New Song

Warning! Disclaimer from the previous entry is in effect for this post.

Come Ye Sinners by Todd Agnew

Come ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you
Full of pity, love, and power

Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings you nigh

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Saviour
Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Come ye weary, heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry until you're better
You will never come at all

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Saviour
Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Have you ever had a word or phrase that hits you? I mean REALLY hits you? I fully admit that I have a very obsessive personality. I get stuck on one thing and it's all consuming. This is not limited to music, but at the expense of saving too much exposure of my weakness, we'll stick with that. Whenever I get a new cd, or even worse, a new song, I listen to it NONSTOP for a ridiculous amount of time. Such is the case with this song. The lyrics to this song are so powerful. One phrase particularly "hits" me. "I will arise and go to Jesus". Perhaps the music is the reason the song and phrase are so powerful for me, or at least that is what caught my attention initially. His voice is so resolved when he sings his words, almost like each line is a conclusion that leads to this phrase, "I will arise and go to Jesus". It seems to be his conviction that he so boldly announces. What makes this phrase so moving is the word "arise". Since I am never just satisfied with taking things for face value, I need to know more about this word. While I want to say that I have some profound discovery, I cannot. I'll work on that! It's just so intense. Even without a word study, I feel like there is so much depth to this small word. It inspires so much more than just an action of coming or going to something. In this case, Jesus. I almost feel like the word calls you out of something old and into a brand new understanding. For some reason, I have recently fallen in love with words that are "old" because of how much meaning they seem to hold for me. Loaded and multiple meanings! All this makes me even more curious about this word and why it is so inspiring. The ironic part is, while I was talking to Natalie about recent thoughts of this word, we started to notice that a lot of the songs that have recently hit me have this idea of arising. One in particular is called "By Our Love". This song seems to be an explanation of the old campfire song "They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love" and is extremely powerful. My favorite phrase in this song is "The time is now. Come Church, arise". Love it! Again, just a moving affect for me. It invokes such a huge desire for change in me.

All moved in! :)

2 apartments, 1 tailor, 10 people, and 4 new truck tires later, I am all moved in! :) I am now sitting in my new apartment and writing this blog post. :) I absolutely LOVE IT! My family and friends helped me move in and even helped me unpack most of my things! A huge shout out to Mark and Diane (Aaron), Matt and Lori(Eli), mom, Natalie, Shadi, and Diller (Ian). I don't know what I would have done without them! There is still LOTS to do but it's definitely looking great already! Here are some pictures I took after everyone left. It probably would have been more fun to take pictures while we were moving, but these will have to do! :)

Guest Room

Bathroom (duh)

My room!

Living Room

Kitchen/Dining room

Living area

Moving...

Yep! That's right. I am moving! Tomorrow is the start of a few very busy days! I get the keys to my new apartment tomorrow (Friday) morning, and I'm SO EXCITED! My mom is headed here on Friday to help me finish packing, and then my whole family and friends are coming on Saturday morning to help move. I have the best friends and family! :) I'm really hoping it doesn't take a long time to move all my stuff. I will be posting pictures of my new place really soon. I'm dreading doing the whole decorating thing all over again, but maybe I can get some of those GREAT family and friends to teach me a thing or two! :) I start school in a little less than 2 weeks so hopefully I can get settled in before things get too busy. Pictures soon! :)

P.S. Best part - I get to see my nephews. :) :)

"I am wrong and of these things, I repent."

Disclaimer: Be aware!! This post will be out of the ordinary in that it will not be about my normal obsession. :) Instead, I want to reflect on my recent thoughts. While I will continue my "normal" postings, I hope to include more of these types of posts sporadically in the future. Nothing profound. Just personal convictions and reflections.

"I Repent"

I repent of my pursuit of America's dream I repent of living like i deserve anything my house, my fence, my kids, and my wife in our suburb where we're safe and white I am wrong and of these things i repent I repent of parading my liberty I repent of paying forvwhat i get for free the way I believe that I am living right by trading sins for others that are easier to hide I am wrong and of these things I repent I repent judging by a law that even I can't keep wearin righteousness like a disguise to see through the planks in my own eyes I repent of trading truth for false unity I repent of confusing peace and idolatry of caring more of what they think than what I know of what they need and domesticating You until You look just like me I am wrong and of these things I repent

The song is called "I Repent" by Derek Webb. He is not at all concerned about being politically correct or trying to sugar-coat his message in any way. Usually, things repeated over and over in a song irritate me. It makes me think that the writer couldn't come up with any other words to fill up the time. I think what captured my attention in this song is more than just his sincerity of the repeated line "I repent". It's his urgency. He doesn't try to come up with some metaphor for life or being a better Christian. What does that mean anyway? How does a song somehow make you question your "righteous living" or lack there of? I feel like I can't just choose one line as my favorite because then I listen to the song again and change my mind. I'm still not sure what all the words mean in the song. Maybe you can find your favorite. They make me uncomfortable. Honestly, I don't think it's just the words, it's the way he sings it.

The line I choose today is

"I repent, I repent of caring more of what they think than what I know of what they need and domesticating You until You look just like me."

When I was growing up, any time we would leave the house to go hang out with friends or even just to go to school in the morning, we would go in to kiss my parents and my mom's parting words were always "act like Jesus" and "remember whose you are". So true. The question is, am I really interested in Jesus? Not the Jesus I want, but the Jesus who IS. Am I really willing to know and live like HIM? The answer is YES! As loud as I can shout it, YES! I am sick of making Jesus look like me. How long has it been since I have changed something about my life to reflect HIM? What if I really did look like Jesus?

Here's the thing, all these thoughts, reflections, and convictions are great. But the hardest question begs me to answer exactly does this demand of me? After listening to those repeated words, "I repent, I repent", I am forced to consider what is involved in the word "repent". I have to think that repenting is not just great thoughts or intellectual decisions. It has to be more! I think Derek Webb repeats the words because that's the action step I am missing. So many times in the past, I am willing to think about the change but never make it. God, give me the strength to be more!

I repent.