Ever had doubts?

I think everyone has, at one time or another, had doubts which in turn erodes their faith. So it was interesting to me that Third Day has written a song about just that. So without further ado, here are the lyrics of the song “Revelation” as well as a video for it.

My life has led me down the road that’s so uncertain
Now I am left alone and I am broken
Trying to find my way
Trying to find the faith that’s gone

This time I know that you are holding all the answers
I’m tired of losing hope and taking chances
On roads that never seem
To be the ones that bring me home

Give me a revelation
Show me what to do
‘Cause I’ve been trying to find my way
I haven’t got a clue
Tell me should I stay here
Or do I need to move
Give me a revelation
I’ve got nothing without you
I’ve got nothing without you

My life has led me down this path that’s ever winding
Through every twist and turn, I’m always finding
That I am lost again
Tell me when this road will ever end

I don’t know where I can turn
Tell me, when will I learn
Won’t you show me where I need to go
Let me follow your lead
I know that it’s the only way that I can get back home

God Bless You!

You Are Glorious

There is a lot of great  Christian music out and sometimes I forget about songs I really like. Interestingly enough, it is usually my daughter that reminds me of those songs, just like the one I highlighted in my previous entry.

You make everything glorious
and I am Yours
What does that make me 

The words above are I think the central point of the song. If He makes everything glorious, and we are His, how can we be unworthy?

I will include the full text of the lyrics of the song “Everything Glorious” from the David Crowder Band as well as a live performance of the song at the Dove awards.

The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than its hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
The beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
There’s light enough to see that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory
You are glorious, You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious, You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
Why I can believe

God Bless You!

Testify to love

It has been a while since I posted about music that has touched me. Earlier today, I created a playlist on my iPod using Genius and one of the songs that was played was “Testify to Love” by Avalon. I had forgotten what a great song it was and how much the words of the refrain called to me. I am including the lyrics as well as a video of the song so you can experience that song first hand.

God Bless You!

All the colors of the rainbow
All of voices of the wind
Every dream that reaches out
That reaches out to find where love begins
Every word of every story
Every star in every sky
Every corner of creation lives to testify

For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
I’ll be a witness in the silences when words are not enough
With every breath I take I will give thanks to God above
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love

From the mountains to the valleys
From the rivers to the sea
Every hand that reaches out
Every hand that reaches out to offer peace
Every simple act of mercy
Every step to kingdom come
All the Hope in every heart will speak what love has done.

More favourite music

This last Sunday my wife and I went back to our new church, Victoria First Church of the Nazarene. I really enjoy the services there and I am very glad that my wife (and daughters) found that church.

Not all the songs we sang last week, but there was one song in particular that was very familiar to me. I first sang that song during the services at Esquimalt United Church (EUC) when we were trying to bring more contemporary music to the services. I particularly like the lyrics “Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise” as well as the fact that His name should be blessed whatever our circumstances might be. I am including the lyrics below:

Blessed Be Your Name
by Matt Redman
- – -
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

That’s all for this week. God Bless You!

End of a chapter in my faith life

My daughter and I went back to Esquimalt United Church (EUC) last Sunday as she had some minutes to sign as well as some items to return. I also had a reason for going back. Ever since I had left EUC to go join the rest of my family, I had been having some second thoughts about leaving. I told myself that going back would be a way to see if there were any validity to those second thoughts.

While it was great to see all the friends I had made over all the years I attended EUC, and also to see that the service was well attended, the service itself did absolutely nothing for me. We sang very familiar hymns, hymns that I like, but the service as a whole felt disjointed to me, with nothing to really bring me in a worshipful state of mind. Now it may have had to do with the fact that the Annual General Meeting was being held immediately after the service so there were mentions of it during the service and the sermon, but for whatever reason everything that took place I compared to the Victoria First Church of the Nazarene and as far as my spiritual needs are concerned the comparisons were not favourable for EUC.

It saddens me that the church where I worshipped for the last 20 years no longer meets my spiritual needs. I do however take solace in the knowledge that the transition work that is being done at EUC does seem to appeal to those people there. I wish them the best of luck and will continue to pray for  the Church well being and growth.

God Bless You!

Songs with staying power

As this week draws to a close, there was one song from last Sunday’s church service that I can remember: Your Name by Paul Baloche. Well it was the first song that came to mind; the song Exalted (Yahweh) by Chris Tomlin – which I wrote about in my Going To a New Church entry – was also sung last Sunday.

While some of the songs that were sung were just great for the time in the service where they were placed, they did not have a lasting effect. And by that I mean I did not carry them with me through the week. But the songs above came to mind whenever I thought back about the service. They obviously struck a chord in me.

I am including the lyrics to Your Name below:

As morning dawns and evening fades 
You inspire songs of praise 
That rise from earth to touch Your heart and glorify Your Name 

CHORUS 
Your Name is a strong and mighty tower 
Your Name is a shelter like no other 
Your Name, let the nations sing it louder 
‘Cause nothing has the power to save 
But Your Name 

Jesus, in Your Name we pray 
Come and fill our hearts today 
Lord, give us strength to live for You and glorify Your Name 

CHORUS 
Your Name is a strong and mighty tower 
Your Name is a shelter like no other 
Your Name, let the nations sing it louder 
‘Cause nothing has the power to save
But Your Name 

God Bless You!

New (to me) music

This last Sunday’s church service was a very nice one; mostly due to the fact that most of the music during the service was 1) really good and 2) familiar to me. There was one song that I did not know that was really easy to pick up and get into. Since they do not put the title of the songs on the overhead, it took me a while to figure out what the song was since all I had was “Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is Your name”.

It turns out that the name of that song is “You are my all in all”. I am including the lyrics below:

*You Are my All in All*
by Dennis Jernigan
Performed by Nichole Nordeman
from the album “Girls of Grace” Word Records 2002

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I’d be a fool
You are my all in all

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising up again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I am dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I’d be a fool
You are my all in all

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising up again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I get dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

This song to me exemplifies what a Worship song should be: an easy to remember tune and some very meaningful lyrics.

I am sorry to say however that the only thing I remember from the sermon is that the pastor got expelled from college. I do remember thinking that it did not seem to have much to do with the theme of his sermon.

I just went and checked the church website and you can actually listen to the sermon directly from the website. The link for the church in on the left, just look for Victoria First church of the Nazarene.

God Bless You!

A quick update

One song that remained with me all week since the church service last Sunday was the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. Christian radio has been playing a version of it arranged by Jadon Lavik which I think updates it and makes it more approachable for new generations. It certainly made me aware of it once again – I have to admit that I would not have even given that song/hymn another thought since I remembered it as a great hymn but very plodding. You can listen to an excerpt of the song (or even buy it if you are so inclined) by clicking here.

I am hoping that I will write down my thoughts about the music in the church service on a weekly basis. That should give me a reason to make at least weekly posts and give me another reason to actually go to church every week. Every little bit helps!

I have just found out that a website I used over the last few years to keep track of song lyrics has just disappeared from the internet. This means that there are quite a few links on my blog that will no longer work. Considering that the prime purpose for that site was to save me work when I created the Powerpoint, it is very likely that  I will not re-create the site since I no longer do the Powerpoint. And no, I do not have a backup since it never occurred to me that a site would just disappear without warning their users – which is what happened here.

God Bless You!

Going to a new Church

They sure have long weeks where I live, don’t they? So much for weekly posts, and to think I figured I was setting the bar pretty low…

With the exception of the previous post on this blog, I have not posted at all about my faith life since May of 2008 and even then very sparingly. I will not go into the details of what events transpired, but you can read the last few entries in my previous blog if you want a few details. The crux of the matter is that I stayed because I had the unique opportunity to play guitar with a really talented musician, Brooke Maxwell, who was always sharing his knowledge and made me a better musician by listening to him.

That, however, did not feed me spiritually. As the previous post indicated, music is a very important source of inspiration as well as a means of expressing my faith. And unfortunately, the music at EUC over the last year did neither. And as the year progressed it became obvious to me that this church was no longer meeting my needs. The impetus for me to make a move came when the rest of my family found a church they were comfortable with. I then decided that it was time for me to join them.

So the family now worships at Victoria First Church of the Nazarene and I am happy to say that the music there speaks to me and puts me in the right frame of mind to hear the message. As an example, I am including the lyrics of one of the worship songs we sang last Sunday, Exalted (Yahweh) by Chris Tomlin:

Exalted, he is exalted
On high, he is exalted
Great is the Lord, let all the nations say
Exalted, he is exalted

Blessing and honor
Glory and power unto the Lord be praised
Sing with a chorus resounding before us
Holy is his name, his name

Exalted, he is exalted
On high, he is exalted
Great is the Lord, let all the nations say
Exalted, he is exalted

Blessing and honor
Glory and power unto the Lord be praised
Sing with a chorus resounding before us
Holy is his name

Blessing and honor
Glory and power unto the Lord be praised
Sing with a chorus resounding before us
Holy is his name, his name, his name

Yahweh, holy is your name (4x)

Blessing and honor
Glory and power unto the Lord be praised
Sing with a chorus resounding before us
Holy is your name

Blessing and honor
Glory and power unto the Lord be praised
Sing with a chorus resounding before us
Holy is your name, your name

Yahweh, Yahweh, holy is your name

Yahweh, holy is your name (4x)

Of course, you really need to be singing it to get the full effect.

God Bless You!

Songs speak (sing?) to me like nothing else

I was reading my daughter’s latest blog entry Deeper Waters Run Darkly Underneath….? and her list of songs reminded me of another song that I also really like. One of the songs that really speaks to me at the moment is “Orphans of God” by Avalon. The lyrics are below:

Who here among us has not been broken
Who here among us is without guilt or pain
So oft’ abandoned by our transgressions
If such a thing as grace exists
Then grace was made for lives like this

There are no strangers
There are no outcasts
There are no orphans of God
So many fallen, but hallelujah
There are no orphans of God

Come ye unwanted and find affection
Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head
Come ye unworthy, you are my brother
If such a thing as grace exists
Then grace was made for lives like this

O blessed Father, look down upon us
We are Your children, we need Your love
We run before Your throne of mercy
And seek Your face to rise above

I think this song, as well as “Stained Glass Masquerade” by Casting Crowns speaks to the feeling of unworthiness that washes over me whenever I think of God’s unconditional love for us.

I thought just came to me: maybe I could speak every week about one song that particularly touches me at that time.

Blessings,
Chris