Ten

At long last....number ten...

I feel like this one ended more abruptly than I planned - victim of severe cuts that were made because I felt it was moving in too many directions at once. Maybe I can salvage some of the cut material into something different. Could take months. haha.

"If you asked me"

I guess I wanted to be the hero for you,
My imagination tells me, this dream would compel me,
into the man every boy would like to be.
To run into danger’s cold embrace
Through fire, the tongues of red hot flames
And rescue you, whatever trial you were going through

If you had asked me, I’d have said “there’s nothing I won’t do,”
To show the love, the depth of love, that I had for you
To be honest though, we both know - only God knows if it’s true.
Is there really anything I would not have done…if you asked me to…

I guess I thought it would be harder than this,
we’ve been given so much, we could have done much with less,
Say it’s different now, I know I can’t complain,
Everything that’s come our way, molds and shapes us like potters clay,
Though I may not be the knight I dreamed I’d be,
I’ve still got these words that I would say…

If you had asked me, I’d have said “there’s nothing I won’t do,”
To show the love, the depth of love, that I had for you
To be honest though, we both know - only God knows if it’s true.
Is there really anything I would not have done…if you asked me to…

Don’t know why I would have thought it would be easier than this.
The challenges we have faced have been more than I guessed.
Say it’s different now, I guess I was naïve
Thinking it would be easier every day, I should not be deceived so easily.
Shed those tears, cry those cries, this will not go away
We’ve come these miles, won’t you walk a bit further with me.

If you had asked me, I’d have said “there’s nothing I won’t do,”
To show the love, the depth of love, that I had for you
To be honest though, we both know - only God knows if it’s true.
Is there really anything I would not have done…if you asked me to…

If you had asked me…but you didn’t ask me,
Things didn’t quite go that way. It’s a bit different now,
We don’t know why, we may not know how, but it’s different now,
Most things move on and they’re never quite the same,
But we know love, and that’s always the same.

If you asked me, but you didn’t ask me…
And you didn’t have to.

Nine

Okay - forgive the dust, sometimes I have dry spells. This one didn't turn out quite how I hoped. I wasn't able to turn it around to where I wanted to go with it without making it cheesy. In any case, I'm sure not many people read these things anyways...so...



Abandoned houses

Empty, the life has moved away,
the lamp has darkened as the skies have gone grey.　
Lost interst, broken principles. Walking away...

It used to be that things looked so bright.
The sun can't get brighter on Easy Street when everything is going right.
Even the shadows never looked so menacing under the reflections of a brighter day.
Now paint can't cover flaws and phantoms under the once trodden stairway
in these abandoned houses.　

It's not that nobody cared. Quite the opposite may be true.
Even choice takes you down a wrong road or two -
Count these as lessons learned. Perhaps the thought of meeting "the dream"
has faded like the color from the lawns and the trees.　
Delusions of granduer perhaps have fallen, been bruised and scraped - wounded.

There's no one home, they've moved on
What's left here among the weeds and the broken fences?
The welcome's gone from the mat in the doorway
How we wish a light would shine through the window once again -
there's so much more here than they've become... for these abandoned homes.

But they're not gone forever, where the light once shone.
Not every house can rest empty, there's still room for hope
Looking on their eyes, windows to the soul, the heart still holds a treasure.
Like broken hearts, these can be restored.

Don't let the clutter block your path to the door,
there's more value here than maybe even before,
The experience of choices, though the scars remain,
can rebuild life into the walls and the frame,
who will point the light to these darkened halls,
to restore the life they were created for...

Can you invest the time in these abandoned houses...

Eight

“who are you”

There’s a stranger – looking back at me
Who is this man, staring in my eyes,
Looking through me, why don’t I recognize
The image staring from the mirror, right back at me…

So who are you, when no one is watching
Who are you, when your alone and insecure,
Who are you, when you feel darknesss surrounds you
When it’s nobody but you, when everyone has turned and gone
Who are you.

We like to think that deep inside we’re strong
That in the hardest moments we’ll have the strength to walk on
We’re heroes in our own thoughts and minds,
But don’t be fooled friend, don’t be blinded by pride?

So who are you, when the pressure builds up inside
Who are you, when you’re stretched beyond your limits
Who are you, when it’s you and the madness
When it’s time to throw your cards down, and it’s time to back your bets.
Who are you.

There’s more to your story, there’s value in your struggles,
But as you walk this narrow road, you must find the strength to be humble,
There’s nobody who knows you more, and when you’re looking into that mirror,
the shadow of the image you see, isn’t just your own creation, it was never meant to be…

So who are you, when time has reached it’s limit,
Who are you, when flesh, muscle and bone has broken and decayed,
Who are you, where do you find your value,
When it’s time to face the music, and the trumpet’s call has sounded,
Who are you.

What am I up to...seven?

Don't particularly like this one...but it's been in the works for so long, i'm giving up on it.

"Smile"

It’s like a cold shower on a hot day
A refreshing treat when those corners move,
Your eyes light up – something special begins
When you smile…

A simple thing really
There’s not all that much to it.
Even the smallest child can do it
Yet it’s special in ways we barely understand

So smile, light the world up around you
When darkness threatens to surround you
Let God’s brilliance and beauty shine through,
It’s a special gift of God direct from you
When you smile.

Gestures, like pictures say more than words
A simple movement can say so many things
You can light the darkest day
The coldest of hearts can feel the ice melt away,

From Mediocrity to brilliance.
Sometimes you just can’t help it,
I smile can be infectious.
It can never be so bad that we can’t find a brighter day.

So smile, light the world up around you
Let the brilliance and beauty of God’s design shine through
There’s a transformation that takes place
Like a sweet shower of God’s grace
When you can find a way to smile.

So smile, light the world up around you.
Let the brilliance and the beauty of God’s design shine through
Until the world’s dark corners have receded.
Smile.

Smile, wear it like a crown.
Smile, because there’s things that words just cannot say.

Six.

“Traveler’s Tales (Passing Through)”

We’ve been wandering this desert for far too long now
Seems like we can’t find our home, we haven’t found our home.
We’ve seen miracles and things unspeakable
Yet we’ve settled in - wandering this foreign land
We’ve walked miles and miles and we’re still so far from home
So pardon the dust, pardon my far off look, but
Someday we will walk across that threshold and hear…

Welcome home,
So long since I’ve seen your face
I can see you’re not the same
My, how you’ve changed,
what a test you’ve been through
Refined – now the gold shines through
So welcome home.

You ran off early, so young and ready to tell us what and how,
Guess you needed some experience, guess you know now
You’ve suffered some cuts on the blade of this world’s knife
You’ve tasted the treachery of the “easy” life,
Now bleeding, staggering, you’ve stumbled back
Though you’ve lost all you had, though you’ve nothing left
This is still a place where you can find rest, so...

Welcome home,
So long since I’ve seen your face
I can see you’re not the same
My, how you’ve changed,
what a test you’ve been through
Refined – now the gold shines through
So welcome home.

We’ve each got our own journey, our own path to take.
No matter how fast we run, it won’t get us any closer to home
Spending so much time here, but still strangers in this place
One thing we’ve yet to learn, this life is for the passing through.
We get weathered and tested until we’re ready to fly
And one day, when we’re called, we can give it a try
And hear the words with more meaning than we ever knew…

Welcome home,
So long since I’ve seen your face
I can see you’re not the same
My, how you’ve changed,
what a test you’ve been through
Refined – now the gold shines through
So welcome home.

Now it's time for silly songs with Brian

If you're familiar with Veggie Tales, you're familiar with the title above...so on my way to work I was thinking and the following came to mind. Yeah, strange, I get it. I don't know if it flows well...but hey...nobody's perfect.

"Revised Ramblings of a Rubber Duck"

“Quack” he said to me that morning,
I would have expected no other greeting
It’s always tough conversing with a duck
And he wasn’t expecting this meeting

He’d been around, you could see the signs
A little worse for the wear,
Hard water stains near his eyes
From the sink to the tub, from the tub to the pool
He had even spent some time covered in drool

Rubber Ducky, you used to be the one
But Ernie grew up and had his fun
Whatcha gonna do now? Whatcha gonna be?
So many questions, but “Quack” was all he’d say to me.

A tough nut to crack this particular rubber yellow ducky
Feeling alone and down on his lucky.
But finally he opened up…with a quack and a gurgle,
And a plop, plop, splat he spilled the beans
On his life on the streets of sesame,
Ernie, Bert, Big Bird and the Crew,

Rubber Ducky, you used to be the one
But Ernie grew up and had his fun
Whatcha gonna do now? Whatcha gonna be?
So many questions, when we talked, the ducky and me.

He told of the time, he got soap in his eye,
Elmo left him in the tub for a week,
It took forever to get dry.
There were still marks here and there,
From where the monster’s had gotten confused,
Even Cookie left a mark or two.

Rubber Ducky, you used to be the one
But Ernie grew up and had his fun
Whatcha gonna do now? Whatcha gonna be?
So many questions, when we talked, the ducky and me.

But that wasn’t why he’d called me here,
That’s not all he had to say…he’d had other adventures,
Like the time he was on a pirate ship.
Him and Frito, and the action figure named Chip,
Sailing the ocean, the seven seas,
Or at least sailing the tub in Studio B.

Oh the inside scoop, the hidden secrets,
Are what he wanted to share that day…
But singing those – those aren’t for me
For that you’ll have to buy his biography.

Rubber ducky, you used to be the one,
But Ernie grew up and had his fun
Whatcha gonna do now? Whatcha gonna be?
So many questions, read the biography.

Four.

I'm not sure this one met my vision for it - but I think it may still be my favorite so far. I can actually hear it in my head...it's a shame that I can't translate what I hear in my head to my guitar. Anyways - I hope you like it. As always - I'm open to suggestions.

“If You Could See Me Now”

If you could see me now
My eyes bright and new.
A new life this day.
Oh the experience I’ve yet to see
The things to learn, things to explore
With wide eyes I am sure – its all so new
If you could see me now.

If you could see me now
Would you know this man?
Would you look into these eyes
And come to understand
The depth of this love, the change in me
Should be easy to see
If you could see me now.

If you could see me now
You’d rejoice with me I’m sure.
That I’ve got a clue of what life’s about
God’s gave me yet another day
To continue to work it out.
You’d be overjoyed at the promises
Made and kept without a doubt
If you could see me now.

If you could see me now
Could you see the way,
God has worked, through life’s bends and turns.
Could you see how it’s all worked out
In oh so many ways
Could you see in every step, the wonder of God’s grace,
If you could see me now.

If you could see me now
You could see the scars that remain
The marks of wounds, long healed now
Permanently placed on this earthly frame
The detailed scars of lessons learned
And mistakes I have made
If you could see me now.

If you could see me now
Your heart might break
And that would be a shame.
Time takes its toll, struggling through
The damages and hurts to our temporary home.
We lose some things, along the way
That remind us all the same.
This is not our home, we don’t belong here
And soon we will go.
If you could see me now.

If you could see me now
I’d just be in your way.
Don’t let me block the view
Of him who drew you back to his name
The lamb was slain to take your sins
And his promises remain.
Oh such joy, such love as this,
The glory of His name
Can you see him now…