Happy Thursday! Today I have had the day off and I took full advantage of it! I slept in and got to chill a bit, which has been a blessing! See the last 4 days have been our Athletes in Action Spring Break Urban Immersion in downtown Dayton! It consisted of working at the Life Enrichment Center (LEC) and also hearing some great talks. They put us to work at the LEC and it was a privilege to serve there and also reach out to those who are less fortunate than many of us.
Over the next couple of days as I process a ton of things that God has been teaching me I will be posting some reflections of race, the marginalized, how seeing God’s heart for the disenfranchised affects the way we see and live the Gospel, and lastly some reflections on challenging the status-quo of our day. I figured if I actually wrote this that I would be disciplined to actually get these thoughts up on the blog. But until then, I thought I would share some lyrics and thoughts from the Jeremy Camp and Bethany Dillon concert I got to check out last night.
See last night I traveled to Toledo, Ohio to see both of these artists in concert with 8 of my new AIA friends down here. I wasn’t to sold on going, but after some persuasion, I conceded and I’m happy that I went. I do own all of Jeremy Camp’s albums, but I just didn’t want to spend the money nor enter the Christian bubble that would be the concert, but again God showed me I was being a bit foolish and he met me in the mix of all of it.
Jeremy Camp has been through a lot and hearing him sing out of some “not to so good†life situations really moved me. See Camp lost his first wife months after marrying her due to cancer. I can’t even begin to imagine how his faith in a loving God was shaken with that experience. But yet he writes songs like the following song, “I Still Believeâ€, which really made me think of how faithful and loving God truly is in the midst of every trial of life!
I STILL BELIEVE
Scattered words and empty thoughts
Seem to pour from my heart
I’ve never felt so torn before
Seems i don’t know where to start
But its now i feel your grace fall like rain
From every fingertip washing away my pain
I still believe in your faithfulness
I still believe in your truth
I still believe in your holy word
Even when I dont see I still believe
Though the questions still fog up my mind
With promises i still seem to bear
Even when answers slowly unwind
It’s my heart I see you prepare
But its now that I feel your grace fall like rain
From every fingertip washing away my pain
The only place I can go is into your arms
Where I throw to you my feeble prayers in brokenness
I can see that this is your will for me
Help me to know you are near
Besides the refrain that moves me, I really am moved by the following verse of the song:
Though the questions still fog up my mind
With promises I still seem to bear
Even when answers slowly unwind
It’s my heart I see you prepare
But its now, that I feel, your grace fall like rain
From every fingertip washing away my pain
I’ve been at places in my life where the questions work their way in and they seem like a thick, heavy, black fog, but yet God is faithful and meets me in these moments with His amazing grace and peace that blows every situation in life away!
I could go on talking about more Camp songs, but I wanted to also post the lyrics from Bethany Dillon’s song “Dreamer.â€
DREAMER
Love woke me up this morning
With a memory
Love came and whispered a story
That awakened a dream
Imagine a beautiful castle
And a beautiful king
He left the comfort of his throne
To fight for victory
I am a dreamer
Take me higher
Open the sky up
Start a fire
I believeEven if it’s just a dream
Love woke me up this morning
And I ran to see
The king in the winners’ circle
On the horse he won for me
Only a king would do anything
To protect the kingdom
There is a ton in that song that is great, but I just love the basic premise of it – being a dreamer and the redemptive theme of Christ. It sent me dreaming about how God has done so many redemptive works in my life to bring me to the point of life that I’m at right now and how He will continue to redeem men and women from every tribe, tongue, and nation to be part of His Kingdom! Well, the coffee shop is closing and I need to leave before they kick me out! Check out my pics (click here to view them) from the concert last night and also notice what kind of computer the band was using! That’s right a Mac baby! Look at that glowing apple!
being a revolution, how about you?