Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Steven Curtis Chapman, a child of divorce affirming marriage

From a crazily long and rambling article about Steven Curtis Chapman: "Three years into [Steven and Mary Beth's] marriage, Steven’s parents divorced (Brasher cited). That devastated everyone, especially Steven. Right after that, Steven saw a Phoenix rise from the ashes of his parents’ marriage and become a song, and since then it has become one of the most loved songs in Gospel music history: ‘I Will Be Here’ (1989). He wrote it for his wife. Do people like it because it is a ‘tender ballad’ with loving lyrics? It is much more than that – it is a love promise, and all the sweeter because the loved one didn’t ask for it. What God has joined together, let me not put asunder.
The rest is (unbelievable Gospel music) history.
Steven’s fame adds on, his Christianity matures further, the problems persist. He tells Campus Life (2002, ChristianityToday.com/), ‘I’m a guy who isn’t perfect, who argues with his wife and kids, who doesn’t have all the answers.’ The songmaking continues, the discovering, the growing. To Prodigy chatters, Steven says, ‘It’s a process’ (Chat cited). To Joan, he says it’s ‘struggling redemptively’ (Brasher cited), and ‘For those who think marriage is too hard, that they can’t handle it, we are here to say, ‘God is faithful.’"

3 comments:

Frank A Hilario said...

Kristine, I'm the author of that 'crazily long and rambling article' about Steven Curtist Chapman! I decided to surf the bloggers about Steven and yours was on top. I was reading intently (your title attracted my attention - it's a good one I didn't think myself), when suddenly I realized that you were quoting me, and I laughed - because someone was taking me seriously. I'm glad. It is really crazily long (it's 13 pages singlespaced in MS Word, 12 pt) - it is probably the longest in American Chronicle history. (I wasn't trying to prove that point; I didn't mean it to be as long as that, but when I was done, I couldn't cut it down (it was 2 weeks of work). Hey, do you realize that JRR Tolkien wrote a boringly long story and became The Lord Of The Ring? I don't like Tolkien myself - he's boring - but you cannot quarrel with success.

Frank A Hilario said...

I would like to take back my 'Steven Curtist Chapman' but not the rest of what I wrote.

Kristine said...

Ha! It's great to have you visiting, Frank. Thanks for illuminating Steven's own journey to find hope and healing.