The new version of GarageBand moves it out from a musical sketch pad application to actually being able to arrange songs. So, I’ve been working on recording some friends’ worship tunes and writing some of my own. In the process I am reminded of something that I took issue with back in my younger days — back when hymns weren’t cool and modern praise was becoming acceptable in “big church.” Any one remember Shine Jesus Shine? Back in the day, that was really pushing the envelope.

I always wondered why religious songs always used the same old words to describe God — holy, glorious, majestic, worthy, etc. I thought to myself, “Those words don’t mean anything to me or anyone else born in the past 100 years. Why can’t anyone write songs that don’t sound so old and religious?” Well today I realize the problem wasn’t really with those particular words, it was with me.

In the movie Contact, Dr. Arroway is transported to outer space and as she gazes on the wonders of the universe she says something like, “I have no words … They should have sent a poet.” Similarly, I didn’t begin to comprehend the greatness of God. I didn’t understand the gravity that the words take on when we attempt to apply them to glimpses of an indescribable God.

They are all we have and yet they will always fall so incredibly short.