One of my favorite artists and bands is Bright Eyes— and its front-man Conor Oberst. Each of his albums make me feel like I’m listening to a grown-up Holden Caulfield. You can hear him wrestling with the disappointment of his young faith not being able to address the difficulty of real life. In “Road to Joy,” from his epic album “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning,” I’ll never forget the line: “My parents they have their religion but sleep in separate houses.”

Ouch. 

I just pre-ordered his new album (which releases on Tuesday). I was reading through some of the reviews and I came across one that referenced a song on the new album called “Triple Spiral”— Oberst’s reflection on the Trinity. Here is a chunk of lyrics from the song:

I loved you triple spiral
Father, son, and ghost
But you left me in my darkest hour
When I needed you, when I needed you
And now the dream is over
I want it to be known
I never saw it coming
From my little human prism
How sad it is to know I’m in control

That’s the problem
An empty sky
I fill it up with everything
That’s missing from my life

Where’d you come from
You fated sign
Spinning through the centuries
Expanding all the time

Three worlds at one that blend together
Three times I cried for us
But I felt better then

This problem of pain— “Oh God, where are you now?”— is very real and can’t be dismissed with simple cliches or admonitions to just have faith. Pain is the fork in the road where faith grows or dies. 

I’m saddened that Conor felt like God left him hanging on his own. I hate that he’s resigned himself to believing that it is, in fact, an “empty sky” and thinking “how sad it is to know that I’m in control.”

This morning I am praying for a guy I don’t know, but really care about. God, build up what’s broken in Conor Oberst’s soul. Fill him with the hope of Jesus Christ and help him to come home and be welcomed into the family of God.