Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Original Masterpiece

I play in the worship band for our church on Wednesday nights. Later I plan to blog about that in more detail. For now, I have this song that I wrote tonight after our service. The message was a video clip that spoke about how God can "chisel" away our faults in our lives, thus leaving his perfect creation (us). God created us to be masterpieces. It is our own sin and shame that makes us feel unworthy of Him. If you examine yourself and ask God to reveal your faults, He can begin to chisel away at you. Much like a craftsman chisels away at a giant rock to create a masterpiece. The statue of David is probably the most famous example of a rock sculpture. Before it was so beautiful, the craftsman had to remove the imperfections and make it into the masterpiece that it is. In the same way, if we let him, God can chisel away at us... revealing His true original masterpiece.

Original Masterpiece

Verse 1:
You chisel me away
One piece at a time
Leaving no stone unturned
I’m afraid of what you’ll find

But a little less of me
Is a little more of you
Break me down
Make me new

Chorus:
Your original masterpiece
A creation so fine
I’m out of your way
So your love can shine
Help me remove all of me
So all that’s left is you
A beautiful creation
A love so true.

Verse 2:
Removing my doubts
Removing my fears
Removing my faults
Removing my tears

Under this shell
A flower can bloom
Empty me completely
So You have room

Chorus:
Your original masterpiece
A creation so fine
I’m out of your way
So your love can shine
Help me remove all of me
So all that’s left is you
A beautiful creation
A love so true.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

I Wanna Love You Now

Verse 1:
There’s something bout the way that she smiles
There’s something bout the way those pretty green eyes
Melt away my blues and light up the skies

Her hair flowing in the breeze
Jeans and a T-shirt is all she needs
To make an angel jealous and have me begging please

Pre-Chorus:
Maybe I’m finally ready to
Say Hi, and make my move

Chorus:
I wanna love you girl
Will you be my wife?
Maybe we can start with dinner on a Friday night
We can take it fast or go real slow
We’re gonna make it work somehow
But I wanna love you now

Verse 2:
I’m really sorry if I’m coming on too strong
But I’ve had my eye on you for way too long
Give me a chance and I’ll prove you wrong

Your body has got a spell on me
In the court of love I’m a guilty plea
Just give me one chance I promise you’ll see

Pre-Chorus:
That I’m finally ready to
Say Hi, and make my move

Chorus:
I wanna love you girl
Will you be my wife?
Maybe we can start with dinner on a Friday night
We can take it fast or go real slow
We’re gonna make it work somehow
But I wanna love you now

Bridge:
Girl maybe tonight
We can start this thing off right
Won’t you grab my hand baby hold on tight

Chorus:
I wanna love you girl
Will you be my wife?
Maybe we can start with dinner on a Friday night
We can take it fast or go real slow
We’re gonna make it work somehow
But I wanna love you now

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Angel

Verse 1:
There’s a letter waiting at my front door
I can’t read it, because I know what it says
An explanation for another goodbye
Just words on paper, no reason to cry

Chorus:
I feel like there’s an angel
Gently weeping for me
A broken heart, can’t mend it
A love not meant to be

Verse 2:
All your reasons, not my excuses
I can’t see them, no matter how I try
This is nothing, just another hiccup
Ink on paper is not a goodbye

Chorus:
I feel like there’s an angel
Gently weeping for me
A broken heart, can’t mend it
A love not meant to be

Verse 3:
There’s a letter waiting at your front door
I hope you understand what it says
Life’s too short to wait too long
On someone who’ll just do you wrong

Chorus 3:
I feel like there’s an angel
Gently weeping for me
A broken heart now mended
Love is meant for me

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Snake

Back in the summer of 2004 I went on a “mission tour” with two friends from church. It was three guys in a Chevy Blazer driving from church to church all across Alabama. We were enlisted by the Alabama Baptist Commission to do revival services for very small rural churches. My friend Daniel and I did the music, and Bryan gave the sermon each night. All of the churches were extremely small and mostly “country.” These were churches that couldn’t afford to “hire” established preachers to come do a revival. We were in a different small town each week during that summer. A few churches could afford to put us up in a hotel for our stay, but most churches had us stay with a family in their congregation.

About eight weeks into the summer we ended up in Vance, Alabama. Vance is a small town near Tuscaloosa. Their only claim to fame is a Mercedes manufacturing plant. The pastor of Vance Baptist Church was a young guy, probably not much older than we were. They couldn’t afford a hotel, so they bought us air mattresses and we stayed in the Sunday school rooms inside the church. My “room” was particularly small. I remember that my air mattress almost filled up the entire floor of the room. At this point of our trip we were all feeling pretty tired and beat down. We had after all been on the road for 2 solid months. Being away from home and on the go for that long can really wear on you. We were supposed to stay in Vance for three days and do a service each night.

After the second night’s service, a few of our friends from college came over from Birmingham to visit with us. We went out to eat and had a great time hanging out that night. After they left, Brian, Daniel, and myself drove back to the church. On our way we got to talking about how tired we all were. We were feeling really beat down by the trip. We also talked about how we felt like Satan was trying to hinder us in some way. We were giving up our precious summer to do work for the Lord, but we weren’t feeling His presence for some reason. We all really felt like Satan was attacking us and trying to keep us from being able to serve God. As we arrived at the church, the conversation kind of just ended without any resolution. We all retired to our “rooms,” air mattresses awaiting.

As I laid on the floor of that tiny room, I was wide-awake. I was mentally and physically exhausted, but for some reason I wasn’t sleepy at all. I distinctly remember being wired and wide-awake. I just stared up at that blank white canvas that was the ceiling of that tiny room. Then something incredible happened….

All of the sudden I wasn’t in that room anymore. I wasn’t dreaming, I wasn’t daydreaming, like I said, I was wide-awake. I found myself in a wide-open expanse. All I could see was bright white all around me. I couldn’t move at all. In the distance, through all the whiteness, I could see a dark “speck.” I stared at the speck because it was the only thing that wasn’t just whiteness. The speck grew bigger and bigger until it was close enough that I could see what it was. It was a black snake coming directly towards me! Let me just stop here and confess that I have always been terrified of snakes. I don’t care if it is big, little, poisonous, or not… I am scared of snakes. I’m not afraid of a lot in this world, but snakes terrify me for some reason. Now this snake had a pitch-black body. As it continued coming toward me, I could see how big it was. The snake was ten times bigger that I was. It got close enough that I could see its eyes. They were bright red. It slowly slithered closer and closer to me. Again, I remind you that I couldn’t move at all. I was struggling to turn and run away, but for some reason I was paralyzed. The snake slithered all the way up to me. At this point I could really get a good look at it. The eyes weren’t just red, but they were actually flames. The snake stopped in front of me for a moment. In that moment all was still in anticipation of the snake’s strike. The snake raised its head up like a cobra. He tilted his head slightly to one side, and it briefly grinned. Then his face changed to anger and he lunged at my face with mouth open. A split second before the snake reached my face a giant foot came down from the top of my field of vision and smashed the snake! The foot was so huge in covered my entire field of vision. It blocked out all the white.

Instantly after the foot smashed the snake I was back in the tiny Sunday school room. My air mattress was soaked with my sweat. My heart was racing like crazy. I was still panicking from the whole ordeal. After a minute or two I realized what had happened. God had given me a “vision.” The Bible teaches that God gives these “visions” to His followers sometimes, but honestly I never truly believed in it. I guess I always figured that these “visions” were just dreams. I have heard other people talk about having “visions” before, but I really never truly believed them. Now I do. I can’t really describe in my own words that well what happened that night. All I can say is that it definitely wasn’t a dream. Somehow I was “there.”

After the vision I thanked God for what He was telling me. If it isn’t obvious to you, He was telling me that He has won the victory over Satan. The snake represented the Devil, and the foot of God smashed Satan into the ground. I was helpless to overcome the snake on my own. It was much bigger and more powerful than me. I couldn’t even run from it. But just the bare foot of God was a hundred times bigger than the snake. God has already won the ultimate victory over Satan. I can’t fight alone, but thank God that I don’t have to.

I told Daniel and Brian about the vision the next morning. They were both excited and honestly stunned by it. I don’t think that I ever told anyone else though. I have always been afraid that people wouldn’t believe me, or they would think I was crazy.

I haven’t had an experience like this since that night in 2004. Who knows? Maybe it is a once in a lifetime deal. I’m sure most people go their entire lives without having a vision. Why did God choose to show me this simple truth in such a profound way? Moreover, why did he choose to show ME something so amazing? Why not just speak to me through prayer or His Word? I’m definitely nobody special. I am just thankful that I had that experience. I often think back to it when I am feeling beaten down by life circumstances.