Beyond Belief

I don't know why, but when I woke up with one of my kids at 2:00 this morning, this song came to mind.  After watching the video, I'm so glad it did.



Watching the video, I remembered that my 2 AM thought was of the line, "waters never part until our feet get wet" (whoa-oa-oa).

I know this song by heart because my junior high/high school youth choir sang through the Beyond Belief songbook.  It was a four-part harmony with an accompaniment track that sounded pretty much like the original recording.  It was totally awesome.

What is even more fun is that as I was watching the video, it not only sounded, but looked familiar.  That bewildered young man is getting lost and running out of gas along roads that I drove to youth camp or other getaways while growing up in Arizona.  I was pretty sure it was Arizona, though willing to admit it could be Utah, Nevada, California, or New Mexico, until John Schlitt set the young man straight by pointing around at the map of Arizona.

Petra is awesome, and so is this video.  Oh, hey - Petra means rock, so it just occurred to me that there is a visual pun in the setting.  I just thought it was a way of evoking a "higher place...where we reach the next plateau." Anyway, I love all the cactii, and I love the parts where the guys are standing at different levels on those rocks, which make a very cool stage set.  There is a refreshing lack of fog machines, strobe lighting, and heck, even electricity, in this video.  Does make you wonder where the electric guitar and keys are getting their power, but no worries.  Petra is awesome.

There are several Petra songs that have stuck with me my entire life, and this is one of them.  The lyrics wouldn't have lept into my mind at 2AM otherwise.  Speaking of leaps:

Leap of faith without a net
Makes us want to hedge our bet
Waters never part 
Until our feet get wet.


That is such good writing!  Notice the allusion to Joshua 3, when the Jordan river began to back up as soon as the priests' feet touched the water.  You wouldn't need to know that for this to be cool, but still.  The song opens with an allusion to the mount of transfiguration, when Peter sees Christ glorified and wants to build a few tents and dwell there.  Awesome.

I must say that even the plot line of the video encouraged me.  Kid gets a flat, someone helps him.  Kid runs out of gas and can't pay, someone covers it.  Kid gets pulled over (for speeding?), is let off with a warning.  Kid gets lost, is redirected by John Schlitt.  It's like the band takes the place of the Holy Spirit, or of angels. (hey, a band of angels).  I don't really know why I woke up at 2 AM and this song came to mind, but it is encouraging to be reminded that

There's a deeper place to go
Where the road seems hard to hoe
He who has begun this work 
won't let it go.
(Let it go)


Awesome.  More power to ya'!