Goodbye to the old self

Posted by Jonathan

What does “This is goodnight, this is goodbye” mean to me?

First of all, I just want to say I really love how the title of this album came together.  We were sitting around in a hotel last year before the “All Access Music Search” finale in Atlanta trying to get some planning done on this album and one of the big things we needed to nail down was an album title.  Do we go the “self-titled” route? Do we just pick the name of one of our songs? Or do we come up with something else?  Several ideas were thrown around, but nothing seemed to strike us the right way.  We wanted something that really encompassed what we crafted the songs to say.  Then we started talking through some of our song lyrics and came across “Without You”.  Not only is this one of our favorite songs on the album, but it contains the meaningful lyric and idea, “this is goodnight, this is goodbye”.  Immediately, and I mean, immediately, we were all on the same page … “That’s it!”

After coming to the idea of naming the album “This is goodnight, this is goodbye” we haven’t really looked back since.  And while we did note the irony of our debut album including the word “goodbye” in it, we felt the idea really summarized what we wanted to say on the album and so we chose the track listing to accompany it.  The idea of saying “goodnight” and “goodbye” to the old self and way of life and embracing a new life as a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.  This is something all of us in the band have done in our personal journeys of faith and this is what we want to encourage our listeners to explore.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

To me, the album title represents the most significant change in my life: my walk with Christ. Before I came to faith in God, I was all about me, and only me.  At the core, I was self-seeking, unreliable, dishonest, and steering my life in such a way to see how much I could get for myself and how fast I could get it (harsh, but let’s call it what it is).  The beauty was that even while I was seeking the pleasures and passions of this world, God, in His infinite grace and mercy, called me out of that and into a new life through His Son.  A life of integrity, serving others, and most importantly, faith that God Himself is my ultimate source for satisfaction and purpose.  In essence, through my faith in God made possible by the saving blood of Jesus , I am saying “goodnight” and “goodbye” forever to the life I had before and welcoming the peace and fulfillment that comes in having a relationship with the Maker of the universe.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20)

For a better and more fully explained account of what happened in my life, please read Ephesians 2.

February 08