“If you’re playing that drum but you got no rhythm; if you’re a little out of key by you’re always singing. If you’re so carefree but so not careless; such a wreck but ain’t love wreck-less. If you’re listening, I hope you hear this.

Long live the young at heart, you know who you are. With your spirit burning, take a risk and take a chance. Carry on. Long live the soul set free; don’t be afraid to dream while the world’s still turning. Every moment make it happen; with two left feet, keep on dancing. Beat by beat, breath by breath, walking hand in hand, step by step.

With a drop of faith and child-like wonder you can weather the lightning, you can brave the thunder. No road map but keep on running, no parachute but keep on jumping. I think you might be on to something. Here and now, day by day, don’t let this memory slip away.”  — “Long Live” | for King & Country |

We’re all playing that drum, we’re all a little out of key, some of us are carefree but we’re all a wreck. Sometimes it seems like for each step forward, there’s two and a half steps back, like we’re losing more ground than we’re gaining. Like sin keeps getting the best of us no matter how much we fight and struggle. We learn lessons only to return to the same things that burned us in the first place. Sometimes it seems like growth is a fantasy, a far-off fairy-tale that we bait ourselves with. But sometimes, sometimes growth means perseverance and continuing to fight when you’d just as soon give up out of frustration, exhaustion, and weakness. Sometimes growth is looking fear in the face and rising in spite of it all. Too often we equate growth with perfection, forgetting that none of us are gonna achieve that in the here and now. Perfection’s for eternity and we’re not Home yet. So in the meantime, we fight on and the celebrate the victories no matter how small but we don’t get complacent and, by Heaven, we don’t give up.

We keep our spirits burning like the young fierce Lanterns of Fire that we are. We laugh at our foolishness, cover our heads with embarrassment at our tendency to over-think, use blankets of love with friends and family, push through the lousy days, strive with the Darkness both without and within, and we don’t forget to dream. We enjoy the little things, dance in the rain of the trials of this wretched yet glorious life, see the Beauty in the mundane, brave the thunder, and never lose our sense of wonder. Oh it’s hard, it’s dashed hard and some days are wicked but the Most High’s walking hand in hand with us every step of this long hard way. He’s reminding us of His goodness and His mercy and His loving-kindness, the bits of sunlight in the midst of the storm, the silver linings which grace the blackest of clouds. There is indeed Light up there that no Shadow can touch; you just have to be brave enough to look up and see it, sometimes with the eye of faith, but I promise you that if you look hard enough, you’ll find it.

Sometimes that status quo changes and yes, sometimes that’s okay. But that’s what the memories are for. You remember what you had, like the 11th Doctor said, “if it’s time to go, remember what you’re leaving, remember the best.” So yeah, sometimes it’s time to go on no matter how badly you want to stay; but leaving doesn’t mean forgetting. Moving on doesn’t mean closing all doors. The door to Memory can always be opened even if only a crack.

The Young at Heart aren’t cynical, they don’t believe the worst. They carry on, with their spirit burning, with heads held high in defiance of the Night, in defiance of the Enemy’s lies that whisper failure and defeat. Because it’s not about us really, it’s about the Most High and what He wants us to do and who He wants us to be. Warriors. Untouchables. The ones who fear nothing and rise.

Chapters are closing and new ones are opening and it’s all happening whether we’re ready or not. Going with the flow is easier said than done but go with the flow we must. Potential lies on the horizon even in the midst of pain and sadness. As a close friend of mine once said, we’re all in the Refiner’s Fire but gold will never burn. Everything we’ve experienced up to this point, all the adventures we’ve had, all the people we’ve known and lost, all the tears we’ve cried, all the Darkness we’ve endured, all the times we crawled forward on our hands and knees thinking we couldn’t take it anymore, all the loneliness and despair which threatened to swallow us alive, all the shattered illusions, all the misguided longings, all the humans who weaved through our short yet grim lives, all of it has prepared us for this moment. We have indeed come to the Kingdom for such a time as this. This is the grand reveal, the place where we spread our wings and live like Eternity begins tomorrow. And so it begins. We live in the light of the lessons we’ve learned, knowing that though more walls of Darkness lie ahead, we’re better equipped to handle them now. We vow to live in the light of the past and by His Almighty Hand, we’ll make it to the end. Perhaps scarred but most definitely whole.

So long live the Young at Heart, long live those who are brave and wise enough to hear the Maker and His song and to sing along in defiance and hope.

for King & Country | Joel & Luke Smallbone