If ever (or rather, when next) I experience pain, or hardship, or trial of some magnitude, this song expresses so accurately how I hope others will pray for me. Though the video is once again the Gettys, the lyrics are not by them but by another of my favorite songwriters: Margaret Becker.
Jesus draw me ever nearer As I labour through the storm. You have called me to this passage, and I'll follow, though I'm worn.
May this journey bring a blessing, May I rise on wings of faith; And at the end of my heart's testing, With Your likeness let me wake.
Jesus guide me through the tempest; Keep my spirit staid and sure. When the midnight meets the morning, Let me love You even more.
It's possible that - on Facebook, at least - I make too many references to this song and to other works by Stuart Townend and Keith and Kristyn Getty, such that anyone who might happen to read what I post may be getting weary of those references or think that I am obsessed. I will have to risk that, I guess, in this brief blog post, and the inevitable resulting link on FB. But I chose this morning to begin my prayer and study time with the following song on YouTube, and as I listened to it for the umpteenth time (I never tire of it), I found myself mentally going to every Scripture passage I could think of that it referenced, or every sound and orthodox theological point that it exposed. And it occurred to me afresh that there are no wasted words, no filler material, here. It may be that there is music written that is more theologically and biblically rich and filling than this, but I am not aware of it. I know some that come close (most, frankly, written by the same trio of musicians), but none than can match this one for wrapping mind and heart around the deep things of God.
I encourage you to listen carefully, to soak it in.
Our world is upside down. We see things at such an odd angle, therefore. We cannot, by nature, see straight, though I don't think we really know that most of the time.
It is Palm Sunday this morning as I write this, the beginning of that week which is traditionally called Holy Week. There is a passage in the Bible, a moderately lengthy one, that is often referenced in bits and pieces in the Christian world this week each year. It is found in the book of Isaiah, in what Bible scholars refer to as the fourth and last Servant Song in that book of prophecy, and - though written some 700 years prior to the events it describes - it provides graphic and wrenching descriptions of what would take place in Jerusalem and on Calvary during the final hours of the life of Christ.
I've really grown to appreciate this song. This recording is maybe not quite as good, I think, as the one on the DVD I recently bought, where the Getty's and their band played at Shadow Mountain Church in San Diego. The lyrics are the same, though.
I wrote this a long time ago. Sitting here early on Christmas morning, thinking similar thoughs, I remembered it and thought I would try recycling it.
The Church Road Journal Redeeming Grace Dawns
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life — I John 1:1,
...You were not redeemed with perishable things...but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. — I Peter 1:18-19
So a woman in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb was passionate about buying a new XBox for cheap at the local Walmart on Thanksgiving night. Feeling a need to jockey for every conceivable advantage, and in the true spirit of the holidays, she sprayed pepper spray on about 20 other shoppers to keep them away, causing varieties of discomfort and injury.
Police didn't catch her, apparently, and Walmart officials, at least according to the AP report I was just reading on the Duluth News-Tribune web site, are cooperating in the investigation.
The absurdity of it all is probably not lost on most of us, and the story as I was reading it was not news to me. I had read it earlier this morning.
It was this sentence in the AP story that most caught my attention:
"It was the only major violence reported at a Southern California store involving Black Friday Thanksgiving holiday sales"
I thought of a potentially interesting topic to write just a short blog post about while I had a bit of down time this afternoon. Obviously, I don't do that enough, so I had to take advantage of it.
First, though, I had to run some updates to the software on my web site. Had to download and install a whole bunch of fixes for the software this site runs on. The site didn't seem all that broken to me, but the folks who do these things said there were security holes and that they had created better software for me. It was slightly more than a thousand files that needed to be pulled down to my computer from a mystery computer somewhere in the world of electrons, then uploaded to my web site, followed by a series of functions to run that would fix up all the databases and such. Then I would have to check a bunch of other pieces of software that needed to be updated on top of the basic stuff.
Before I could do that, though, I had to update and fix the software that I use to update and fix the other software.
One of my great wishes is to be able to sing. It just isn't happening, though. Not yet. Someday.
In the meantime, I listen and absorb, and lately the place I turn most for music - at least, the kind that turns my attentions where they belong, where I most want them to be focused - is YouTube. Unlikely, maybe, but I find myself there pretty much every day at least for some period of time, usually in the evening before crashing for the night.
I am finding some really amazing music videos there, music performed live and taped professionally, music that turns my thoughts to the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right of the Father. Most of what I find I most enjoy comes from one of two places: Ireland or Australia. In Ireland, it is primarily the music of Stuart Townend and a cadre of other worship leaders writing and leading worship there. In Australia, it's the ministry of Hillsong.
These sorts of "coincidences" are just strange. Meaningless, maybe - or so the circumstances seem - but weird nonetheless.
Last night I started watching a movie on Netflix as I waited for Casey to get home from work, too tired to do anything productive. Finding a movie on Netflix is a challenge sometimes - at least, one you want to spend time on at that moment. I happened on a movie that was, despite its star power, totally obscure to me. It was called "Conspiracy Theory" and it had Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts in it. I got through about 25 minutes of it and turned it off, aware now of why it was relatively obscure.
But one of the early scenes in the movie had Gibson stalking Roberts and watching her workout on a treadmill through his binoculars. He determined she was singing, and scanned through the radio channels in his taxi cab to find she was singing along with the old Franki Valli song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You". It was just too good to be true.
Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One!
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
