I did a strange thing.  Well, at least it was a strange thing to do at the dinner table.  As food was plopped on plates, I plopped the lyrics of a song I had just heard in front of everyone.

It was a song from 2008 that hit number 3 on the Modern Rock Hits chart. The topic of this song falls outside of the usual topics found in songs. 
As the family ate, I excitedly read the lyrics to the song I had just discovered.

Read (or listen: video link at bottom) through these lyrics and see if you can discern “the topic”

(note as you read: the chorus appears only at the begging and then again at the end)

Handlebars  by Flobots

I can ride my bike with no handlebars     

No handlebars

No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

No handlebars

No handlebars

Look at me, look at me

Hands in the air like it’s good to be

Alive, and I’m a famous rapper

Even when the paths are all crookedy

I can show you how to do-si-do

I can show you how to scratch a record

I can take apart the remote control

And I can almost put it back together

I can tie a knot in a cherry stem

I can tell you about Leif Ericson

I know all the words to “De Colores”

And I’m proud to be an American

Me and my friend saw a platypus

Me and my friend made a comic book

And guess how long it took?

I can do anything that I want, ’cause, look

I can keep rhythm with no metronome

No metronome

No metronome

And I can see your face on the telephone

On the telephone

On the telephone

Look at me, look at me

Just called to say that it’s good to be

Alive in such a small world

I’m all curled up with a book to read

I can make money, open up a thrift store

I can make a livin’ off a magazine

I can design an engine

Sixty-four miles to a gallon of gasoline

I can make new antibiotics

I can make computers survive aquatic conditions

I know how to run the business

And I can make you wanna buy a product

Movers, shakers and producers

Me and my friends understand the future

I see the strings that control the system

I can do anything with no resistance

‘Cause I can lead a nation with a microphone

With a microphone

With a microphone

And I can split the atom of a molecule

Of a molecule

Of a molecule

Look at me, look at me

Drivin’ and I won’t stop

And it feels so good to be alive and on top

My reach is global

My tower secure

My cause is noble

My power is pure

I can hand out a million vaccinations

Or let ’em all die of exasperation

Have ’em all healed of their lacerations

Have ’em all killed by assassination

I can make anybody go to prison

Just because I don’t like ’em

And I can do anything with no permission

I have it all under my command because

I can guide a missile by satellite

By satellite

By satellite

And I can hit a target through a telescope

Through a telescope

Through a telescope

And I can end the planet in a holocaust

In a holocaust

In a holocaust

In a holocaust

In a holocaust

In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

No handlebars

No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

No handlebars

No handlebars

I think this song is about human pride and the fruit of that pride.

We boast in our accomplishments.

As I child on my bike I exclaim, “look mom…no hands!”

Or in Spanish middle school I feel accomplished that I memorized the poem “De Colores”

This human pride can easily lead us to a desire to control our world, and the world.

As a follower of Jesus I need to ask myself, “Where is the line between a healthy sense of self, and a dangerous pride that seeks it’s own will and control.”  “Do I find my identity in God’s grace and love, or am I seeking my (our “our”) glory?

As we mature to greater responsibilities how can we guard against human pride?

The Tower of Babel in the first section of Genesis (the pre-history), describes how peoples came together in a way that was prideful. This disregarded God’s plan that humanity disperse, become a place of diverse cultures, to fill and care for the creation. Within the creational calling and occupation of Christians, there is the lurking danger of becoming lords. There is the pride of powerful technological advances. There are the distractions fruitless recreations. There is the temptation to only see ourselves through our abilities and contributions.

But, the calling of the Christian is to be a humble caretaker. The glory of all this world, and even the glory of our “abilities”, is meant to point to the one Lord. The one who has revealed himself as the creator and sustainer of all things.

soli Deo gloria (may His hands be on my handlebars 🙂

Hope you enjoyed the song and found it insightful on our human condition 😊