God Grant You Rest

 God Grant You Rest

I’m sure this isn’t what you expected.

Heaven knows neither did we

And we struggle to settle the difference between

What is and what we thought it should be

The crushing weight on these hopes and dreams

Can sometimes be hard to take.

And in those very moments 

Jesus reminds us he died for our sake,

So as the sun sets on this long day

As you close your eyes and lay down your head, 

I pray God will grant you rest

It was far too early, seemed like it was not your time

But it isn’t up to you, and neither was this choice mine

Now you’re gone and there’s more we wish we’d said

There’s always more we could have said.

Certainly we didn’t always see eye to eye

Sometimes I’m sure we couldn’t even say why

You’ve had your struggles and I’ve had mine

I guess it’s one of life’s mysteries,

How stupid things can put so much distance

So much empty ground, between you and me

So this is my lament for the ones we’ve lost

We naturally would have wished for you to stay

I guess it just doesn’t really work that way

Sometimes we do all we can to hold on

And what we can’t control slips through our hands

But I know the one who knows best,

And so I pray God grants you rest.

I can do hard things, but that doesn’t mean I want to

we groan with the struggles of life’s affliction

Our actions can betray us and leave us without choice

And we are held still by the thread of our convictions

So keep looking to love to be your voice

When the pains of injustice bring tears to our eyes

It’s only Jesus, that can finally wipe them dry

So as you tread into uncharted lands

We pray you’re holding securely to Jesus hand

as you travel ahead to what lies beyond

I pray you join in heaven’s song

May God grant you rest

So this is my lament for the ones we’ve lost

We naturally would have wished for you to stay

I guess it just doesn’t really work that way

Sometimes we do all we can to hold on

And what we can’t control slips through our hands

But I know the one who knows best,

And so I pray God grants you rest.

Remind me

 Because sometimes we forget...

Remind Me

There’s things I can’t see clearly

I wander around like I’m blind

Forgetting what should be remembered

Like a man who’s lost his mind 

This broken world spins like a busted tilt a whirl

And we hold on for dear life

Hoping through this long day

We’ll somehow survive the night

If I’ve forgotten who I am, remind me

If I’ve grown beyond the childlike things

I should never leave behind, remind me

Take me by this outstretched hand 

and guide me back to you, remind me

Funny how I am prone to forget

Quickly I look ahead and focus on “not yet” 

But now as I look to the past, 

there’s questions I’ve answered 

that should have never been asked

Sometimes my decisions put me in places

I never should have been

There are times I land in places 

I never would have chosen

And my map plots nothing

But confusing lines

If I’ve lost the path and lost my way, remind me

lead me back, put my feet on solid ground and remind me

Take me by this outstretched hand

And guide me back to you, remind me

I compare myself to others’ view 

More times than I can count

Forgetting that keeping up with the jones’

Is not what it’s about

At times the mirror’s a dull reflection 

hiding the real truth, 

that what I see is detailed in ways 

that hide outside my view

I can’t seem to see clearly with these eyes alone

When I can’t see the image you placed in me, remind me

When I see myself instead of the savior in my place, remind me

Take me by this outstretched hand

And guide me back to you, remind me

When I can’t see heaven because this world gets in the way, remind me

Lift the scales of myself from these heavy eyes and remind me

Take me by this outstretched hand

And guide me back to you, remind me.

Of Wise Men and Shepherds

 In listening to Christmas songs, I realized after the story of the birth of Christ, not much more is said about the Wise Men or the Shepherds.  So that got me thinking and I came up with this...

Of Wise Men and Shepherds

Wise Men:

We were labeled wise, we were called kings 

We left our land headed toward the east

You know we travelled here from afar

Following on faith that lone bright star

Bearing gifts of majesty

Bearing gifts fit for a king

Shepherds:

Hark those heralds, those angels sang

And we went to see that newborn king

A lowly shepherd, why to me

Did angels speak of this mystery

The savior born in Bethlehem

God had come to dwell with man.

All: Oh what an amazing thing.

Shepherds: When the angels sang I came to see

Wise Men: Once I laid my gifts before thee

Shepherds: I left my sheep, my lot in life 

Wise Men: I traveled long, both day and night

All: to see a savior born that night

To see a glimpse of love’s pure light

Shepherds:

I went and told them, I told all that I had seen

On that night so long ago, 

But I remember the angels, I was there you know

I’m just a shepherd out on these plains

Feeding the sheep, in some ways we’re the same

Feeding the sheep it’s just what I do

I’m not a carpenter, but a man just like you

Wise Men:

Heading your words I headed back another way

And it’s a been a while since that day

I have nothing that you need, I have no gifts left to bring

They call me wise, but I couldn’t see

All my vision is so earthly

You’re like no other king we would have been expecting

All:  Oh it’s the strangest thing

Shepherds:  I know what I saw but I don’t understand

Wise Men:  weren’t you the king to lead this nation?

Shepherds:  we were witness to events beyond our station

Wise Men:  this man is like no other king I’ve seen

All:  still we wait, knowing there’s more

What of this savior (what of this king)

You can almost feel there’s something heaven’s waiting for...

Wise Men:

Again I’m a visitor in a foreign land

I’ve come once again to see this man

I alone of what once were three 

Travel again to see this king

But now he’s gone...

Shepherds:

I saw the Cross - I heard about the empty tomb

And now he’s appeared time and again

Still after all this time he’s hoping to find room

Not in an inn or amongst walls of stone

But among the hearts of men

All:  oh its the most marvelous thing

Wise man:  tell me what you know

Shepherds:  now at last we understand

Wise men: I gave my gift but you gave more

Shepherds: by faith, open heaven’s door

All:  it’s a wonderful story to behold

The boy, the man, the great I Am

The king once born in Bethlehem