Music has helped shape my life since I can remember. My dad sang in the choir and would sing around the house all the time. Stay around him long enough and he’ll be sure to inform you that he was Curly in a production of Oklahoma! that played in front of the governor. He’ll then burst into a quick rendition of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning.” It’s guaranteed.

So now, music still forms my emotions and thoughts most days. Stay with me here, because it may get a bit morbid. Songs about death seem to propel me to good works more than almost anything. One of my favorite bands, The Avett Brothers, have one of the best written songs ever recorded called “Murder in the City.” This song is haunting and beautiful and drives me to be a great husband, father, and follower of Jesus.

I could write so much about this song, but the last line reads, “Always remember there is nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name…”

And with this, my mind goes immediately to my wife and boys. I want desperately for my life to end decades from now and my wife and boys know that I loved and served them in the love of Christ in all my actions.

Then my thoughts turn to the Church. We share a name. We are Christians. This world knows us by that name and judges us by that name. My hope and prayer for our immediate family in our local church is that the community would see the love that we share. My hope for the global Church is that the world would know the same. At the end of my life, I want more than anything for people to speak about my love of Christ, and my love for people. May we remember there is nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name.

-Jared