Song Saturday #4

Phil Hargrove is the contemporary ministries pastor at First Pres and the fearless leader of our LIFE group. He is engaging, dedicated, and caring - everything a pastor should be! Just so you know, that picture isn't of Phil. That's David Wilcox. We'll get to him in a second...

Last year Phil surprised his wife for their 14th wedding anniversary with a specially planned dinner and live music. I had the honor of playing a few songs for them as they enjoyed their meal. One of Phil's requests was for me to learn David Wilcox's "Show the Way."

At first I thought it was a funny request for an anniversary meal. It's not about love in the conventional, mushy-gushy, eskimo kiss, box of chocolates, dinner-and-a-movie type way. This song is about seeing God's redemption in a world that is full of hurt and brokenness.

After a little bit of thought, I realized it's the perfect song for an anniversary, because a marriage is not just roses and riding off in the sunset. It's full of ups and downs, hurt feelings and inadequacies and struggles. But mostly, it's full of love that redeems all that stuff. How cool to remember that Love is writing the play.

I love singer-songwriters in general, I have a special spot in my heart for David Wilcox, and I have just come home from a weekend full of community service. I saw hurt and brokenness in our community this weekend, but I also saw the God's people coming together to help.

This song says everything I feel today. I hope you enjoy it.

Now I know:
There is evil cast around us, but it's Love that wrote the play.




You say you see no hope
You say you see no reason we should dream
That the world would ever change
You say the love is foolish to believe
'Cause they'll always be some crazy
With an army or a knife
To wake you from your daydream
Put the fear back in your life

Look
If someone wrote a play
To just to glorify what's stronger than hate
Would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late?
He's almost in defeat
It's looking like the evil side will when
So on the edge of every seat
From the moment that the whole thing begins

It is love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene, set in shadows,
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play
For in this darkness love can show the way

Now the stage is set
You can feel your own heart beating in your chest
This life's not over yet
So we get up on our feet and do our best
We play against the fear
We play against the reasons not to try
We're playing for the tears
Burning in the happy angel's eyes

For it's love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Though it looks like we're alone
In this scene, set in shadows,
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play
For in this darkness love will show the way

Trip to Nowhere

Right now I'm feeling a lot like one of those yellow dish sponges that sits on the side of your kitchen sink.

Exhausted, dirty, kind of rough around the edges - but full, absolutely full of purpose, peace, and perspective. Didn't even mean for that alliteration to happen...but wow, love when it does.

And you know how sponges like that are supposed to be full of germs? Well until I get a shower, I'm gonna say that is relevant to how I feel right now too.

Anyway, this weekend I participated in a LIFE event called the "Trip to Nowhere." The name of our community service project is deceiving, to be sure. Even though we stayed in Greenville, we went lots of places.

So, you're asking, where did our LIFE group go this weekend?

• Surrounded by high vaulted ceilings, perfect acoustics, and dazzling stained glass windows, we worshiped in the Harper Chapel on Friday night. The lyrics of "God of this City," are still ringing through my head: "Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city!"
• We split up around First Pres and prayed over the City of Greenville, the organizations we were partnering with, and the people we were serving. I could feel the Spirit of God just pumping us full of energy and anticipation.
  
• We spent the night in the Junior High room at the church. You can't do better than a good old-fashioned lock-in. Even though I didn't participate in the 2:00 am game of Sardines, I still loved staying at the church. Took me back to my youth group days!
• We cleaned trucks and shelves, painted poles, and put together snack packs for needy kids at Harvest Hope Food Bank. I was lucky enough to get to put together the snack packs with some of my dearest friends, and I had the idea of writing notes to put in each lunch bag that said YOU ARE LOVED. I am still smiling thinking about the kids getting a handwritten note in their snack pack.
  
• This afternoon, we split up into groups and did projects at Miracle Hill, United Ministries, Habitat for Humanity, and again, I was lucky enough to help with a field day for Pendleton Place Children's Shelter. I convinced a skeptical 10th grade girl to compete with me in a sack race. I chased a giggling, screaming little blond boy around pretending to be a monster. I sang "Umbrella" to a fifth grader when she showed me her umbrella silly band and she started singing and dancing right along with me. I helped to raise a parachute high in the air for delighted toddlers. I saw the wonder and love and joy of these children despite their most horrifying and unbelievable circumstances. I was in awe of their resilience. I felt the presence of the living God.
• Tonight I sat on couches back at First Pres with my best friends, my Greenville family, and processed through what was a truly amazing weekend of service. One thing I'm sure of is that serving others doesn't change those being served as much as it does the ones who are actually serving.

I am changed because I have learned for the millionth time that this life is truly not about me. It is not about my checklists or my goals or my dreams or my wishes. This life is about being poured out like a drink offering, about laying down your life for your friends, about helping the widows and the orphans. This life is about being the hands and feet of Jesus. I feel so very lucky to have had the chance to relearn that lesson this weekend.

Now I know: With a Jesus who loves me, a roof over my head, food in my belly, clothes bursting out of my closet, a family that loves and encourages and supports me, friends galore, and a job that is a perfect fit - I am blessed beyond what I could ask or imagine.

Tattooing in Green

Last summer I seriously considered getting this verse tattooed on the arch of my right foot.

(Just in case you can't read Hebrew, it says the first half of Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know.")

I am a lot like Rory from the show Gilmore Girls, so of course I made numerous pro/con lists, both on paper and in my head. They pretty much looked like this:

Pros:

• This verse commands me to BE STILL, which some scholars translate as LET GO. What a great permanent reminder!
• By including just the first half of the verse I have the flexibility to BE STILL AND KNOW a whole host of truths. That God is God. That He has a plan for me. That He will give me the desires of my heart if I delight myself in Him. That no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him. See? Flexible!
  
• If it's on my foot it is cool yet discrete! People probably won't even see it for 6 months out of the year!
  
• When they do see it, people will have to ask me what it says and then I can have an awesome segue into talking about spiritual things.

Cons:

• Ow. OW OW OW!
• Getting it on the arch of my foot will hurt a LOT.
• I hate needles.
• Why are you even considering this?
• What if they do one character and I flip out and they have to stop? Then it will look like a birthmark. Or a mistake.
  
• Will parents at school think I'm a hippiefied freak that is no longer a good role model for their children?
• Will I have to move back to Asheville, land of the hippies, just so I can blend in?
• In 15 years I'm gonna be 40. FORTY! Will I want this on my foot when I'm 40?

As you can see, the con side won out. But I still absolutely love this verse, so I decided to figuratively tattoo it on my heart instead.

Well yesterday my LIFE leadership group had the opportunity to work on spiffening up our meeting place, The Block. This space used to be the Center Stage Theater. It is on Academy Street and has tons of potential - it just needs some TLC.

We cleaned out, cleaned up, and painted for hours. We decided to take two blank walls and decorate them with verses that meant something to us. Naturally I quickly decided on "Be Still and Know."

It was awesome for "my tattoo verse" to kind of come full circle. Leaving these words on a surface where they will be seen, where they will inspire and encourage others, was almost as exciting as body art.

And the best part is? No needles required.

Now I know:
Tattoos are temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.