evergreen

Me and the trees, losing our leaves
Falling like blood on the ground
I want to be evergreen

Everything dies, I know last night
Part of me wasn't around
I want to be evergreen

Waiting, and listening
Hoping and missing - all of our time left alone
I'm the one cutting the rope
Frostbite in winter, cause like a splinter
You come and follow me down
I'm the one cutting the rope

Holiday end,
I'm here once again,
and I'm left alone on the bus to my
Head on the ground,
In hopes that I'm found by you
This time around

The sun will rise soon and tackle the moon
Chasing it still in the sky
All that I've got is tonight
Excuses and reasons, and now it is the season
For all that I never got right
All that I've got is tonight

Holiday end,
I'm here once again,
and I'm left alone on the bus to my
Head on the ground,
In hopes that I'm found by you
This time around

The night is a crow, saying come hold me
All that I know is that I've been so lonely for thee
All that I knew, all that I know, found myself under your rain
I want to be evergreen
I want to be evergreen!

Holiday end,
I'm here once again,
and I'm left alone on the bus to my
Head on the ground,
In hopes that I'm found by you
This time around...
I want to be evergreen, I want to live all year round



~switchfoot

Burn out Bright

Does it have to start with a broken heart
Broken dreams and bleeding parts
We were young and world was clear
But young ambition disappears
I swore it would never come to this
The average, the obvious

I’m still discontented down here
I’m still discontented

If we’ve only got one try
If we’ve only got one life
If time was never on our side
Then before I die
I want to burn out bright

A spark ignites
In time and space
Limping through this human race
You bite and claw your way back home
But you’re running the wrong way

The future was a question mark
Of kerosene and electric sparks
There’s still fire in you yet
Yeah there’s still fire in you!

YouTubeMe
Switchfoot

Is there anybody out there?

Ooooooooh Ooooooooh Ooooooooh
Is there anybody out there
Does anybody care
Are the people really there
Ooooooooh Ooooooooh Ooooooooh
Is there anybody seeking
Does anybody see
Or are they deaf and dumb like me

Sometimes when I'm drivin'
Lookin' for my song
Lookin' for the answers
And where I do belong
and Finally the children are
Bringin' me back home

Ooooooooh Ooooooooh Ooooooooh
Is there anybody out there
Does anybody care
Are the people really there
Ooooooooh Ooooooooh Ooooooooh
Is there anybody seekin'
Does anybody see
Or are they deaf and dumb like me

Sometimes when I'm drivin'
Still lookin' for my song
Lookin' for the answers
And where I do belong
Yes, and Finally sweet Jesus is
Bringin' me back home

Ooooooooh Ooooooooh Ooooooooh
Is there anybody out there
Does anybody care
Are the people really there
Ooooooooh Ooooooooh Ooooooooh
Is there anybody seekin'
Does anybody see
Or are they deaf and dumb like me

Ooooooooh Ooooooooh Ooooooooh
Is there anybody out there
Does anybody care
Are the people really there
Ooooooooh Ooooooooh Ooooooooh
Is there anybody seekin'
Does anybody see
That he died upon a tree


Burlap

you troubler of Israel

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

"I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.

Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—he is God."
Then all the people said, "What you say is good."

Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs [a] of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."

"Do it again," he said, and they did it again.
"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!"


1 kings 18.16-39

W of G snipit

To please God...to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by
God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father
in a son--it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can
hardly sustain. But so it is.

weary

They resumed their journey, John lagging a bit. I dreamed that the witch came to him walking softly in the marshy ground by the roadside and holding out the cup to him also: when he went faster she kept pace with him.

‘I will not deceive you,’ she said. ‘You see there is no pretence. I am not trying to make you believe that this cup will take you to your Island. I am not saying it will quench your thirst for long. But taste it, none the less, for you are very thirsty.’

But John walked forward in silence.

‘It is true,’ said the witch, ‘that you never can tell when you have reached the point beyond which there is no return. But that cuts both ways. If you can never be certain that one more taste is safe, neither can you be certain that one more taste is fatal. But you can be certain that you are terribly thirsty.’

But John continued as before.

‘At least,’ said the witch, ‘have one more taste of it, before you abandon it forever. This is a bad moment to choose for resistance, when you are tired and miserable and have already listened to me too long. Taste this once, and I will leave you. I do not promise never to come back: but perhaps when I come again you will be strong and happy and well able to resist me – not as you are now.’

And John continued as before.

‘Come,’ said the witch. ‘You are only wasting time. You know you will give in, in the end. Look ahead at the hard road and the grey sky. What other pleasure is there in sight?’

So she accompanied him for a long way, till the weariness of her importunity tempted him far more than any positive desire. But he forced his mind to other things and kept himself occupied for a mile or so by singing verses.

And by the time he had reached the last verse the witch was gone. But he had never in his life felt more weary, and for a while the purpose of his pilgrimage awoke no desire in him.

Over the Valley

Over the valley
I saw a silver cloud
With a pink lining
I said it right out loud
There's no denying
You are my one and only love
And we'll see over the valley
The moon rise above

Over the valley
This house among the trees
Where we've been hiding
Making our memories
And I'm deciding
You are my one and only love
And we'll be over the valley
As the moon shines above

The autumn breezes carry all the bluebirds
Down to where the sun still shines
If we could hold this day
In our hearts some way
We would never roam
Ever far from home

Over the valley
Just above the fray
The sun is setting
And when we're old and grey
I'll still be betting
You are my one and only love
And over the valley
The moon shines above

The autumn breezes carry all the bluebirds
Down to where the sun still shines
If we could hold this day
In our hearts some way
We would never roam
Ever far from home

Over the valley
Just above the fray
The sun is setting
And when we're old and grey
I'll still be betting
You are my one and only love
And we'll live over the valley
You'll always be with me
As the moon shines above

Pink Martini

waiting

Waiting for the dawn to dawn when night is long and black,
Waiting for a heart to heal or a kid to get on track.
Waiting for delay to end and wishes to come true,
Waiting for a sight or sense of You.

Waiting for the one who left to find the way back home,
Waiting for this sense of loss to leave my heart alone,
Waiting, wondering, hurting, in a hole of pain so deep,
Waiting for just one good night sleep.

Waiting for an answer, for evidence that You care,
Waiting for employment, for just one answered prayer.
One small affirmation for freedom from self doubt
Waiting for a way to work it out.

Waiting for the Bible to start and make some sense
I'm sick of my ambivalence, and sitting on the fence.
Waiting for a promise that truth will have its way
For justice to win out one grace filled day.

Waiting for world that's deaf, to hear You and repent.
Waiting for the human race to believe the One you sent
To save forgive equip to live in holiness and power
Waiting for salvation in this hour

Waiting for the violence and the conflict that abounds
The wrong You seem to tolerate, the injustice that's around
To stop, because You intervene and answer desperate prayer:
Waiting just to know You're waiting there.

But Lord the waiting's killing me, I cry to You for peace,
To still the storm inside me and make my turmoil cease.
Help me to remember as i try to do my part,
How patiently You waited for my heart.

You waited for repentance that was Your perfect due,
You waited out resentment and my anger aimed at You.
You waited in the shadows and You offered me Your hand,
To strengthen me to wait it out and stand.

So however long the waiting lasts: as long as You decide,
I'll stand upon my watchtower and I'll climb my mountainside,
And I'll ask you Lord for 'hind's feet' and my soul will render praise,
As You and I will wait for better days.

Though fig tree does not bud and though no cattle in the stall,
Though donkeys and the sheepfold have no company at all
Yet see my heart oh Sovereign God, rejoicing in your grace:
Content to wait it out and see your face.


~Jill Briscoe (April 2010)

It isn’t.

William Morris wrote a poem called “Love Is Enough” and someone is said to have reviewed it briefly in the words, “It isn’t.”… The natural loves are not self-sufficient. Something else, at first vaguely described as “decency and common sense,” but later revealed as goodness, and finally as the whole Christian life in one particular relation, must come to the help of the mere feeling if the feeling is to be kept sweet.
To say this is not to belittle the natural loves but to indicate where their real glory lies. It is no disparagement to a garden to say that it will not fence and weed itself, nor prune its own fruit trees, nor roll and cut its own lawns. A garden is a good thing but that is not the sort of goodness it has. It will remain a garden, as distinct from a wilderness, only if someone does all these things to it. Its real glory is of quite a different kind. They very fact that it needs constant weeding and pruning bears witness to that glory. It teems with life. It glows with colour and smells like heaven and puts forward at every hour of a summer day beauties which man could never have created and could not even, on his own resources, have imagined. If you want to see the difference between its contribution and the gardener’s, put the commonest weed it grows side by side with his hoes, rakes, shears, and packet of weed killer; you have put beauty, energy, and fecundity beside dead, sterile things. Just so, our “decency and common sense” show grey and deathlike beside the geniality of love. And when the garden is in its full glory the gardener’s contributions to that glory will still have been in a sense paltry compared with those of nature. Without life springing from earth, without rain, light and heat descending from the sky, he could do nothing. When he has done all, he has merely encouraged here and discouraged there, powers and beauties that have a different source. But his share, though small, is indispensable and laborious. When God planted a garden He set a man over it and set the man under Himself. When He planted the garden of our nature and caused the flowering, fruiting loves to grow there, He set our will to “dress” them. Compared with them it is dry and cold. And unless His grace comes down, like the rain and sunshine, we shall use this tool to little purpose. But its laborious – and largely negative – services are indispensable. If they were needed when the garden was still Paradisal, how much more now when the soil has gone sour and the worst weeds seem to thrive on it best? But heaven forbid we should work in the spirit of prigs and Stoics. While we hack and prune we know very well that what we are hacking and pruning is big with a splendour and vitality which our rational will could never of itself have supplied. To liberate that splendour, to let it become fully what it is trying to be, to have tall trees instead of scrubby tangles, and sweet apples instead of crabs, is part of our purpose.

ps 30

10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me;
O LORD, be my help."

11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

reason

cc

Splendor in the Grass

I can see you're thinking baby
I've been thinking too
about the way we used to be
and how to star a new

Maybe I'm a hopeless dreamer
maybe I've got it wrong
but i'm going where the grass is green
if you like to come along

Back when i was starting out
I always wanted more
but every time I got it
I still felt just like before

Fortune is a fickle friend
I'm tired of chasing fate
and when I look into your eyes
I know you feel the same

All these years of living large
are starting to do a sin
I wont say it wasn't fun
but now it has to end

Life is moving oh so fast
I think we should take it slow
rest our heads upon the grass
and listen to it grow

Going where the hills are green
and the cars are few and far
days are full of splendor
and at night you can see the stars

Life's been moving oh so fast
I think we should take it slow
rest our heads upon the grass
and listen to it grow


Pink Martini

Book Iv, Chap 9

That is why He warned people to "count the cost" before becoming Christians. "Make no mistake," He says, "if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect-until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less."

He has found me

All my life long, I had thirsted
For a drink from some cool spring,
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within.

Feeding on the filth around me,
Till my strength was almost gone,
Longed my soul for something better,
Only still to hunger on.

Hallelujah! He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my long - ings
Through His blood I now am saved.

Poor I was, and sought for riches,
Something that would satisfy,
But the dust I gathered round me
Only mocked my soul's sad cry.

Hallelujah! He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my long - ings
Through His blood I now am saved.

Well of water, ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free,
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me.

Hallelujah! He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my long - ings
Through His blood I now am saved.


Original words by Cla­ra T. Will­iams
Music by Ralph E. Hud­son 1875
(i can't find who did the recent version change)
YouTube

See what a morning

See what a morning gloriously bright
With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem
Folded the grave-clothes tomb filled with light
As the angels announce Christ is risen

See God's salvation plan
Wrought in love borne in pain
paid in sacrifice
Fullfilled in Christ the Man
For He lives Christ is risen from the dead

See Mary weeping "Where is He laid?"
As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb
Hears a voice speaking calling her name
It's the Master the Lord raised to life again
The voice that spans the years
Speaking life stirring hope bringing peace to us
Will sound till He appears
For He lives Christ is risen from the dead

See God's salvation plan
Wrought in love borne in pain
paid in sacrifice
Fullfilled in Christ the Man
For He lives Christ is risen from the dead

One with the Father Ancient of Days
Through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty
Honour and blessing glory and praise
To the King crowned with power and authority
And we are raised with Him
Death is dead love has won Christ has conquered
And we shall reign with Him
For He lives Christ is risen from the dead

Stuart Townend

God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.

Dandelions

In a field of yellow flowers,
underneath the sun,
bluest eyes that spark with lightning,
boy with shoes undone.
He is young, so full of hope,
reveling in tiny dreams,
filling up, his arms with flowers,
right for giving any queen.

Running to her beaming bright,
while cradling his prize.
A flickering of yellow light,
within his mother's eyes.
She holds them to her heart,
keeping them where they'll be safe,
clasped within her very marrow,
dandelions in a vase.

She sees love, where anyone else would see weeds.
all hope is found.
Here is everything he needs.

Fathomless your endless mercy,
weight I could not lift.
Where do I fit in this puzzle,
what good are these gifts?
Not a martyr, or a saint,
scarcely can I struggle through.
All that I have ever wanted,
was to give my best to you.

Lord, search my heart,
create in me something clean.
Dandelions
you see flowers in these weeds.

Gently lifting hands to heaven,
softened by the sweetest hush,
a Father sings over his children,
loving them so very much.
More than words could warrant,
deeper than the darkest blue,
more than sacrifice could merit,
Lord, I give my heart to you.

Lord, search my heart,
create in me something clean.
Dandelions
you see flowers in these weeds.

Hold Me Now

On that day when I see
All that You have for me
When I see You face to face
There surrounded by Your grace

All my fear is swept away
In the light of your embrace
When Your love is all I need
And forever I am free

Where the streets are made of gold
In Your presence healed and whole
Let the songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

In this life I will stand
Through my joy and my pain
Knowing there's a greater day
There's a hope that never fails

When Your name is lifted high
And forever praises rise
For the glory of Your Name
I'm believing for the day

When the wars and violence cease
All creation lives in peace
Let the songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness, no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

Hillsong
Youtube me

Close to your Heart

Youtube

You look down from heaven
And melt me with your gaze
Then you come down from heaven
And wrap me in your wings

And it makes me feel loved again
So close in your arms
And it makes me feel home again
So close to your heart

ooh Lord,so close to your heart God

So close to your heart God
So close to your heart
I'm so close to your heart God
Come draw me into you
I'm so close to your heart God
Here I am God
Draw me into you


~The Glorious Unseen

The Call of the Kingdom

Hear the call of the kingdom
Lift your eyes to the King
Let His song rise within you
As a fragrant offering
Of how God rich in mercy
Came in Christ to redeem
All who trust in His unfailing grace

Hear the call of the Kingdom
To be children of light
With the mercy of heaven
The humility of Christ
Walking justly before Him
Loving all that is right
That the life of Christ may shine through us

King of Heaven we will answer the call
We will follow bringing hope to the world
Filled with passion, filled with power to proclaim
Salvation in Jesus' name

Hear the call of the Kingdom
To reach out to the lost
With the Father's compassion
In the wonder of the cross
Bringing peace and forgiveness
And a hope yet to come
Let the nations put their trust in Him

Keith and Kristyn Getty
youtube

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