WEBVTT 00:00:17.789 --> 00:00:20.829 Hey y 'all, welcome back here to the Semi -Seminarian, 00:00:20.829 --> 00:00:23.750 our Sunday episode we call Theology in Three 00:00:23.750 --> 00:00:27.030 Chords. We try to look at songs and see if we 00:00:27.030 --> 00:00:30.140 can't discover a deeper meaning to them. Before 00:00:30.140 --> 00:00:33.340 we open the ice chest on this one, though, let 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:37.979 me say this. Sometimes a song sneaks up on you. 00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:41.780 It's sweet. It's funny. It's got that front porch 00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:44.380 breeze vibe to it. Makes you think you're just 00:00:44.380 --> 00:00:47.179 listening to a summertime tale. But somewhere, 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:50.880 somewhere between the first laugh and the last 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:56.329 line, something sacred gets stirred. Today, we're 00:00:56.329 --> 00:00:58.750 taking a long, slow melt through a tune that's 00:00:58.750 --> 00:01:01.850 part love song, part flavor map, and part accidental 00:01:01.850 --> 00:01:05.569 confession. It's a story where emotions aren't 00:01:05.569 --> 00:01:09.049 spoken, they're scooped. Every color tells a 00:01:09.049 --> 00:01:12.510 truth about someone too honest to hide or too 00:01:12.510 --> 00:01:16.810 awkward to explain. So grab a cone, let it drip 00:01:16.810 --> 00:01:21.329 a little. This is the Yellow Snow Cone. I'll 00:01:21.329 --> 00:01:30.209 see you on the other side. Tonight, we're talking 00:01:30.209 --> 00:01:32.829 about Adam Carroll's Snow Cone Man, a song that 00:01:32.829 --> 00:01:35.450 seems like a slice of July whimsy, but underneath 00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:38.469 the ice and sugar, it's a story about emotion, 00:01:38.730 --> 00:01:41.769 courage, and the way colors can carry meaning 00:01:41.769 --> 00:01:45.590 we don't always see right away. Now, this isn't 00:01:45.590 --> 00:01:47.629 a song you analyze with a highlighter. It's a 00:01:47.629 --> 00:01:51.230 song you sit with, tongue stained, hands sticky, 00:01:51.469 --> 00:01:54.409 letting the heat of memory mix with the chill 00:01:54.409 --> 00:01:58.170 of revelation. And... If you're willing to look 00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:00.109 beneath the humor, there's actually a deeper 00:02:00.109 --> 00:02:03.689 story hiding in that crushed ice, a parable of 00:02:03.689 --> 00:02:08.069 flavors. The brilliance of Snow Cone Man isn't 00:02:08.069 --> 00:02:10.449 in its punchlines or even in its plot. It's in 00:02:10.449 --> 00:02:15.009 how color becomes communication. In this world, 00:02:15.129 --> 00:02:17.969 love doesn't show up as a grand speech. It comes 00:02:17.969 --> 00:02:21.569 wrapped in cherry syrup. Sorrow isn't confessed 00:02:21.569 --> 00:02:24.229 aloud. It's handover in a wax paper cone filled 00:02:24.229 --> 00:02:29.039 with grape ice. The deeper truth of this song 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:31.400 is that people don't often speak plainly, but 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:38.300 flavors do. That's the genius of this song. Adam 00:02:38.300 --> 00:02:40.280 Carroll has taken the language of childhood, 00:02:40.539 --> 00:02:43.680 flavor preference, sticky hands, that moment 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.219 when your tongue turns a new color, has layered 00:02:46.219 --> 00:02:49.860 it with adult emotion. It's what pulls this out 00:02:49.860 --> 00:02:53.099 of novelty into meaning. So let's walk slow, 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:56.500 verse by verse, flavor by flavor. Verse one. 00:02:57.389 --> 00:02:59.949 Out in the hot sun standing in line buying snow 00:02:59.949 --> 00:03:04.469 cones in the summertime. Buying snow cones from 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:09.270 the snow cone man. We begin in the heat. Kind 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:12.330 of emotional drought. Everyone's looking for 00:03:12.330 --> 00:03:15.810 relief. The line places us in the ordinary world 00:03:15.810 --> 00:03:18.409 of the hero's journey. Simple needs. Small pleasures. 00:03:19.509 --> 00:03:23.550 Snow cone man is a fixture of summer. Supplier 00:03:23.550 --> 00:03:27.800 of cool in the chaos. Verse 2. How many cones 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:30.180 in July have you sold? Can't sell them at Christmas 00:03:30.180 --> 00:03:32.800 time. It's too damn cold, said the snow cone, 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:37.719 said the snow cone man. Here, the snow cone man 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:41.800 speaks. His work is seasonal. There's a wisdom 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:45.819 in that. You can't force timing. You can't sell 00:03:45.819 --> 00:03:48.879 snow cones in the winter. And there's an implied 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.280 philosophy here. Revelation comes in season. 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:53.280 You don't get grace when you want it. It shows 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:58.659 up when it's hot enough for you to need it. Verse 00:03:58.659 --> 00:04:01.919 three, can't get no cone for a nickel or dime. 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:04.680 Can I date your sister? She's mighty fine, Mr. 00:04:04.819 --> 00:04:10.340 Snowcone. Mr. Snowcone, man, this is the inciting 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:14.280 moment, the spark of desire. Our narrator, his 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:19.939 shift focuses from refreshment to romance. He's 00:04:19.939 --> 00:04:23.379 no longer just a customer. He's stepping into 00:04:23.379 --> 00:04:27.720 a quest. asking the snow cone man to date his 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:31.160 sister is like asking the gatekeeper permission 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:35.459 to cross into something sacred verse four your 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:38.600 sister genie she bought me two cherry for love 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:42.259 and grape for blue mr snow cone mr snow cone 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:46.899 man two flavors cherry equals love grape equals 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:51.300 sadness but the key is he the narrator didn't 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:54.980 choose them genie gave them to him These flavors 00:04:54.980 --> 00:04:59.199 are assignments, not orders. Cherry says she's 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.740 open. Grape says there's complexity. Maybe there's 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:05.600 past hurts. Flavor acts as an emotional shorthand, 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:09.420 revealing truths that they aren't ready to say 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:16.220 out loud. So he gave me directions to her whereabouts, 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:19.980 the snow cone man did. He said, if she likes 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:22.600 you, you should ask her out. Thank you, snow 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:26.470 cone. Thank you, snow cone man. The snow cone 00:05:26.470 --> 00:05:30.149 man doesn't stop him. He gives him guidance. 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:36.029 He's not Cupid. He's a threshold guide. There's 00:05:36.029 --> 00:05:39.449 no blessing or curse, just an invitation. If 00:05:39.449 --> 00:05:45.629 she likes you, go. It's gentle, open -ended counsel. 00:05:46.769 --> 00:05:51.470 But she's got a big, big boyfriend. He might 00:05:51.470 --> 00:05:55.160 give me a whipping. He bought me a yellow one 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:57.339 and he called me chicken. Said, you're chicken. 00:05:58.339 --> 00:06:03.300 I said, thank you, snow cone man. This is the 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:06.259 theological center of the song. Yellow is the 00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:10.560 color of fear, but also of risk. The snow cone 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:14.860 man doesn't say, don't go. He gives him the challenge 00:06:14.860 --> 00:06:19.860 flavor. It's a test. And the boy doesn't argue. 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:23.560 He accepts it. In fact, he says, thank you. He 00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:27.819 carries his fear honestly. This is unknowing 00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:32.360 bravery. So the narrator continues, I took my 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:36.519 yellow snow cone. I was on my way. Stopped and 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:39.139 bought a pretty rose bouquet with the snow cone. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:42.819 With the snow cone, man. Here's where the boy 00:06:42.819 --> 00:06:45.339 tries to fall back on tradition. Flowers are 00:06:45.339 --> 00:06:49.459 safe, expected. But the yellow snow cone, though 00:06:49.459 --> 00:06:54.079 unintended as a gift, will prove... To be something 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:58.699 more meaningful. Found her house. She was at 00:06:58.699 --> 00:07:01.819 the door. Snow cone cups scattered on the floor 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:06.180 from her brother. From the snow cone man. She's 00:07:06.180 --> 00:07:08.819 already been receiving cones. Her floor is littered 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:12.259 with them. This is a life lived in color. She 00:07:12.259 --> 00:07:16.259 understands this emotional language. She's fluent 00:07:16.259 --> 00:07:22.170 in the snow cone man's way of speaking. She saw 00:07:22.170 --> 00:07:26.470 my flowers. She said, everybody knows. Yellow 00:07:26.470 --> 00:07:29.769 snow cone is better than a red, red rose. So 00:07:29.769 --> 00:07:32.750 beam a snow cone, baby. Won't you beam a snow 00:07:32.750 --> 00:07:37.949 cone, man? This is the payoff. The reversal. 00:07:38.990 --> 00:07:41.769 She chooses honest emotion over performance. 00:07:41.850 --> 00:07:45.389 Yellow wins. Not because it's flashy, but because 00:07:45.389 --> 00:07:50.329 it's real. Her invitation back. Beam a snow cone 00:07:50.329 --> 00:07:53.060 is... Romantic, humorous, and holy. Remember, 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:56.360 she understands the meaning of the color. When 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:00.040 the narrator shows up with a yellow snow cone 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:06.180 in his hand, he's saying, I'm not afraid. I'm 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:08.240 not afraid. I'm going to come and knock on your 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:13.480 door and see if you'll go out with me. She cried 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:17.350 watermelon tears, the prettiest I ever saw. She 00:08:17.350 --> 00:08:20.290 gave me kisses and my tongue turned green, lime 00:08:20.290 --> 00:08:24.649 green flavor from a snow cone, from a snow cone 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:27.629 man. Watermelon is a bittersweet joy, sweetness 00:08:27.629 --> 00:08:32.389 touched by pain. Lime, surprise happiness. These 00:08:32.389 --> 00:08:34.549 are the flavors of real emotional response. They 00:08:34.549 --> 00:08:39.350 aren't dramatic, they're true. She said my big, 00:08:39.370 --> 00:08:41.049 big boyfriend, I don't like him at all. He's 00:08:41.049 --> 00:08:43.789 got a hard head and a snow cone, small, little 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:49.399 snow cone. Little snow cone man. This is the 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:52.179 dismissal of false bravado. Her old boyfriend 00:08:52.179 --> 00:08:55.279 lacked flavor, lacked depth. This isn't about 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.840 size. It's about substance. And the boy who showed 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:01.019 up, who dared to show up with the yellow snow 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:07.480 cone, he has it. She took me upstairs. We sang 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:10.340 the song. We make snow cones all day long. Me 00:09:10.340 --> 00:09:12.860 and Jeannie making snow cone love. Now they're 00:09:12.860 --> 00:09:16.580 creating their own flavors. This is intimacy 00:09:16.580 --> 00:09:20.639 that comes from a shared language, from recognizing 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:26.000 and receiving each other honestly. I asked Jeannie, 00:09:26.059 --> 00:09:28.720 would you be my wife and sell me snow cones at 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:31.720 half the price? Sell me snow cones? From the 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:34.340 snow cone man. Even the proposal stays in flavor 00:09:34.340 --> 00:09:38.100 language. It's silly, yes. It's also grounded 00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:40.419 in emotional truth. He doesn't step outside the 00:09:40.419 --> 00:09:45.639 metaphor. He lives in it. So we got married. 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:48.720 We said, I do. It was a cone for me. It was a 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:52.159 cone for you. Got married by the snow cone man. 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:56.740 Equality, mutuality, one cone each. It's partnership. 00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:00.000 And who officiates? The one who saw it all coming. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:05.259 The flavor prophet. Had a reception at the snow 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:08.340 cone stand. Had our honeymoon. It's snow cone 00:10:08.340 --> 00:10:13.360 land compliments. The snow cone man. Journey 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:18.100 ends right where it began. The ordinary place 00:10:18.100 --> 00:10:22.279 becomes the sacred one. A snow cone stand becomes 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:25.919 a sanctuary. A snow cone becomes a blessing. 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:32.039 And that's where it all lands. See, Snow Cone 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:34.440 Man is a love song, yes, but it's also a language 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:37.799 lesson, a guidebook to the emotional shorthand 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:40.669 of flavor. And if you listen close, The lesson 00:10:40.669 --> 00:10:43.090 is this. You don't always know what you're carrying. 00:10:45.470 --> 00:10:47.529 The boy thought the flowers were the thing. He 00:10:47.529 --> 00:10:49.710 had no idea the real message was melting in his 00:10:49.710 --> 00:10:52.669 hand the whole time. That yellow snow cone, the 00:10:52.669 --> 00:10:54.669 one he didn't ask for, didn't want, and barely 00:10:54.669 --> 00:10:57.870 noticed that. That was his heart on full display. 00:10:58.090 --> 00:11:02.169 Not the bouquet, not the words. Just a cone of 00:11:02.169 --> 00:11:04.690 doubt -colored courage given by a man who knew 00:11:04.690 --> 00:11:09.009 what he was doing. And Jeannie, she read it instantly 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:10.950 because she knew. She'd grown up with the snow 00:11:10.950 --> 00:11:14.389 cone man. She knew that yellow doesn't mean cowardice. 00:11:14.389 --> 00:11:19.450 It means you showed up anyway. That's the thread 00:11:19.450 --> 00:11:21.330 that runs through the whole story. This isn't 00:11:21.330 --> 00:11:23.470 a tale of a guy who triumphed by planning. It's 00:11:23.470 --> 00:11:25.509 a story of a guy who stumbled into grace by being 00:11:25.509 --> 00:11:28.649 exactly who he was, even if he didn't know it 00:11:28.649 --> 00:11:32.929 at the time. A song never mocks him, never paints 00:11:32.929 --> 00:11:34.950 him as the fool. If anything, it shows how deeply 00:11:34.950 --> 00:11:37.389 beautiful it is to be honest without trying. 00:11:38.690 --> 00:11:41.830 The kind of emotional sincerity, the kind you 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:44.830 don't even know you're showing, is the most truthful 00:11:44.830 --> 00:11:49.129 of all. And that's why this song hits harder 00:11:49.129 --> 00:11:50.990 than you expect, because we've all brought the 00:11:50.990 --> 00:11:53.190 wrong flowers. We've all said too little or too 00:11:53.190 --> 00:11:57.149 much. We've all shown up at someone's door not 00:11:57.149 --> 00:11:59.269 knowing exactly what we were carrying. And we've 00:11:59.269 --> 00:12:02.809 all, at some point, been met with grace anyway. 00:12:05.230 --> 00:12:10.070 We've all been handed a yellow snow cone. And 00:12:10.070 --> 00:12:11.970 the ones who loved us anyway, the ones who read 00:12:11.970 --> 00:12:15.110 that yellow not as fear but as courage, those 00:12:15.110 --> 00:12:18.070 are the people we build our lives with. Those 00:12:18.070 --> 00:12:22.950 are the ones we marry or remember or write songs 00:12:22.950 --> 00:12:33.289 about. So if you've ever found yourself in line, 00:12:33.389 --> 00:12:35.590 sweaty, uncertain, tongue -tied, remember the 00:12:35.590 --> 00:12:39.190 snow cone man. Remember that flavors carry more 00:12:39.190 --> 00:12:42.409 than taste. The color can confess. The being 00:12:42.409 --> 00:12:44.429 known sometimes starts with a paper cup full 00:12:44.429 --> 00:12:46.230 of something you didn't even ask for, and maybe, 00:12:46.350 --> 00:12:49.370 just maybe, the gift you didn't plan to give 00:12:49.370 --> 00:12:52.590 is the one that opens every door. Thanks for 00:12:52.590 --> 00:12:55.549 listening to Theology in Three Chords. Keep your... 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.759 Cone's cold, your eyes open, and your heart turned 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:02.500 to the color that you didn't expect. And remember, 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:06.700 in this song, no one ever gets what they ordered. 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:12.820 Every cone is a mirror. Every flavor is a mood. 00:13:13.139 --> 00:13:16.480 Sometimes, a yellow snow cone says everything 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:22.580 you were too scared or too honest to say. And 00:13:22.580 --> 00:13:24.519 if you're still standing there, ice melting down 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:26.259 your knuckles, not sure what your color means, 00:13:26.379 --> 00:13:27.960 know this. You don't have to explain it. You 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:30.480 just have to carry it. Because somewhere out 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:33.799 there is someone just like Jeannie. Someone who 00:13:33.799 --> 00:13:37.179 knows how to read yellow. And maybe, just maybe, 00:13:37.379 --> 00:13:40.360 that cone you didn't ask for is already telling 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:44.159 the truth for you. At least that's something 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:55.029 to think about. See you next time. Chapter 6. 00:13:56.190 --> 00:13:58.490 Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:00.470 of Christ, let us go on.