Faithful readers of this blog – may God bless all of you – know that a not inconsequential element of this modest waystation alongside the information superhighway is spirit, as in Holy, focusing on its presence in music.  Music is God’s language; communication in its purest form as it gives voice to that which mere words can never hope to express.  It touches heart and soul like no other medium, offering comfort, healing and exhortation with power that cannot be described.  Only felt.

Which naturally leads to a discussion of Guns N’ Roses.

In two weeks, Axl Rose and whoever else is in the band at the moment will release Chinese Democracy, the first new studio album under the GNR moniker in fifteen years and the first of original material in seventeen years.  Given the disc’s near mythical status for possessing perhaps the longest gestation period for a single album in the history of recorded music, plus so many rumored release dates over the years in order to avoid repetition several new months were in the process of being added to the Gregorian calendar, one wonders whether those rushing to their nearest Best Buy on the 23rd to buy the CD or vinyl version (yes, there will be a good old fashioned 12″ record edition) at the only store where physical product is being sold will discover upon slicing open the shrinkwrap and popping the disc into their player of choice they have just laid out their hard-earned cash for the latest release by the Wiggles along with a note: “HA!  Fooled you!  We’re still working on it.  Maybe next year.  Love, A.R.”

The relative merits of Guns N’ Roses aside, although it should be noted how given the band’s history subsequent to its debut album’s release a more appropriate title for same would have been Appetite For Self-Destruction, the thought of fifteen years in-between albums is what most attracts attention.  The reasons for a decade and a half gap in this case are well chronicled.  But for others, sometimes such a gap comes through no fault of their own.

In the book, the chapter on Nancyjo Mann (Barnabas’ lead singer) will contain her story of battling back from a severe brain energy incurred in a fall.  It was years before she was able to break through.  Long, extremely difficult years stemming from that for which she was not responsible.  Brain-dead jokes aside, Guns N’ Roses has no such excuse.

Come to think of it, most of us don’t.

How many among us haven’t at one time or another in our lives placed ourselves in virtual exile?  We try to do something we love too much, do it too hard with too self-reliance, and wind up doing that which before would have been unthinkable: dropping out because we’ve burned ourselves out.  We allow emotional and spiritual wounds to fester, embittering us and causing us to walk away from that which was once paramount in our lives.  We tell ourselves we can’t, we shouldn’t, we mustn’t when the truth is we’re afraid to take a step into the unknown; that which is outside our realm of previous experience and outside our control.

Isn’t it time to let that go?  Isn’t it time to reconnect with the fundamentals and with our first love?  Isn’t it high time to say enough time has passed between when our self-inflicted wounds took control and when we chose to take control of them?  There is a life to live for each of us.  There’s work to be done.  There’s a loving Savior patiently waiting for us to get it together by getting back to Him, letting Him show us how to forgive ourselves even as we forgive others.  Or at least ought to.  So why and for what are we waiting?

Isn’t it time for us by releasing ourselves from ourselves to release our own Chinese Democracy?  I hear it’s a pretty good album.

Bet each of us can go one better.