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Introduction
Welcome to my song garden. Here I’ve posted the fruits of 30+ years of songwriting. After years of good intentions, always planning (and failing) to get professional recordings made of them, I decided to leave them as rough demos and worktapes, and share them with anyone who wants to listen. Feel free to contact me if anything here has blessed you.
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We will make our home
Wherever the Lord may lead
Serving Christ alone,
We’ll live as a family
There is hope in the place of catastrophe,
In what we choose this day
I am the greatness, it is I upon the throne;
I throw down pretenders, it is I and I alone
I sift out the riff-raff, then I smash them like a stone;
I am the greatness, I and I alone
I am the greatness, I and I alone
Chorus:
Love the Lord your God
With all your heart and mind,
All your soul and strength
Love the Lord your God
With all your heart and mind,
All your soul and strength
Lay down your life
With your joy and your sorrow
Let your passions not pull you apart
Let Christ be the Master
Of all your emotions
Live your love for God with all your heart
CHORUS
…More than enough
Think of all you've been given
Where another just walks, you have wings
But you won't be complete
Till you give to the needful
This is how you love God with your strength
CHORUS
Long we've lived in darkness; long is the night.
How the powerful betray us
Yet when Messiah comes,
He'll make all things right
Send Your light, o Lord, illuminate us!
CHORUS:
Christ, the Prince of Peace is born.
Christ, the King of Glory
History hinges on this baby boy.
Hallelujah! Christ is born
Strength is given us to shelter the weak.
Wealth for want is Yahweh's story
So when the spring of life pours out, full and free.
Sing hosanna for God's glory!
Step by step and mile by mile
Bring each woman, man and child
To Your called community,
Singing, faithful, bold, and free
Refrain:
Love divine who for us longs
Make us one in morning song
My soul is full of trouble;
I am pulled towards the grave
On the list of doomed and dying,
Weak, forsaken, like the slain
Whom You pull your hand away from
And forget like faded paths
You have put me in the deepest,
Darkest pit beneath Your wrath
Chorus:
Lord, God of my salvation,
I call both day and night
Allow my prayer before You,
Tilt Your ear to hear my cry
Oh, Lord, You are my Shepherd
You give me all I need
Lay me down in greener pastures
To the still waters lead
Chorus:
You are with me, Lord, You are with me
You are with me, Lord, You are with me
O heartless puppet king,
You took my children to the grave
But this, my chance to mourn,
I will not let you steal away
The pow’rful clench their fists
And our prospects start to dim
In grief God meets us mourning,
And each morning we are His
Let weeping fill the streets
Let weeping fill the streets
O comfort me no more
My children are no more
Those who walk in darkness will see a great light
Grace and justice meet; love and truth will unite
Every hope and joy meet in this Child tonight;
Waves of great relief swirl with awe and delight
Refrain:
Wow, hallelujah
Wow, hallelujah
Wow, hallelujah
The King is born!
Powerless, we see in the Lord our true hope
Yet the years pile up since the Almighty spoke
Trust in Him; the fullness of time will unfold
Wait and wait again, He is patient, not slow
The Lord is with you; He won't forsake you
Our God is making all things new
So be courageous; be bold and fearless
What He has promised, He will do
Oh, from His wealth he brings joy;
And from His beauty He gives blessing
In our distress we hear His voice;
The Lord is with You.
So much has been taken from our people
Taken from our families and friends
So how can we believe in new beginnings,
When so much sweet comes to a bitter end?
We will find reminders of redemption,
We will speak and sing the sacred truth
That when the darkness on us has descended
The Light will rise again and lead us through
Refrain:
Rejoice! The Lord has done great things!
Rejoice! The Lord has done great things!
The good news is the hist'ry of the healing that He brings
Rejoice! The Lord has done great things.
(Each verse of this song summarizes the Advent Scripture passage listed before each verse. See below for a playable copy of the music.)
Isaiah 64:1-9
Open up the sky, Lord;
Show the world Your power.
May Your presence leave
The nations trembling
You are like no other,
Awe-inspiring Father,
We beg for Your mercy;
Turn away from all our sin
Refrain:
Lord, You are waiting for our repentance.
You hold back the justice of Your wrath.
Your love is patient, longing that we turn and confess
And find forgiveness in Your mercy's path.
When arrested, don't despair—
Make the guards wonder and stare
Fill the prisons with your prayers:
Walk another mile
And when the guns pound at the door,
Boots and blood upon the floor
Sing and pray, love even more:
Walk another mile
CHORUS:
The eyes of God are watching;
The hand of God restores
He knows the miles you have been walking;
He will strengthen you to walk one more
I can't do this alone
I need you to come near
Sit with me today
There's nothing to say
Just don't disappear
It's a long, hard road
That the Lord walks with us
It's a miracle true
After all we've been through
He can teach us to trust
CHORUS:
In a cold, dark world
That's broken by sin
Any hint of hope
Is like a candle within
We are not alone;
Christ whispers our story:
The threads of our pain,
Tattered and frayed,
He weaves into glory
We live in a lonely people, from sea to selfish sea
Wearing the weight of the world ‘round their necks
Where can they find release?
We feel the darkness so clearly, mostly within our own hearts
But when we return to the only true Light
He gives us hope’s true spark
Chorus:
Let the light of love shine through your life,
Shine wherever you are
And when seeking eyes look to the skies
Be for them a Bethlehem star
How I miss the color of her smile
The living light she'd pour into my day
A breathing of the air again, a whisper to my trusted friend,
A gathering of life upon her face
Chorus:
I want to say this to the children:
Life is harder than you ever thought it would be
But in the darkness of the pain,
Standing on the edge of hell,
What is true may still be hidden,
Like a book high on a shelf
Persevere in love, my sons and daughters,
Do not leave the well
You will find the living water
When you serve someone besides yourself
(chorus)
How fragile my faith
How precarious my prayers
How daring my doubt
Following my footsteps
Just a breath in front of God
Twenty-seven years ago
I made a promise to the sky
Shaking my small fist at Him
I never needed so to cry
"You have never left me,
Never let me get away,
But I have never wanted You
To hold me, 'til today."
CHORUS
Tell me now--where your heart is resting
Tell me now--where do you belong?
Do you know who really loves you?
Are you tired of standing on your own?
Well I know of a place where you're accepted
Where the parents tell their children what is true
Follow me to a home beside the river
In the rocky, arid desert, He's waiting for you
Tell me now--do you know who God is?
Do you think He's an old man, full of hate?
Or is He political--a narrow-minded bigot
Who gets His jollies out of making people wait?