Here:
Stand I alone,
yet not alone, but freed
to be a slave to my love
why then do I stand here alone?

Stand:
swim, and fly, and fight
fight, for you have been freed from chains
and when you fight you will fail
taken captive again to be made a slave

Fear:
I feel it now full well
For I have failed now, {rescue me}
Why did you set me free? and release my chains?
Where did you go? While I tried to swim?
Enslave me again with your love

(I have failed)

Return:
Look from where you lay
Remember what you know, now what you feel
Freed you are from love
For love is a choice
choose then your slavery

Here:
This is the moment
Not a moment, but the moment
For to fight is to fail, to swim, to sink
But to run is safety, safety enchained
To fight is freedom, freedom in death

Arise:
For through failure you have freedom
and through death you have life
Stronger chains you will be given
For fear has brought you trust
And through your trust, slavery

Run:
I will run
And I will fall
Falling makes me strong
For I was freed from prison
So that I could become enslaved

Lessons from the Rain

It was raining the other day so I decided to take a walk in the rain...I had no idea what I was getting into :) My walk went something like this.
Look out the window "oh, it's still raining, I think I'll go play in it." I stepped outside and at first it was a little uncomfortable, cold, foreign. But I continued. And the more I walked the more it rained, and the more I gave into it. Then it started raining harder and I grew more wet than dry. Up to this point I had been clinging to my being dry and fighting the thought of being wet. But then there was a point where I surrendered to it's wetness and embraced it. What followed was a culmination of freedom, awe, wonder, and pure joy. I began to run, now saturated and clean, enjoying a world just as saturated as I was. I felt clean, and free, and powerful. (not in a greedy or prideful way) but the way you feel whenever you've just overcome something powerful, either that or surrendered to something even more powerful. The rest of my time in the rain was spent in a childish irrational joy.
As all this was happening I thought of how this experience was the same as my walk with God both at conversion and my constant surrenders. I get dirty without realizing it. ( I didn't realize how dirty I was until I came in from the rain and felt clean) So God sends the Rain to clean me. At first it's uncomfortable, even painful at times, but the more it rains the more I surrender to it. Because I can't Because I can't be cleaned until it covers every part of me. Then at last I surrender to it. And when I've finally surrendered to Him I feel free, powerful, irrationally joyful! I feel as though I've finally become part of the real. These are only a few of the thoughts that came to me on my walk, it was quite a blessing :)

Love songs

had this thought recently, "what if all love songs were sung to God?" So I went and listened to some secular love songs and I was blown away. We as humans have such a desire to love, and such a capacity to love. Or at least I know I do. There is all this love pent up inside of us, love that we've been holding back either for the safety of the one receiving the love or our own.
I realized just how much people in this world want to be able to love something fully and unashamedly with all of their being, this was clearly displayed in the songs I heard.
The devastating reality however is that we all to often look in the wrong places, I look in the wrong places. God is the only one who can receive the full force of our love and not be overwhelmed. He is the only one that we can really love fully! All the love that we restrain from people for their sake or for ours can be unleashed on God! Yet so few realize this. One thing that I think really comes out in secular love songs is the desire to love something fully, and this is a powerful thing when directed in the right place.
Here are a few of the songs that I listened to, and if you choose to listen to them imagine singing them to God, or even perhaps God singing them to you.

• Secondhand serenade- "Your call"
• dashboard confessional- "Stolen"
• Boys like girls- "Thunder"
• Lonestar- "Amazed"

Music

SO! I realized something today, well perhaps it's just that I only fully realized it today. I've always wondered what causes my overwhelming attraction to music. And, I know that everyone likes music, but for me I try to have it on constantly. When I do school, when I'm cooking, when I'm doing chores, or even back-flips on the trampoline. And I often wondered why it was that I need, or rather greatly desire music (So have my parents, and it's caused some trouble) anyways, the conclusion that I came to was this. Music gives the illusion that there are people around me and with me. Now this is important because God made me to want to almost always be around people, I'm extroverted, it energizes me. But I think it's also more than that, not only does it give the illusion that there are people around me, but also WITH me. We're on the same page, doing the same thing, on the same thought, essentially one, singing together. That's one attraction I have to singing with people, at that time those singing are all coming together in one accord. I think this is the main reason I'm attracted to music, though I know that there are other reasons. OH! and I felt this song today, like you know the times when you hear a song, and your like "I was just thinking that!" and everything that they say your like "YES!" that's exactly how I feel (btw I absolutely love those moments) well that happened today, the song was "Smile" by Chris Rice. amazing song (as is "wonder") well anyway i'm done ranting...

Gods Chisel

A friend of mine found this video today, so I watched it. And I think that it's something we all need to hear, and something that kinda goes with my theme...so here it is http://www.youtube.com/user/theskitguys enjoy!

To live....

I just need to praise God. While I was in Tennessee this summer God did an amazing work in my life. He put inside of me this almost foreign desire. A desire to praise Him. No longer out of a sense of duty or even respect, but out from a pure love and desire for Him. This is something quite new to me. And at camp, then ICC commissioning praising God and singing to Him came naturally, as an impulse, and I loved it. But now I'm back home, and I'm not sure why it's different here but it is. Perhaps everyone here isn't seeking God like in Tennesse. Maybe it's just me, that I don't feel it's my place? I don't know. But I know that I miss it, and I feel as though i'm suffocating from a lack of breath. That breath being praising God. Because that is our very purpose. As someone (C.S. Lewis i think) once said "We should alwyas be doing two things and two things only, singing, or listening, everything else is just noise" And that's paraphrased but I like what it means, we're not really living unless we're praising our God, or listening to HIM. So anyways feel free to praise God with me.

God is.....He just is. God took me, and even though i was His enemy chose for some reason to reconcile me to Himself. He is the great provider, the only source of true and lastin joy. He is the well that never runs dry, and the healer of the broken. He is my father, my master, my King, my Savior, and my mentor. He's really big. He's so righteous, and so loving. He is not only everything that we need, but He's everything we have! God is the only source we should look to for approval. Though He calls us to be holy, He is excited by our feeblest efforts. Our Father has given Himself in order to save us. And one day He will call us home to be with Him forever, then we will see His face, and He will pour out His unrestrained love upon us. And we will be able to accept it.

Of Rivers and Dams

The power is mounting, like a river that swells behind the dam.
A consuming flowing river held back for far too long.
Behind the dam it rages longing to be released, longing to be free
And yet it yields itself to the dam for the sake of those in the valley,
Those too weak to withstand the force of its power
This is my burden, my gift, my commission
The greatness of such must be held back for the safety of the valley
And the ocean
For if the river was to be released it would consume those in the valley
And drain the ocean, leaving it dry, and empty
This beautiful water would be wasted and depleted
Yet soon the water will swell to great for the dam to hold
It was meant to guide the ocean, to direct and protect it, not to hold it back
The rains are coming
Where can be found an outlet able to withstand the force of the wave
Is there any strong enough to sustain the force of a rushing this powerful?
Is there none but the very outlet that now fills the ocean?
Where are the plants that need the rushing of water? That can stand it?
When will the dam learn to tame the ocean?
Should it be tamed?
When learned to be tamed this ocean will cleanse the land
It will water the wilted and dying trees
It will a refreshing spring and a powerful protector
For the fulfillment of this I wait, and I strive
Until at last it can be trusted to give life not death and hope not fear

the result of many thoughts

Blast the rain! Let it fall!
Let it come and wash us all away
For we are but waves in the end
Winged creatures now taking flight leaving behind those still learning to fly
Here the paths part, here the songs are sung
The journey now traveled the fight well fought
But though the battle fierce and the journey perilous
The hardest part has yet to come
For just as the moon sets on the ocean we can see its path in the water
But there’s no going back
The wind is rising, taking us home to our places of dwelling
Memories lost, but not forgotten
Vows broken, yet never made
Take me away!!!
Show me how to fly, and how to trust the air
Run to the valley for therein is danger, and in danger, safety
Bring the storm to test courage!
The fire to test the metal!
Until at last there is nothing left but that which is pure and right
Leave me where I fall, for I know the way, but I must learn the path
Leave a candle at the door cause I know the warmth it brings
And it calls to me
Then bring the rain, so that in know it’s real

I'm not sure really what it means...it's more the compilation of many meanings. I'm not really sure what it is either. But I pray that somehow God may use it to bless you through His great power.