Why "The Killers" make me cry---the grace of broken dreams

I'm writing this post to try and understand why The Killers make me cry.  Last week, their new album was free for listening on Itunes for a day so I was listening to it before going to bed.  Debbie was lying next to me reading a book.  I started crying and then tried to act like I wasn't crying.  We've been married 25 years, but still it's embarassing to be crying before your wife--particularly over a rock n' roll album.  I know that my wife thinks I'm weird, and she's right.

So, what is it about The Killers?  They understand that life on earth is filled with broken dreams (obviously, this is not rocket science--we all get this--eventually).  We start out with dreams of "being all that we can be."  We want to find a truly satisfying relationship.  We want to have good jobs.  We want to have families.  We think that we are going to be something special.  Then, we find out that we're not as special as we think.  We have success in one area of life--but the others escape us.  We wind up with broken dreams.  That is the law and grace--the bad and good--of life on earth.

Paul Zahl says that the greatest obstacle to "real life" is the ego's fight against its own dissolution.  Zahl says that death will be wonderful--it will release us from the bondage of our egos.  He's so right.  My prayer is to be released from the bondage of my ego--at least a little--before I die.  Our only hope for this is the defeat of our dreams.

So long as our dreams are being met, we plunder along trapped in our egos.  These egos of ours insulate us from the reality of life.  They insulate us from seeing the truth about ourselves.  We lie to ourselves about our capabilities so that our egos remain strong.  They insulate us from true relationships with others.  While our egos are alive, our relationships with others are always based upon what they can do for us.  This inhibits true love.

The Killers get this.  They capture the dreams of man--where we all start in our youth. They capture the brokenness that befalls man in this world as he encounters life.  But, they get something more--they understand that the response of the Creator to our brokenness is grace, refuge, and rebirth.  It is this juxtaposition of the grace and refuge of God against our brokenness that breaks down our egos.  It is this soft landing for our broken dreams that leads to freedom.  Without grace, our egos just keep fighting.  With grace, our egos are free to fall before the onslaught of our broken dreams.  This fall of the human ego is the greatest gift of God...it melds us with Him.


I'm not talking about
Deadlines and commitments
Sold out of confusion
There is a place
Here in this house
That you can stay

Catch you, darling
I'll be waiting
I am on your side