Tag: following

Categories
Life

Tough Act

Shakespeare stated in As You Like It this often-repeated phrase:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts

Photo credit--PicApp

This analogy to life fits the way that we often live. It’s not that I necessarily intend to “play a role”. I may simply be doing what I always do, living the way I always live. And yet, I do “act” differently around my family and friends than the way I “act” when around strangers. Perhaps it is because I am afraid of what others will think of me. Or maybe my behavior at home is not appropriate for business or other public interactions with people. So, I “act” more formally at work, at the store, or at church, to better fit the situation.

And yet, regardless of the situation in which I find myself, I am presenting who I am and what I stand for to those around me. If I am a significantly different person at work than I am when at church, if I fail to stand up for truth because of what I fear others will think about me, then I am being false to what I believe, and I am failing to truly follow Jesus in all parts of my life. Following Jesus can be “tough”, when the world expects me to follow its directions.

And that brings me to today’s song. One of the things that can make the lyrics of a song memorable is to use a common phrase in a new and unique fashion. That is the case with Tough Act To Follow by Crumbächer from the 1987 album Thunder Beach. The song writer here alludes to Shakespeare’s theme of being an actor on a stage, and describes his activities using the language of the theater. The turn of phrase here is the tough act of following Jesus, trying to be sincere and true to His calling in all facets of life. Enjoy this unique song!

Watching my story’s plot unwind
Making up endings in my mind
Waiting for the curtain
I see You standing in the wings
Cheering me on through every scene,
How can You be so certain?
Oh, my Jesus…

You’ll be a tough act to follow, it’s a
Tough act to follow You
But, after all the parts that I’ve played through,
I will follow You.

Spotting the mark,
I’ll take Your cue
Knowing my role is subject to
The crowd’s interpretations
Under the pressure to succeed,
Will I inspire them to read
Between these rough translations?
Oh, my Jesus…

You’ll be a tough act to follow, it’s a
Tough act to follow You
But, after all the parts that I’ve played through,
I will follow,

You’ll be a tough act to follow, it’s a
Tough act to follow You
But, even when the lights go down, it’s true:
I can follow You.

I will follow
Yes, I will follow You
Follow You
I will follow

You’ll be a tough act to follow, it’s a
Tough act to follow You
But, after all the parts that I’ve played through,
I will follow

You’ll be a tough act to follow, it’s a
Tough act to follow You
But, even when the lights go down, it’s true:
I can follow you

You’ll be a tough act to follow, it’s a
Tough act to follow You (oh, you know it’s true)
After all the parts that I’ve played through,
I will follow You

You’ll be a tough act to follow, it’s a
Tough act to follow You (I will follow you)
But, even when the lights go down, it’s true:
I will follow.

Thunder Beach, 1987, Crumbächer
Categories
Jesus

Come, Follow

FIshing netMany of the songs from the Jesus movement had themes that came out of stories from the Bible. But there are few writers who did this as well as Don Francisco. He had a way of taking a passage from the Bible, putting the story in lyric form, and singing it with such passion that you were there, right in the story. On his first four albums, released between 1976 and 1981, he had nine songs that dealt with the life of Jesus, and then on his seventh album added one more. 

I enjoyed these songs so much that I created my own “album” of them that I called The Gospel According To Don Francisco, just for personal use. I located the Bible verse from which the song was taken, took that audio from a Bible-on-tape, and then played that song, putting them all in chronological order. Since we are starting the season of Lent, I decided to share these tracks. So, between now and Easter, it will be a Don Francisco marathon!

Back in this post and this post I discussed the call of Jesus to his disciples, and how they chose to drop everything they were doing to obey and follow Him. Inspired by the text in Luke 5:1-11, Don Francisco also dealt with these themes in his song Come And Follow from his first album, the 1976 release Brother Of The Son. The audio Bible version used here is the 2002 dramatized NIV Audio Bible by Zondervan Publishing, read by Steven Johnston. 

Me and Andrew, we’d been fishin’
The best part of last night
We’d caught nothin’ for all our tryin’
Come the mornin’, and the light
Then I saw Him, and He asked me
To take Him out a little ways from the land
He was teachin’ all the people
They listened there in silence on the sand.

Come and follow, come and follow,
Come and follow, come and follow Me.
Come and follow, come and follow,
Come and follow, come and follow Me.

When He’d ended all His teaching
He turned around and spoke again to me
He said, “Simon, row out farther,
Drop your nets once again into the sea”
And I said, “Master, we’ve been workin’
Since the sundown yesterday!
But one more time, I’ll throw them over
Just because it’s You who say…”

Come and follow, come and follow,
Come and follow, come and follow Me.
Come and follow, come and follow,
Come and follow, come and follow Me.
Follow Me, Follow Me

James and John, they’re both my witnesses
To the truth in what I’ve told
How our nets were filled to bursting
More than both our boats could ever hold
And I fell down there before Him
Crying, “Leave me, Lord — I’m full of sin!”
He said, “Simon, don’t be frightened,
Follow Me, you will learn to fish for men.”

Come and follow, come and follow,
Come and follow, come and follow Me.
Come and follow, come and follow,
Come and follow, come and follow Me.

Brother Of The Son, Don Francisco, 1976 You can purchase this music     

from the artist’s web site here.
Categories
Jesus

The Call

In my last post, I discussed the way Jesus had an influence on the people he met, an influence that made them give up everything and follow him.

Some of the people in Israel in Jesus’ day got a chance to actually meet him, and hear his call. And ever since the day the resurrected Jesus sent his Holy Spirit out to indwell people and to create the Church, millions more have had a chance to hear the call of Jesus. The call to simply follow and obey.

Again from Steven Curtis Chapman, this time the title song from his 1990 album For The Sake Of The Call.


We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die
For the sake of the call 

Nobody stood and applauded them
So they knew from the start
This road would not lead to fame
All they really knew for sure was Jesus had called to them
He said “Come follow me” and they came
With reckless abandon they came

Empty nets lying there at the waters edge
Told a story that few could believe and none could explain
How some crazy fishermen agreed to go where Jesus lead
With no thought for what they would gain
For Jesus had called them by name and they answered

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die
For the sake of the call

Drawn like the rivers are drawn to the sea
No turning back, for the water cannot help but flow
Once we hear the Savior’s call we’ll follow wherever he leads
Because of the love he has shown
And because he has called us to go we will answer

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die

Not for the sake of a creed or a cause
Not for a dream or a promise
Simply because it is Jesus who calls
And if we believe we’ll obey

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die
For the sake of the call

Categories
Jesus

The Name

Imagine being there at work, doing what you do every day. Same old routine as always, same people, same activities.

And then someone comes up, and tells you to follow him. You’ve never met this person before … and yet, not only do you decide to do what he said, but you leave your job behind.

What kind of crazy is this? You left behind your only means of income, and followed someone just because he asked you?? What kind of person does it take to motivate you to leave it all behind and follow him?

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus does just this with Peter and his brother Andrew. And from this passage, there is no statement about hesitation or second thoughts on the part of these two men. It says that “At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Matthew 4:20)

Why did they do this? Was it because they didn’t really like the fishing anyway, and this sounded like a better deal? Or was it because of the person who asked them. Was there just something about him?

BIll & Gloria Gaither released a classic album in 1973 called Alleluia!: A Praise Gathering For Believers. This track, There’s Something About That Name, tells about Jesus, and his profound influence on several people whose stories are told in the Bible. It is just an introduction to the way in which Jesus has affected millions over the ages and also today.


Jesus Christ, the Son of God
Became a man, like us.
He walked the hills
Went to the cities
Walked the seashores

He met people where they were
And one by one, he changed their lives.

“My brother and I are fishermen
We don’t know a lot about politics or religion
We just know a lot about fishing.
First time I ever heard His name
My brother came down and said
‘You just have to meet this man’
So I went. So I met him.
He looked at me and said
‘Come on along. Come on with me.’
There’s just something about him.
Just … there’s just something about him.
We just gave it all up
Gave up the boats and the nets, the fishing.
Just went with him.
And I’ve been with him ever since.”

Jesus
Jesus!
Oh, there’s something
Something about that Name
Master, Savior
Jesus
It’s like a fragrance
After a summer rain

Jesus
Jesus
Let all heaven, let the earth
Let us all proclaim
Kings and kingdoms
Well, they’ll all fade away
Yet there’s
Oh, there’s something about his Name.

“I’m a business man here in Jericho
Well really, I’m a tax collector
He came to my house for dinner one day
We talked for a while
And, well, I don’t know what happened to me
But I ended giving half of everything I own to poor people
And to those who I cheated,
I gave back four times the amount I took.
There’s just something about him.”

“I was at the well drawing water when I first met him.
Naturally, I offered him a drink.
But he wasn’t like the other men I know
He seemed to look right through me
He told me everything I’d ever done
I never met a man like this man.
He forgave me.”

And that’s how it was
People everywhere
Whether they were rich or poor
Young or old
Mighty, lowly
When they met this Jesus,
Things happened.
Their lives were changed.

“Me? I don’t know whether he’s good or bad.
I do know that once I was blind
But now I can see!”

Kings and their kingdoms
Well, they’ll all pass away
And when they’ve all passed into eternity
There’ll still be something
About that Name

The Name

Jesus