XXCMTE: 2013 in Review

"THE TWENTY COMMITEE are from New Jersey and are a fantastic new prog band.  Every song on... ‘A Lifeblood Psalm’ lulls you in, this is great album with old school prog references, gentle swaying vocals coupled with fantastic musical harmonies, even a little retro rag style going down... [It's] one of my favourite recent new releases..."

 - Nicky Baldrian, Fireworks Magazine

Put simply, 2013 was an incredible year for us.

Though we completed the bulk of the recording in October of 2012 (chronicled here), the end of that year and the first months of 2013 saw the finalization of the process: recording of the backing vocals, promotional legwork, and hundreds of minuscule tweaks to the mixes before they were finally sent to mastering.  The album officially hit the music world on April 1st, and we suddenly found ourselves with an online following and a growing list of professional contacts.  Reviews have been pouring in from all corners of the music world over the latter half of the year, and such an overwhelmingly positive response to our first release has been both an encouraging and a humbling experience.

Awkward selfie with Jerry @ the Starland Ballroom

Since releasing the album, we've had the opportunity to do a number of written and pre-recorded interviews for various music journals and online radio stations.  Each reviewer we've spoken to has been particularly interested in the concept of the album, which I've been refining through numerous re-tellings.

So sit tight.

At the most fundamental level, "A Lifeblood Psalm" is about belief: wading through the stifling bombardment of social, political, scientific, and philosophical babble that pollutes Western society, and choosing instead a faith that relies on something greater than the individual - something greater than intellect or reason.  The idea we tried to capture was that life is full of messy opinions, good and bad, and that filtering out the noise of modern philosophy has become the key to striving after the things which we believe God placed into the hearts of man so that we might seek after and understand Him.  For that reason, the story of the album is both intensely personal and simultaneously universal - a template into which every listener can insert him- or herself.  The protagonist of "A Lifeblood Psalm" tries to find his identity in love, the pursuit of knowledge, and gilded reputation, but ultimately finds himself enthralled with the one Voice which cuts through all the others.  Of course, that pathway will look different for everyone.  For us, it starts and ends with Jesus Christ, and that belief is ultimately what has informed the album's story.

Grove City College, PA

On the musical side, the project was very much a cohesive effort, though Geoff did all the preliminary writing.  In fact, "How Wonderful," "Airtight," and "Her Voice" were already complete songs when The Twenty Committee formed in the beginning of 2012, but each tune underwent significant transformation during the shaping of "A Lifeblood Psalm."  Geoff and I collaborated on some of the lyrics for "The Knowledge Enterprise," and the band worked on all the arrangements together, shaping the material into a singular piece of music - 9 tracks, 4 songs, all unified by the same overarching theme.  In short, we put a whole lot of ourselves into the project, and in that regard, we also surpassed all of our own expectations of what we could accomplish.  A huge part of that is due to Geoff challenging us to think differently, to be meticulous, and to strive for a professional level of excellence, as well as encouraging (n. supporting; edifying; see also: threatening) us to step up our musical game.  His leadership cannot be overstated.  The larger part of our success, however, is simply a blessing from God.  This is something we could never have achieved on our own, and we are all immensely grateful to Him for what He has allowed us to accomplish.

With Nasty Habit - rockers proving that hair metal lives

This "year in review" piece is certainly a little late in coming, considering we're already approaching the halfway point of February, but it isn't because we've been idle.  As far as our personal lives are concerned, Richmond is finishing his BA at Temple and interviewing at universities in New York and Virginia to continue his Master's studies in child psychology; Steve and Dana are expecting their second child - another boy - any day now, and Titus is becoming a renowned chef (specializing in plastic); Geoff has moved back to the Big Apple and is continuing to build his impressive résumé in the music theater industry; Joe is working for a refinery as a fixed equipment engineer and is still up to his elbows in car guts; Tara and I are buying our first house and celebrating our second anniversary.  In our downtime (rare though it may be), we like to get together as a band for Blood Sword, coffee and maple whiskey, and sometimes endless rounds of COD Zombies.  Of course, I'd be lying through my teeth if I were to claim that these things didn't sometimes steal time from regular practice...

Steve pours sweat and blood during shows.

As far as the band's upcoming schedule for 2014, we won't be gigging during the month of February, but will resume in March with shows at the NJ Proghouse and the M Room.  In the meantime, we will continue working on new material with the intention of returning to the studio in 2015.  Without giving anything away, we have some big thematic ideas for our sophomore effort, with focus once again on story and album-oriented songwriting.  It will definitely be a much more collaborative endeavor this time around, as we have all rolled up our sleeves to get dirty during the writing process.  You can look forward to some new and different orchestrations, more emphasis on guitar passages and extended instrumental sections, as well as more opportunities for our resident harpist to put his talent to good use.

In sum, 2013 was an incredible year for us.  Here's to what is yet to come.

We owe many, many special thanks to the following people:

• Jerry Guidroz, producer of "A Lifeblood Psalm"; we couldn't have done it without you, Pepe.
• Dan Shike, Tone & Volume Mastering
• MyStringSection.com, for recording cello parts in 7/8 (sorry, guys)
• Stephen Wise (StepWise), whose home and studio we invaded to record backing vocals
• Lauren Garcia and Nick Kulick, for photography and album design respectively
• OUR FAMILIES - Tara, Dana, Titus, and all Moms, Dads, and siblings for their loving support and God-given patience with us
• Jason Spencer (The PROG Mind), for discovering, supporting, and believing in our music
• ITPOW for being awesomely supportive, awesome dudes, and for writing awesome music
• Dan "Tenacious" MacDonald and the guys from Elephants of Scotland
• Marty Dorfman, Rick Henry and everyone from the House of Prog, for their incredible enthusiasm
• Richard Thresh for his quality support and for awarding us "Equal 4th" in his top 15 of 2013 along with The Tangent
• Any and all online radio DJs or podcast hosts who have featured our music on their programs, including Kyle Fish, Gregg Kovach, Rick Henry & Marty Dorfman, Shaun Geraghty, Diego Camargo, David "Wilf" Elliott, Kind Stranger, Cliff Pearson, André Steijns, and of course Michael "The Lurker"
• Jon Yarger, Staci Lorrie, Joey Crumb, Pat Cunningham, and anyone else who hooked us up with gigs we otherwise wouldn't have landed
• Randy and Justine Greene & Amazing Grace for providing us a stage for 5+ years
• Alan Jones of Get Ready to Rock for one stellar critique of our worldview and photogenic qualities (here's hoping for a review of our music next time, Alan!).

There are many, many others whom we could mention, but couldn't possibly name everyone.  You know who you are!

Reviews of "A Lifeblood Psalm"

Ad and writeup in Progression magazine

on the Prog Archives

on Sonic Abuse

by Athos Enriles (mat2020.com)

by Martin Hutchinson ("Progradar") on Lady Obscure

by Jason Spencer ("The PROG Mind")

also by Jason Spencer (Progulator)

by Jordan Blum on Rebel Noise

by G. W. Hill on Music Street Journal

by Aeolus of Just In Case Prog Radio

Writeup in Prog Magazine

by Jon Davis of Exposé

by Marc Donald of ProGGnosis

by Ryan Calorel of Lamplighter Magazine

by Jim “The Ancient One” Lawson of MuzikReviews.com

by Andrija "TheIslander" Petrovic of Metal-Temple

by Artur Chachlowski of MLWZ - "Small Encyclopedia of the Great Bands"

by Jose Luis Martínez (Descubre la Caja de Pandora)

by Jean-Philippe Haas of Chromatique

by John Simms of Progarchy ("Pointing toward Proghalla")

by John Blakey

by Bert Saraco on The Phantom Tollbooth

We also received....

A Lifeblood Psalm on sale at a local bookstore.

#2 in Lamplighter's "Best of 2013 (from NJ)"

#18 in Progshine's "Best of 2013"

#8 in La Caja de Pandora's "Best 2013 Independent Releases"

#4 in Jason Spencer's "Best of 2013"

#46 in Don's Top Albums of 2013 (Part One)

#94 in the Prog Archives' "Best of 2013"

"Discovery of the Year" in John Simm's Best of 2013

I'll close with a Facebook status from our fearless leader, late in 2013:

"I was reading an article today, where a guitarist described his band's "meteoric rise from total obscurity to underground micro-niche internet fame." I would just like to thank all 271 of you who like us for powering our own rise to "underground micro-niche internet fame."

Seriously, though.  From the bottom of our hearts.

Thank you, all.

Post by The Twenty Committee.

Post by Stephen Kostas.

Post by Stephen Kostas.

Observations from the Studio, Post-Mortem

I'm apparently not much a blogger, because the guys in the band had to tell me to write this.  If I were truly a blogger, I would obviously have posted it before they had a chance to think of it.  The fact that I also haven't written anything since we left Nashville in October also says something...

But I digress.

For those of you hanging on tenterhooks, the Twenty Committee's album is finally 100% recorded, two full months after our trek to Nashville.  With the help of Stephen Wise, a friend and fellow musician who has appeared on albums by Stevie Wonder and The Roots, we were able to nail down the backing vocals and officially take a deep breath, knowing that the last stage of finalizing the album rests in the magical hands of Mr. Jerry Guidroz.  Back out west, the Nashville String Machine recorded string arrangements for tracks 3 and 6, songs entitled "Airtight" and "Tonight" (part III of The Knowledge Enterprise).  It's a testament, first, to the quality of Geoff's keyboard, because upon a first listen to the raw EP, the string parts which he recorded almost sound like they're being played by real cellos and violas.  It's also a testament, however, to the quality of real cellos and violas that they were able to add an organic element to those tracks which a synthesizer never could have managed.  The final mix, which none of us have heard yet, is sure to be absolutely stunning.

In other news, practices continue and Joe and I are now juggling instruments in order to keep the live performances of our material as close to the studio versions as possible.  Literally, juggling.  Also, a photoshoot is currently in the making, probably utilizing some rundown factory in Philadelphia or some similar overused rock album cliché.  We promise to make it really artsy and not at all cheesy.

Keep your eyes and ears peeled for the album drop in January.  Personally, we can't wait to get it into your hands!

Observations from the Studio, Day #5

Our final day in the studio began with Steve polishing his solos and finalizing lead licks for How Wonderful (our potential single) and a 10-minute monster called Her Voice.  Meanwhile, I purchased t-shirts from the Radiant warehouse (AKA, Neal's garage), got to know Chris Thompson (Neal's personal assistant), and contemplated some final thoughts about our week in the studio.

I'd kind of been hoping that I would have something really poignant and eye-opening to say about our experience by our last day - something powerful and moving.  But the fact of the matter is that, despite being incredibly fun and exciting, nothing necessarily sticks out to me as perspective-changing.  It reminds me of how people would ask me how I felt about being married in the months immediately following my wedding, and I could say nothing more than it felt just about the same... and yet completely different.  I'd been excited out of my mind to tell Tara "I do," and I'd been thrilled about the concept of professionally recording our debut album - both were things I fantasized about, but couldn't possibly imagine actually happening.  However, upon entering into either time and place, I've found myself not feeling particularly different than I did before.  I suppose it's a matter of simply being ready, of experiencing a natural transition, and the change is so subtle it's not even noticeable.  The new setting becomes home, and the new faces become family.  I mean, Jerry's just like an older brother: he says things like "gnarly" and "groovin'" and makes fun of you when you mess up your parts.

I certainly can't speak for the rest of the band, but my time at Radiant has been a tremendous learning experience and my first (hopefully not last) introduction to the life of a professional musician.  Geoff is staying another week to finish his keyboard parts and to work with Jerry on the mastering process, but as far as the rest of the band is concerned, the project is finished.  We were calling the album "The Knowledge Enterprise," largely because the piece which concludes the project is a 5-part, 25-minute epic by the same title.  However, Geoff's been mulling around some other ideas and bouncing them off the rest of the band, and the new working title is currently "A Lovelorn Self."  But that's a post-production issue, TBD.

Other occurrences from today:
Joe tickling Geoff's feet, which produced much giggling and wrestling.  Lunch with Jerry at a place called Hollywood's, which prominently serves Hibachi.  Consuming an entire jar of Tostitos Salsa con Queso, in addition to our daily twin pots of coffee.  Joe playing Roller Coaster Tycoon and mumbling under his breath.  Titus smacking every available object with Joe's drumsticks.  Additional vocals, which resulted in us pondering whether or not Joe is actually Ben Folds in disguise.  Jerry's Sylvester impression.

One final preview until the album is released, and a farewell to Radiant Studios:

Last words:

"Let's skip all the stupid chords and play all the good chords." (Jerry)

"I can't wait to turn the knobs on this thing." (Geoff, about Neal's Moog)

"I rocked my headphones off my head before." (Steve)

"Isn't it something like 'Crabswallow?'" (Geoff, on the name of a street in White House, which was actually 'Lee')

"If you translate it into Japanese, it means giant fig balloon." (Joe)

"It's like boxing with a beehive." (Geoff)

"I feel like I'm in a circus at this point." (Tara, listening to the raw 'Airtight' waltz)

"Spit it out, man!" (Richmond)

"Taacoooos..." (Geoff, in the next room)

Gran Finale

Observations from the Studio, Day #4

Our fourth day in the studio was slotted for nailing down the electric guitar parts, which unsurprisingly would prove to be one of the more complex and time-consuming parts of the recording process.  Over the course of the day, in addition to countless re-dubs and second takes (not to mention writing new parts), Jerry, Geoff and Steve spent hours measuring delay times, tweaking gain settings, and cleaning up sustain and fuzz (just a few of Steve's favorite things).  Phrasing for electric guitar is so important, and today we learned that what we should have been doing during practices was nailing down exactly what we were each playing, because jamming quality does not equate to studio quality.  Each note needs to be carefully orchestrated, and purposefully articulated - that goes especially for something as technically involved as lead guitar.

School's out.

Some low-quality samples of what you loyal fans are in for (and more of Jerry's superb drumming):

Today's Overheard:
"Baaanaaanaaa..." (Geoff, in the next room)

"I'll give you some feedback..." (Jerry, to Steve)

"I'm playing with the grabber." (Richmond)

"Do whatever you did yesterday to get rid of all that... squishiness." (Jerry)

"My e-mail wants me to improve my love life." (Richmond)

"Tuning translated into Japanese means 'avocado of the sea.'" (Joe, via the internet)

"Listen to the bass.  It's incredibly tight with the drums.  I know, because I put it there." (Jerry)

"This next part is ugly, nasty, and terrible." (Steve)

"Well, if you can think of a way to make it not ugly, nasty, and terrible, then we can use it." (Jerry)

"I think we should just do that song from Zelda, and modify it to fit in there." (Joe)

"This guitar tends to hit amps like a sock full of nickels." (Steve)

"...and then... there were guitar players." (Jerry)

"Your feet are mildly moist." (Joe)

"Oooooh...  Chooooclate..." (Geoff, in the next room)


Tomorrow: vocals and cleanup detail!

Observations from the Studio, Day #3

With bass and drums finalized, Thursday became my turn in the spotlight.  Geoff was the one to vocalize an observation that I'd already been mulling around, albeit in less precise terms: as a worship leader and one of the frontmen of Synaesthesia, my guitar-playing style is typically more driving than finessed.  Therefore, my biggest challenge in recording Twenty Committee songs was less wrapping my brain (and fingers) around awkward chords and obscure time changes than in learning when to push the song and when to "sit back and groove" (as Jerry would say).  It's learning finesse and practicing give-and-take, or finding a niche and expanding it to its fullest capacity - without spilling over into the rest of the mix.

Another hard-learned observation from today is that just because the music is technically correct doesn't necessarily mean that it will always sound correct.  Sometimes notes will rub the wrong way - partially due to the instrumentation and voicing, partially due to the equipment - and the challenge is to find alternate harmonics in order to make the music sound less abrasive.  In other words, what's right for the song is not always the proper notes - something that took us the better part of a half hour to figure out.

In other news, Jerry has re-christened us as follows:

Me = "Clark"

Steve = "Vinny"

Joe = "Vince"

Richmond = "Gregory"

Geoff = "Clarence" (circa 10:00am to 4:45pm, and briefly at 7:15pm), "Gary" (current)

We, in turn, have renamed him Pepe.  All of this for no particular reason.

Also, this happened today:

What I failed to capture was Jerry admitting, "That's why I stay I the other side of the glass, man."

Two days left!

More quotable XXCMTE (from here on referred to by their new names!):

"Gary is boring.  He gets most of the sounds he needs out of his Korg-M50." (Vinny, probably in comparative reference to his 600 guitar pedals)

"I can read sheet music!" (Gary, indignantly)

"We'll call him Yokel!" (Jerry, about Gary)

"I'm sure he feels different - just look at him!" (Pepe, about Vinny, who was in the next room and didn't hear)

"What Pepe wants, Pepe gets!" (Gary)

"You've got different textures!  You've got shouting, you've got screaming, you've got shrieking..." (Vinny, rebutting Gary on the varieties of metal)

"Yeah, they're like bat-fart notes." (Gary, on James LaBrie)

"Well, Gary's a nerd turd.  A re-turded nerd turd." (Vince)

"This is probably going to end up on your blog, but I'm going to say it anyway: slather this on your carrot." (Gary, pouring Ranch dressing into a cup)

"Is everybody happy?  I'm happy." (Gregory)

Observations from the Studio, Day #2

Today was a 9:30 start, and bass day.  Richmond flew in from Philadelphia at 11:30 last night and promptly spent a 12-hour day locking in the low end while the rest of us played basketball, jammed in the other room, or sat on our laptops.  It's a tough life, this whole musician thing.  Radiant also provides endless snacks and coffee.

Things overheard in the studio today:

"Oh crap, these guys have shields??"  (Stephen Kostas, playing games on his computer).

"No, no - we're looking for the brlamp brlamp brlamp.  The brlamp brlamp brlamp." (Jerry Guidroz, on synchronizing Richmond's bass with Joe's fills)

"If my gum still has a lot of flavor, then I just stick it in my hand to save it for later." (Joe Henderson, after arising from his midday nap on the portico swing)

"My head's about to come off if it goes up any more." (Jerry, on the 3-minute atonal jam)

"I just feel like smacking you with this sweet salty nut." (Geoff Langley, to Joe, for no apparent reason)

"After this part, everyone can go back to their Mars-Volta-ing." (Jerry, on the 3-minute atonal jam)

"Yeah, some guitar-chestration." (Geoff, acknowledging Steve's ideas on orchestrating)

"Wait, what does this fruit do?" (Steve, playing games on his computer)

"Steve, do you suck like that description of Robo-Cop remix?" (Joe)

"I think that works - I just have to do one more measure of beat-detective." (Jerry, on correcting a drum goof)

"Geoff, stop spilling everywhere." (Joe, on Geoff's poor vocal take)

"Ahhhh, it's a pink dragon.  Pink dragons take you to bonus levels."  (you guessed it)

Observations from the Studio, Day #1

After two days of travel (6 hours to West Virginia on Saturday, and 9 hours to Tennessee from there on Sunday), we arrived in our rental cabin 30 miles outside of Nashville, well after nightfall.  Upon arrival, we made two immediate realizations: one, that we'd crossed into central time (largely thanks to our iPhones being smarter than we are), and two, that spiders in Nashville are much larger than those in Jersey.

Monday, day one of recording at Radiant Studios, yielded a fair number of simple yet foundational observations which may or may not be helpful to the up-and-coming musician debating whether to go to a professional studio to record his debut album or to attempt doing it himself at home.  Speaking as a member of various indie bands who, over the years, have opted to do home recordings for EPs, things such as decent headphones for playback monitoring and proper sound-proofing were luxuries which could be done without.  Entering into a fully stocked, professional recording studio, where such things are not only commonplace but staples of the trade, I was struck by the humbling revelation that anything I may have done using Audacity at home - no matter how many over-dubs, firewire interfaces, or painstaking EQ adjustments - would never equate to the sloppy warm-up takes we did before lunch.  The studio is certainly going to be a big investment, undeniably, but so is recording in your basement - an investment of another kind.

The following are some observations that I made for the day, in no particular order:

1). Technicalities, once glossed over as acceptable "EP quality" imperfections, are in fact major issues.  This is especially true for progressive rock.

2). Setting up and mixing the drums is, predictably, the most time-consuming process of day #1.  For us, this was quite the change from simply dropping a single 57 over Joe's head to catch his cymbals, taping one to his snare, and shoving a condenser into the bass drum.

3). In a similar vein, playing white-boy basketball in the driveway while said drums are being mixed is not quite the ego-boost we might have hoped.

4). Recording scratch tracks is not glamorous, but it is foundational.  Live takes are amazing when they happen, but when they happen is never.

5). Getting that fat and full sound is less dependent upon the bucks you dropped for your guitar (although that certainly helps too) than having quality sound equipment and an experienced producer at the helm.

6). That perfect first take is idealized, but not always golden.  Seasoning comes with subsequent punch-ins.

7). You will get very well acquainted with the comfy furniture available in the recording booth.  And your dummer's shoulder.  And your own tunes, as they will invariably be stuck in your head after the day is done.

More tomorrow.

Faith, Confidence, and Sanity: The Christian Worldview

One of the more significant changes shaping my immediate future is the fact that my band will be headed down to Nashville in just a few short weeks to record our debut album with Jerry Guidroz of Radiant Records (the producer behind Neal Morse and Transatlantic).  Without going into too much detail, the album we're working on is very much concerned with the legitimacy of faith (specifically the Christian faith) as a worldview.  It's essentially a microcosm of the world's pursuit of knowledge: the quest for true enlightenment which explores all avenues of thought, but that can only be found  -- as we believe -- in the person of Jesus Christ.  Geoff (keys and vocals) is the frontman and primary writer of The Twenty Committee's material, but as we got into the heart of the project, he and I began partnering on the lyrics -- especially those depicting the grungy independence of man and his scorn for all things intangible, things that even include faith, love, and hope.

As I stared at the blinking cursor on my computer screen, pondering the instability of faithless existence, I found myself reminded of a simple statement made by Dr. David Powlison during the 2011 CCEF conference.  A very simple statement -- three words, unrefined, no pretense.

"Prayer is sanity."

So concise, and in its directness, so poignant.  In the grandiose Louisville ballroom in which my wife (then, not yet my fiancé) and I were sitting, surrounded by thousands of counselors-in-training, the simple phrase passed over us like a wave -- not a whitecap which crashes over a swimmer and leaves him stunned, but a warm swell which buoys him gently above the sandy ocean floor.  As I remember that moment now, and realize the echoed sentiment in the rough lyrics of our nearly completed concept album, it strikes me that arguments for faith severely underemphasize one of the most important and most beautiful elements of the Christian belief.

Faith, even as an objective principle, is one of the most misunderstood concepts of our modern age.  Portrayed as mysticism at its worst and irrational confidence at its best, faith pertaining to any religion has become antithetical to educated thinking.  To the modern scientific community -- a generation raised during the era of Wikipedia, genetic cloning, and subsequent failed Harold Camping prophecies -- faith-based living is as quaint and outdated a practice as bloodletting.  To the post-Christian society in which we live, archaic religious thinking may at best hold some worthwhile grains of truth, but ultimately remains the equivalent of retaining belief in Santa Claus as an adult.

Understandably, popular misconceptions arise from the fact that faith as a principle always incorporates some form of not-knowing.  In other words, faith necessarily requires some element of trust which supersedes understanding.  Calvin's decision to go back inside and watch TV in the unsettling face of the unknown is a perfect example: man wants concrete proof that he is not alone in the universe and cannot accept the possibility that his own eyes might not be able to observe a supernatural reality.  Furthermore, when the overlooked plights of our world are taken into consideration -- our indomitable pride, our idol of independence and our obsession with control -- it isn't surprising that the world would rather place its belief in something concrete like science which defines the universe by expressly non-theistic standards.  It's terrifying to place confidence in something external to ourselves when what we value is our own knowledge and ability.  To sacrifice that for something which is intangible, something that you know in your heart but cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt to anyone (not even yourself) is tantamount to declaring mental instability.  In that regard, the popular debate between faith and science -- above all else -- is an argument over control.  It is a war between man's sense of pride and his dependence upon something greater than himself.

But the fact of the matter is that faith is not simply taking a step out into nothingness.  Biblical hope retains no element of uncertainty - it is a hope that knows and trusts, and ultimately experiences true peace.  That is the truth which forms the bedrock upon which the Christian stands.  Faith is not hoping God can, it's knowing that He will, which is certainly a pithy saying worthy of a wall plaque, but it is also the truth which allows us to see the rain as a blessing and the storm as an instruction manual.  Hebrews 11 defines faith as the "assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  In other words, while faith acknowledges that there are things we do not understand, there is so much more that we do.  In the same way that you know you have money in the bank (or don't), in the same manner that those numerals on that paycheck represent a quantifiable amount and you know you earned, despite the fact that your boss didn't hand you raw chunks of gold to carry home on the subway, faith also incorporates a trust that supersedes what we see and experience.  Invariably, this is the kind of discussion which arouses the arguments for evolution, for intelligent design, for the notion (or lack thereof) that we can't possibly know for certain what this life is about.

The issue around which all of these schools of thought circle is the problem of evidence.  Contemporary science denies the possibility of the supernatural because equations cannot calculate deity.  Intelligent design counters evolutionary claims due to the absence of transitional forms in the fossil record.  So-called agnostics simply shrug and insist that there's not enough to go by to choose one side of the court or the other.  The consistent back-and-forth banter of "Prove it's true" and "Prove it's not" is unending, because no one has the trump card which invalidates the other arguments.  Embracing a side, therefore, is inevitably a matter of faith, because regardless of what camp you find yourself in, the evidence does not conclusively add up.  Evolution ultimately boils down to the same faith-based mechanics as any other devised religion.  It has no testable hypotheses to make it a recognizable science (no, you cannot watch evolution happen), and it lacks insubstantial evidence to verify its claims.  The Christian likewise cannot point to any evidence which the scientist would not deem circumstantial or hearsay.  It is by faith that we acknowledge the universe as God's handiwork, attributing to Him authority over nature and ascribing to Him authorship of the scientific laws which govern the universe.

But frankly, I'm tired of all the talk.  I'm tired of Christian apologetics who hint at the possibility of proving God's existence through their archeological approach and their intentional use of big scientific words.  I'm tired of evolutionists who raise their noses to the notion that someone embraces a worldview which subjects science to deity, because they themselves are unable to wrap their brains around the notion that an all-powerful god (which is, by objective definition, a supernatural and supreme being) would not be limited by the clockwork regularity of the universe He created.  And I'm really tired of people misusing the "agnostic" label simply because they don't know what they believe and don't want to be labeled as an atheist, which would be too extreme.  We stand in a room crowded with stubborn debaters, all shouting to be heard, and no one is convincing anyone of anything.

This post is not an argument for equality of thought or a demand for coexistence.  It is, however, a request for greater understanding of and a respect for what the other guy thinks.  It's a call to listen more and speak less (and I'll be the first one to admit failure in that department).  We need to stop adding to the argumentative noise.  What I also want to communicate is that faith (intelligent design, Creationism, or whatever other label you'd prefer) is not an unrealistic perspective of the world.  It is not a denial of scientific research, nor is it divorced from logic, reason, or education.  It is simply a different perspective and a different order of priorities.  Faith is a legitimate worldview because it is based upon confidence in the reality and veracity of the Bible.  Yes, it certainly takes faith to believe in a God who cannot be seen or defined with scientific instruments, a God who created man and gave him a mind of his own, and then chose out of His lovingkindness to redeem that man rather than destroy him for his ungrateful independence.  However, it also takes tremendous faith to look past the gaping holes in the evolutionary theory, just like it takes faith to answer the question "If God does not exist, then what is this all for?" with some apathetic defense of nature's prerogative.

The bottom line is that, if evolution is an educated and respected school of thought, despite its uncertainties, then intelligent design must also be held in the same regard.

In all of this, in my frustration with internet forums and the conversations which take place in so-called collegiate-level classrooms, I find myself coming back to Dr. Powlison's statement, an idea which is so fundamental and so grade-school in its simplicity, and yet we constantly overlook it.  Prayer is not the spiritual equivalent of groping blindly in the dark: it is leaning into the one dependable lifeline we have in a universe which spins out of our control, out of our finite comprehension.  Prayer is sanity because of the reality, the omnipotence, of the One upon whom we depend.

To me, the most beautiful aspect of the Christian faith is the fact that despite our wickedness, we may boldly approach the throne of grace -- boldly, not with trepidation, not with uncertainty, but with absolute confidence.  I know beyond the shadow of any doubt that my Savior will one day welcome me into His open arms, and that all mysteries of life, the universe, and everything will one day finally be answered -- but not until I come into His presence.  In the meantime, I intend to live a life which celebrates that confidence, knowing that man's pursuit of knowledge and understanding begins and culminates with Christ Himself.

~*~

Psalm 18.1-3: "I love you, O LORD, my strength.  The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised."

~*~