Categories
Praise

More Praise

Featured song: Now’s The Time, by Carman, from his 1993 album, The Standard

The world doesn’t make sense at times. We know it today; the writers of the Bible knew it thousands of years ago. Certainly, it was known in the years when the songbook of the Bible, the book of Psalms, was written. And many of those songs focus on the glory of the Lord. They recognize that things happen that we don’t understand or like, but fall back on a faith that the Creator of the universe has everything under control.

It’s not a matter of putting hands over ears to not hear what’s wrong, or over the eyes to not see what’s wrong in the world. It has everything to do with seeing and hearing clearly everything around us, but still looking up to God, and giving Him the glory that He deserves.

Psalm 150 doesn’t waste words or draw it out. It tells why to praise God, it tells how to praise God, and finally tells who should praise God – “Everything that has breath”.

Join Carman in this rousing song giving praise to God!

Now’s the time to celebrate when the Lord’s your choice
Now’s the time to celebrate and make a joyful noise
Now’s the time to celebrate when the Lord’s your choice
Now’s the time to celebrate and make a joyful noise

Here’s the jam goin’ ‘cross the land
And a jam that I think you know
It’s a groove on the move and a groove you’ve heard
From the Word called the 1-5-0

Now this book called Psalm may look all calm
But it’s anything y’all, but mild
It’s all about praise when the big band plays
And it makes the saints go wild

Now’s the time to celebrate when the Lord’s your choice
Now’s the time to celebrate and make a joyful noise
Now’s the time to celebrate when the Lord’s your choice
Now’s the time to celebrate and make a joyful noise

Bring the glory down with the trumpet sound
Let the tambourine kick, too
With the harp and the lyre everyone can hear
How the praise of the Lord will come through

The strings, the bass, the cymbals clash
And the people clap their hands
The Spirit’s right and with all their might
Everyone starts to dance

Now’s the time to celebrate when the Lord’s your choice
Now’s the time to celebrate and make a joyful noise
Now’s the time to celebrate when the Lord’s your choice
Now’s the time to celebrate and make a joyful noise

Let the people sing, let the people dance
Let the people sing, lifting holy hands
Let the people sing, let the people dance
Let the people sing, lifting holy hands

Now’s the time to celebrate when the Lord’s your choice
Now’s the time to celebrate and make a joyful noise
Now’s the time to celebrate when the Lord’s your choice
Now’s the time to celebrate and make a joyful noise

The Standard, 1993, Carmant [iframe http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=gregrejoy-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000S52ME4&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr” 120 240]
Categories
Life

Carrying

Featured song: He Will Carry You, by Scott Wesley Brown, from his 1983 album Signature.

sorrowLife brings many joys, but it also brings many sorrows. We suffer sickness, loss of friends and family, and pain from things we do to ourselves and things others do to us. We put on the mask that tries to make it clear to the rest of the world that we are handling everything just fine, thank you, but deep inside we feel like we are dying.

Jesus never promised there would be a life with no trials or problems. He did say that He would be there with me through every step of the way. Nothing — nothing! — would be so big or bad that He would be unable to carry me through it.

Today’s song, sung by Scott Wesley Brown, affirms that promise. And it seems all the more powerful accompanied by the commentary by the words of Larry Black, from whose radio program it was recorded, over 20 years ago.

There is no problem too big, God cannot solve it
There is no mountain too tall, He cannot move it
There is no storm too dark, God cannot calm it
There is no sorrow too deep, He cannot soothe it

If He carried the weight of the world
Upon His shoulders
I know, my brother, that He will carry you

If he carried the weight of the world
Upon His shoulders
I know, my sister, that He will carry you

He said, “Come unto Me
All who are weary
And I will give you rest.”

(repeat)

He will carry you
He will carry
You

Signature, 1983, Scott Wesley Brown
Categories
Jesus

Surrender

Featured song: The Master’s Hand, from Carman’s 1982 album Some-O-Dat.

Everybody has their own story about what brought them to know Jesus in not just an intellectual way, but a personal way. Sometimes the journey has been a smooth transition into a relationship during childhood that just matures with time; sometimes it has been hard-fought struggle to seek out truth amidst the falsehoods and trials of life. 

I like what Keith Green said, as heard on the live introduction to his Song To My Parents on the 1983 compilation album I Only Want To See You There

“All I want to tell you is, you’re not going to find happiness in anything else. I tried. Oh, did I try! My own parents can tell you that. I travelled all over the United States, read lots of books on the occult and eastern religions, took lots of drugs… You’ve heard the testimonies before, I don’t need to tell you mine. But the part of every testimony I love is when they get to the bottom of their list. I put Jesus at the bottom of my list …”

It is such a constant theme in stories people tell about how they came to faith in Jesus. It could be an intellectual journey, like that taken by C.S. Lewis. He started with an attitude of Atheism; there is no God. As he continued to read and wrestle with the problem of what he saw in the world and what he understood from great authors of English literature of the past, he realized that there was no clear way to be certain that God did not exist. So he moved to a different level, that of the Agnostic, the person who admits that he does not know whether or not there is a God. Further time and reflection led him to the point of view called Theism: there is a God. He was not certain whether or not this God was interested in the affairs of men, but he had concluded that there was clear evidence that God exists. And from that point he came to believe that God as described in the Bible was the picture of God most consistent with what he could see in the world, and so finally moved himself to the realm of Christianity. 

For others, the path they take could be one of pain and loss, and finally finding themselves at the bottom pits of their own personal hell. And at that point they finally realize their desperate need for Someone to save them — and at the bottom of their list, they find Jesus. 

This song by Carman recounts what happens to someone who has either avoided the Church all his life, or has just never felt that Jesus had anything to offer him. And then one day, when he ducks into a service to “drop out of sight”, he finally has no choice but to sit still long enough to actually listen to the message given by the preacher. And those words pierce him to the heart, make him finally see his own blindness and stubborn pride, and God has His chance to break through and effect a change. 

I once heard someone tell me that finding Jesus was like being let out of a prison. I would ask you to consider again the Hand of the Master, who is offering you a release from your own prison, when you surrender control of your life to the One who really knows how life is to be played! 

I walked into the church that night
Thought that I’d drop out of sight
So I sat down
I laughed, in spite of all my blues
It’s really not the type of place I’m used
To hanging around

I looked ahead and saw the man
Watched him close, as he began to speak
That certain day
And it seem that something deep inside
Had seized my soul, and though I tried to shake it
It wouldn’t go away

It was as though the words he said
Would echo back inside my head –
I almost cried
I’d be a fool, so I supposed,
Then somehow, got myself composed,
And held it inside

I felt the blood rush through my wrist
The tighter that I squeezed my fist, determined
Not to let conviction start
But with all my wisdom left behind
I somehow saw that I was blind
And slowly, let His presence
Fill my heart

As everyone stood to their feet
I managed, somehow, to repeat the prayer
That they were prayin’
Then I dropped my head, and I dropped my eyes
As suddenly, I realized
Just what I was saying

Through trembling lips and streaming tears
I ended all those wasted years
Of dreams I’d built on sand
Unloading all my guilt and wrong
I somehow felt both weak and strong,
The night
I took the Master’s hand

[spoken]
As I look back, remembering,
I still recall how everything
Just seemed different than before
How every house and bird and tree
Was strangely beautiful to me
And people were even more

[sung]
How could I have been so blind
To rush through life and never find this rock
On which I stand?
But when I whispered deep that Name
I knew I’d never be the same,
The night
I took the Master’s hand

But when I whispered deep Jesus’ Name
I knew I’d never be the same,
The night
I took the Master’s hand

Some-O-Dat, 1982, Carman  
Categories
Life

Made Up

RunnerThere are some who look upon Christians as those who have given up their rational minds in order to believe something that is a legend, unproven, entirely based on emotions. Clearly, they would state, science has told us all we need to know about the life, the universe and everything else, and anything that science cannot fully explain today is simply waiting to be discovered and explained tomorrow. To cling to an old religion is to turn one’s back on those obvious truths and decide to follow fairy tales. 

And yet, regardless of how much science ultimately learns about how things work, it will never be able to fully understand that part of people that makes them act the way they do. The reason I make that statement is that science looks for a biochemical abnormality that might explain why one man hates or kills another, or a behavioral model that gives statistical prediction about it. But raw, “unbiased” science (if such a thing actually exists) cannot explain why one person kills, and why another will give his own life to save another. 

Belief can come out of something that is seen and experienced. I step off the roof, and I will fall. A fact, provable and reproducible. But belief (or “faith”, if you will) can also rise from the degree of trust one places in those sources that teach about that truth. This is especially needed when the truth is something that cannot be observed or reproduced. If the evidence presented about that truth is valid, or those who were first-hand witnesses are trustworthy, then even a truth that cannot be seen with my own eyes can be believed. 

I had to take that stand years ago, when I took my child-like belief in Jesus, and made it an adult decision to live that faith. I found the evidence presented was trustworthy, and the experiences of life since that time have only strengthened that belief. I cannot build a time machine to see and observe the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, any more than I can use that machine to know that Alexander the Great existed and conquered half the world, many years ago. The evidence is solid, the eye witnesses are believable. In short, I have made up my mind to believe in a truth I cannot touch with my five senses, but which I know nonetheless to be true.

This song by Morgan Cryar is called Made Up Mind, from his 1984 album Keep No Secrets. As I listen to it, I wish I had the ability to create a video to accompany it. The consistent beat is that of a runner, training for his race to win his prize. He runs with the sound of a coming storm in the background, lightening at times illuminating his path. As he runs, he has the certainty that he has made the right choice, that he has no regrets or doubts. Listen, and run that race yourself!

There is a choice we have to make
It’s like a leap we all must take
We must decide for heaven’s sake
While we still have time

I’m choosing Jesus here and now
And see, my hand is on the plow
No looking back is needed now
I have a made up mind

You take a made up mind
You take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

You take a made up mind
You take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

So gird your mind with all that’s true
Take a stand and see it through
Why not burn a bridge or two
And leave the old behind

So this is faith, the great divide
The final fence we cannot ride
And so I choose the righteous side
I have a made up mind

You take a made up mind
Take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

Take a made up mind
Take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

We make up our beds
We make up our face
When we’re late we make up for lost time
We make up a story
While we’re making our case
So i know I can make up my mind

You take a made up mind
Take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

You take a made up mind
Take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

It takes a made up mind
I have a made up mind
I have a steady hand
I have a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

It takes a made up mind
It takes a made up mind
It takes a made up mind
I have a made up mind!

Keep No Secrets, Morgan Cryar, 1984