Buried Alive

~Chris and Conrad, "Buried Alive"

Needless to say, I really like this song (haha). I wasn't exactly sure why, but this song really caught my attention the first time I heard it. After listening to it a couple times and understanding what it means, I found that its lyrics were related to what God was teaching me at the time (and is still teaching me), and that is how to be honest about ourselves with God, others, and ourselves. That lesson also forces me to face-up with the reality of being human, and letting go of this image that I've got it all together.


We've all broken ground.
Take one look around.
We're in over our heads and we keep digging down
We've all broken ground.
Making sure that nobody sees the dirt on our face
that just would not come clean
and hoping that this is the day
when everything changes..

I know that for myself, I often times try to maintain myself; try to make it seem like I've got myself collected and cool. Trying to keep up this image that I've so well convinced everybody else of. Whether it's the role being the "Spiritual" one, "Funny" one, "Cool", "Smart", etc., there are so many masks to put on. And how often I try to cover up myself, and not let anyone see what's going on... trying to fool people (and myself) into believing in this 'Tim' who's not even real. And I believe God's calling me to be honest and real. This song deals with just that fact that sometimes our life on the inside is the complete opposite from 'having it altogether', buried alive by all the crud we go through.

We take one last breath as the walls cave right in
Cover our heads as the weight of this world
comes crashing down...again..
And the last ray of light can no longer be found
And with no point of reference to find our way out
Scream out loud
Does anyone know that we are
Buried alive?

The chorus was the first thing that really stuck out to me, because it's this strong and terrible image of being in a dirt hole with everything caving in.. There is no more light, you can't tell which way is up because you're so far down, and you're losing hope that anyone could ever find you in this hole you've found yourself in. It really hit me that everybody, whether apparent on the outside or not, has those days where everything for them seems to be caving in. Whether relationally, emotionally, circumstantially, etc etc. I think everyone's been there before. It's an experience I believe we've all shared at some point in our lives. It just comes with being human, you know?

We all know the sound
We've been hunted down
and we all sing along from the moment we're found
We all know the sound.

I also noticed that unlike Chris and Conrad's other songs, this song didn't seem to have any reference to God. And for a while, I didn't understand what the second verse was talking about, but after listening more, I found the hint of hope that I couldn't previously find. When I listened this line, "we've been hunted down" over and over again, eventually a new image came to my mind. Putting ourselves back in the hopeless image of being completely swallowed by the dirt, what if all of a sudden we heard the sound of the soil being moved? And finally, after so long, you see the light, as it turns out there's been someone digging deep down to where you were in search for you. And when He finds you, the first thing He does is wraps His strong arms around your feeble body and holds you. I believe Jesus did and still does this for us.. this beautiful thought how we are not forgotten or lost, how our Jesus digs so deep down to find us and save us from our dirt. I love it =]. (Another image I love is how we're lost in a crowd, with a body from every side suffocating us, but God pushes His way through all of them to find us and hold us tight.)


So yeah..I had a lot to say about this song, haha. Hopefully the next time you see me, you'll catch me being myself, and not trying to put up a front. I know that I'm sometimes caught in this state of being buried alive too.. this song reminds me that Someone does hear me from deep down in the earth when I scream out loud. And if you ask me, I pray that I won't just try to wipe off the dirt from my face, but share with you this beautiful state of being human. (hehe, cheesy, but i mean it =].)