ephesians 4:15). Love undergirds everything. So keep walking in fellowship with Jesus and live a life of purpose on purpose- just as He purposed it all along. That's The Way He planned it. There is no other way to truly live. This is The Life! And that's The Truth. :-)