Slow Fade.

I'm a big fan of music.
Pretty much any style of music.
But for me, music with words has got to mean something to me for it to be really good.  It's got to help me understand life, or give a sensible perspective on things.
There are a few individuals and groups that do this, I feel, better than most.  I found them in this order:
Michael W Smith.  I discovered him when I was at school in Pakistan, many years ago (not THAT many, though).  Wrote, and writes, brilliantly.  I saw him 'live' a couple of years back, which was great.
Steven Curtis Chapman.  Discovered, if I remember correctly, after our return to England in the early 90s.  Back then, I thought he was good fun, and a good songwriter.  I think he's since developed into something much more.  His songs on the album 'Beauty will Rise' are, when you know the story behind them, pretty gruelling and yet beautiful.  He talks of them as his own personal Psalms.  They reflect that theme, so often found in the Psalms, of a man bringing his woes, griefs and struggles to God, and ending each 'meeting' with, 'yet will I praise you'.  The ability to meet tragedy head-on, and say, 'even so, I'm going to praise you God' is grace in action.
Finally, there's Casting Crowns.  Only discovered them recently, perhaps even last year, but absolutely love their work.  Sure, the music's great fun, and upbeat, but the words are absolutely spot on. 
One of their songs is called 'Slow Fade'. 
Here's the music video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QASREBVDsLk
I seriously recommend you watch it before reading on.
The lyrics include:
Be careful little feet where you go
For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow
What a challenge for any of us who have responsibility for younger people.  A reminder that going the wrong way is likely to lead others astray.  Jesus warns against that in pretty weighty terms.  "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
The song goes on:
It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade




People never crumble in a day.  You don't wake up one day and decide it'll be the day you destroy everything you hold dear (well, most people don't!).  What's more likely is that you wake up one day and take a step in the wrong direction.  And the next day, and the next, and the one after that.  So one day you wake up and find that you have destroyed everything you hold dear.  A slow fade.
And how about this for a timely reminder?
The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you're thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking

Every line of this song just drips with meaning. 

...a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

Don't let yourself fade away.
Cling to what you hold dear.
Cling to God.