Written June 20, 2009
In the Air
Something is in the Air
I feel it
Dark clouds, but not foreboding
Gathering overhead
Freshness, newness, the calm before the storm
The wind stirs my heart and my imagination
God, you are moving
I can feel it in my veins
This energy
Every inch of me feels I will burst
I can’t see it yet, but I feel it in the air
On the wind
Content, a feeling of excitement rising
Anticipation
The unknown
I love that feeling
Bring the rain
Wash away the dust that has gathered
Collected in the crevices
For so many months
My favorite feeling, watching a storm gather
To stand in the open as the first drops fall
I love the smell
So many memories of that smell, that feeling
In the air
From other times when I felt you moving
I know this time will be no different
Something is happening
Renewed passion
What is on the horizon?
God, your ways reflected in the gathering of a storm
Building up until something has to give
And it all pours down, washing clean
A fresh start
New
I can feel it in the air
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Songs that speak
Some songs I need to post because they keep coming up and they speak to me.
Aware - Salvador
Even in the little things
That never seem too big to me
And the things that I thought
Didn’t matter much at all
As simple as my daily bread
To the strength I need to get out of bed
When I fly, when I’m about to Fall
It’s you in me
That I fail to see
Make me aware, make me see
Everything I am is not all about me
Take my world, turn it around
So that the obvious can finally be found
Make me aware, make me aware
When my life is hanging from a thread
And I think about the things you said
In this moment seems so far away
Help me see the guarantees
That first brought me to believe
So I can make it through another day
Oh, it’s you in me
That helps me to breathe
Make me aware, make me see
Everything I am is not all about me
Take my world, turn it around
So that the obvious can finally be found
Make me aware
I have been missing so much
Not recognizing your touch
All acknowledging you’re the reason I’m even here
I have been missing so much
Not recognizing your touch
Make me aware, make me aware
Help me see, Everything I am is not all about me
Take my world, turn it around
So that the obvious can finally be found
Make me aware, make me aware
Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath
Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere,
Why have I never cared?
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah
yeah
yeah
Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work
He's buying time
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah
yeah
yeah
I've Been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all along
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah
yeah
yeah
By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North
Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Aware - Salvador
Even in the little things
That never seem too big to me
And the things that I thought
Didn’t matter much at all
As simple as my daily bread
To the strength I need to get out of bed
When I fly, when I’m about to Fall
It’s you in me
That I fail to see
Make me aware, make me see
Everything I am is not all about me
Take my world, turn it around
So that the obvious can finally be found
Make me aware, make me aware
When my life is hanging from a thread
And I think about the things you said
In this moment seems so far away
Help me see the guarantees
That first brought me to believe
So I can make it through another day
Oh, it’s you in me
That helps me to breathe
Make me aware, make me see
Everything I am is not all about me
Take my world, turn it around
So that the obvious can finally be found
Make me aware
I have been missing so much
Not recognizing your touch
All acknowledging you’re the reason I’m even here
I have been missing so much
Not recognizing your touch
Make me aware, make me aware
Help me see, Everything I am is not all about me
Take my world, turn it around
So that the obvious can finally be found
Make me aware, make me aware
Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath
Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere,
Why have I never cared?
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah
yeah
yeah
Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work
He's buying time
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah
yeah
yeah
I've Been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all along
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah
yeah
yeah
By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North
Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Thursday, June 25, 2009
His plan is us!
I love this quote by Steven Curtis Chapman:
God has a plan to deal with the injustice of the world – His plan is us! His plan is his people. His plan is those of us who will recognize and realize that we’ve been called to be a part of what God is doing about injustice in the world. And I’m so grateful I get to be a little part of that.
I read that back when I was in college, about 5 years ago. It spoke to me then, and it still speaks to me now. When people ask me how God can let bad things happen to good people, I wonder why we forget that this is a broken world? Things are not perfect here. They are never going to be. God tells us in the Bible that we will always have the poor with us (John 12:8). But he also tells us that having faith means nothing if we do not work to reflect His love in this broken world (James 2:26). One time I was complaining about how I had been praying for patience, but God didn't seem to be answering my prayers. The person I had been complaining to said, "When you pray for patience, God is not just going to give it to you. He is going to give you opportunities to practice patience." To be honest, that had never occurred to me. But that insight totally reshaped the way I think about prayer and how God answers. In the same way - because God gives us free will and because we live in a fallen world - God is not just going to fix every problem like magic. But he does call us, his people, to do something to make a difference. We get to be part of what God is doing in this world. What a privilege to get to be His hands and feet!
I love this song because it reminds me that just because I live in a safe place and don't have to worry every day about war or starvation or persecution does not give me the right to not care that other people face these obstacles on a daily basis. In fact, the blessings I have been given mean that I have an even greater responsibility to be the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. God does not bless us for our own sake, but so that we can be a blessing to others. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). We need to be His hands and feet working in this broken world to help heal hurts and be Christ's love to those in need.
Solution - Hillsong United
It is not a human right
To stare not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find
The Mercy for the need
Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Yeah
It is not too far a cry
Too much to try
To help the least of these
Politics will not decide
If we should rise
And be your hands and feet
Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey Now
As we hold to our confession
Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah
Higher than a circumstance
Your promise stands
Your love for all to see
Higher than our protest lines and dollar signs
Your love is all we need
Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey Now
As we hold to our confession
Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Oh, oh
Only You can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to see
Erase complete the sinner's past
And set the captives free
Only You can take the widow's cry
And cause her heart to sing
Be a Father to the fatherless
Our Savior and our King
We will be Your hands, we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
On the darkest place, we will be Your light
We will be Your light
We will be Your hands , we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place, we will be your light
We will be your light
We'll sing
Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah
We will run we will run
We will run with the solution
We will run we will run
We will run with the solution
We will be Your hands we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be Your light
We will be Your light
We sing
God has a plan to deal with the injustice of the world – His plan is us! His plan is his people. His plan is those of us who will recognize and realize that we’ve been called to be a part of what God is doing about injustice in the world. And I’m so grateful I get to be a little part of that.
I read that back when I was in college, about 5 years ago. It spoke to me then, and it still speaks to me now. When people ask me how God can let bad things happen to good people, I wonder why we forget that this is a broken world? Things are not perfect here. They are never going to be. God tells us in the Bible that we will always have the poor with us (John 12:8). But he also tells us that having faith means nothing if we do not work to reflect His love in this broken world (James 2:26). One time I was complaining about how I had been praying for patience, but God didn't seem to be answering my prayers. The person I had been complaining to said, "When you pray for patience, God is not just going to give it to you. He is going to give you opportunities to practice patience." To be honest, that had never occurred to me. But that insight totally reshaped the way I think about prayer and how God answers. In the same way - because God gives us free will and because we live in a fallen world - God is not just going to fix every problem like magic. But he does call us, his people, to do something to make a difference. We get to be part of what God is doing in this world. What a privilege to get to be His hands and feet!
I love this song because it reminds me that just because I live in a safe place and don't have to worry every day about war or starvation or persecution does not give me the right to not care that other people face these obstacles on a daily basis. In fact, the blessings I have been given mean that I have an even greater responsibility to be the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. God does not bless us for our own sake, but so that we can be a blessing to others. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). We need to be His hands and feet working in this broken world to help heal hurts and be Christ's love to those in need.
Solution - Hillsong United
It is not a human right
To stare not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find
The Mercy for the need
Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Yeah
It is not too far a cry
Too much to try
To help the least of these
Politics will not decide
If we should rise
And be your hands and feet
Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey Now
As we hold to our confession
Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah
Higher than a circumstance
Your promise stands
Your love for all to see
Higher than our protest lines and dollar signs
Your love is all we need
Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey Now
As we hold to our confession
Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Oh, oh
Only You can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to see
Erase complete the sinner's past
And set the captives free
Only You can take the widow's cry
And cause her heart to sing
Be a Father to the fatherless
Our Savior and our King
We will be Your hands, we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
On the darkest place, we will be Your light
We will be Your light
We will be Your hands , we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place, we will be your light
We will be your light
We'll sing
Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah
We will run we will run
We will run with the solution
We will run we will run
We will run with the solution
We will be Your hands we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be Your light
We will be Your light
We sing
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Laodicean
Laodicean. That was the winning word at this year's spelling bee. And it reminded me of something Jessica gave me awhile back, and is related to a series Gaffney preached at the Inn when I was in college that was particularly poignant for me at the time. Now, I find this to be particularly relevant to my current work at World Vision and past work with ROM. I don't want to be lukewarm. Thanks, Jess, for these words.
May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
To turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
To turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
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