Ok, so I haven't written the two posts I talked about, and I'm leaving for a week tomorrow, big whoop, wanna fight about it. So instead of those I'm posting this video and lyrics to the song, its awesome.
VERSE 1: Meet me by the river Where the ancient song is sung I will show you the deliverer He will be your home
CHORUS: Oh, I know, Oh, I'm undone Oh, I'm drowning in His love
VERSE 2: Meet me in the garden Beside the trees so tall I will show you the comforter He will settle your soul
VERSE 3: Meet me in the twilight Where I first fell in love I will show you Jesus He will call you His own
This is such an awesome song, and I've been listening to it a lot today. Quite appropriate seeing how I'm going to be leave for Timberwolf tomorrow morning with a group of my high school friends. The song coming up on my iTunes is so appropriate because this is what Young Life does.
We're not Christ, but hopefully we're covered in the "aroma of Christ", and kids can sense it and feel something real about it. Then its merely saying meet me and I'll show you Jesus. Although "meet me by the zipline" doesn't have the same melodic ring that's what I'm getting ready to do.
PS - The song is called "Meet Me by the River" by Enter the Worship Circle on the cd Fourth Circle. Everything they put out is absolutely amazing. Check them out at www.EnterTheWorshipCircle.com
Not that anyone will actually read it. I just kind of enjoy writing. Well, more the thinking that goes into writing. I already have two posts in my head right now. Well, maybe two posts, we'll see how it all works out. So to wet the appetite (of the 1 person who randomly stumbles upon this) here's a sneak peak:
Earning the Right to be Heard
Earning the Right to Hear
If you're a Young Life leader you definitely know the first phrase, but I'm beginning to think the second is just as important, if not more so, than the first.
Before you go any further, kick back, relax, and groove on this sweet song. Seriously, stop reading and listen to the song. You can ignore the video, just listen to the song.
...
You're probably wondering about the use of 24 in the song. It was written on the lead singers 24th birthday. The part that I've been concentrating on is the following lyrics:
Twenty-four voices With twenty-four hearts All of my symphonies In twenty-four parts But I want to be one today Centered and true I'm singing 'Spirit take me up in arms with You' You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man Oh, oh I am the second man now Oh I am the second man now And you're raising the dead in me Yeah
I've been pondering the resurrection of Jesus lately. A guy coming back from the dead is quite the thing to ponder. I've grown up all my life knowing and hearing the story of the resurrection. The resurrection has always been presented to me as a story of huge hope. It meant that Jesus was the real deal, and that when we die we can go to heaven where everything will be perfect, and one day Jesus will come back and make things perfect on earth like it is in heaven. That is a great story of hope for the future, this broken world will some day be restored and God will wipe away every tear, its beautiful.
But what about hope in there here and now?
Why do I have to be dead for the hope brought by Jesus's resurrection?
Am I just suppose to be happy that the world and its people are broken in numerous ways, but that God will fix that at some point in the future?
Over the past few years a lot of my thinking has changed in regards to Jesus and the words he spoke, and the religion founded off them. I'm not so centered on the afterlife, I'm more concerned with what God has in store for us in the here and now. Eternal, abundant, full lives in the here and now. But the resurrection has always been about the afterlife for me, and I've really struggled with that.
Last week I gave a talk about sin, our state of disconnection from God, and how we do all these things in this life that are attempts to get connected, and that while we are chasing after all these connections that just end up leaving us broken and destroyed we're running away from the God that created us for that connection. It was very much a here and now talk. Jesus's death on the cross is God opening up that connection for us so we can live the life of connectedness we were made for. But the resurrection had me stumped until I unknowingly put this song on my computer at work. (I work above a library with a sweet cd collection, so once every other week I wander downstairs and pick out some cds, this was on one of them I happened to check out last week.)
The line "you're raising the dead in me" is beautiful, and I think a great picture of the resurrection in action in the here and now.
All of our sins, all of the ways we try to connect apart from God, leave us dead and broken. Sometimes its our whole body pays the price, but many times its a part of who we are spiritually, and more times than not sin kills a lot of who we are spiritually. We end up splintered; hearing 24 voices telling us different things, 24 hearts telling us how to feel, we're splintered and long for wholeness.
The death on the cross is Christ dying to reconnect with us, and the resurrection is Christ bringing back to life all the parts of us that have been killed by sin.
"You're raising the dead in me"
They're not just events that did or didn't happened 2000 years ago, they happen all around us, and most importantly within us.
I got sick of not knowing/remembering all the different medals available when you play Halo2 on xBox Live, so I made a cheat sheet to print out and sit on the coffee table where I play. If anyone else feels the same way I do, feel free to print it snag a copy for yourself (the picture is a link to the .pdf file that opens up in a new window).
I've lived my new place for about a month, and I noticed something on the toilet today which made me giggle.
The image is linked to the totally unedited version in an attempt to prove I didn't photoshop it in there. Obviously the closeup and my makeshift magnifying glass are pShoped in, but thats it I swear.
I might post something about life later this week, no like it really matters.
God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!
God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature... God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature.
I'm definetly not the first person to say it, but this thought has been stuck in my head all night (which tends to be a long time when you haven't slept). If those verses from the creation stories in Genesis contain an ultimate truth then living the way of Jesus isn't about fighting against or escaping our humanity; its about restoring our humanity, about becoming fully human.
