Are we really ready to pay for Love?

When the things that you can't hold on to
Are the things that you wish you could

Are you really ready to pay for love


If it costs you everything?



All of God's children

All of God's children

Shining underneath

Shining underneath



I believe in a world that's beyond me

I believe in a world I ain't seen

Past the glass, and shotgun shacks

Violent faceless racist facts

I believe in a world that's made clean



All of God's children

All of God's children

Shining underneath

Shining underneath



Ohhhh, yeeeaaahhhh

Underneath it all

Underneath these scars

Underneath it all

Underneath our walls

Underneath it all

Underneath the bullet holes

Underneath it all

We still don't know who we are

It's shining underneath

It's shining underneath



Is there a well that won't run empty?

Is there a friend that can't be bought?

You'll find them when you're thirsty

Learn the lesson that can't be taught



All of God's children
All of God's children
Shining underneath
Shining underneath

ALL OF GOD'S CHILDREN- Switchfoot

Rescued and speechless

listen:
the Almost- "dirty and left out"





Redemption is different from reconciliation or forgiveness even.  Redemption is a building up, whereas forgiveness is most often a plugging the hole in the dam and hoping it will hold.  We often get caught up in what others think and what they will think if we do something or make a certain statement or action.  Yet it is not the act of forgiving, although this is nothing short of an amazing feat in itself, but the redemption that comes later, where we find the truest beauty in the frail human heart.
  Take for example the story of the prodigal son.  He probably doesn't feel that great telling his father all the things that had happened and especially not in the fact that he had already come to the conclusion (in his mind) that he would be lucky to sleep and work with the servants.  Yet we all know that his fate is sealed in his Father's love, the complete and unconditional love that accepts with open arms and leads to redemption.  I cannot imagine somebody being received in such a way and actually having the attitude or sickness to go back to the evil they had vacated.
  All this to say, although there are great amounts of pain in this life, when it comes to redemption, when it comes to light breaking through, when it comes to relationships being restored, it is all possible.  But we have to see it through.  I am so very thankful that redemption is a reality.  That we can bust out the other side, not just better, but wiser and more hopeful.
   Redemption can mean deliverance; but it can also mean rescue.  I cannot even begin to count the ways I have been redeemed and rescued over my relatively short life and this is available to all.  So why doesn't everyone feel redeemed?  If its available to everyone, what does it matter?

Because not everyone has been given the chance, and not everyone has been redeemed.  There are many situations in my own life where I have not felt redemption or even forgiveness, yet I can still find peace somewhere in between the Hopes and the brokenness.  Even though the redemption may never come, I take great comfort in knowing it exists, and no matter how messed up the situation is, deliverance is always possible.

Would that we would all find redemption, that when we offer "deliverance" and "atonement" that we would follow our words with a quiet prayer or a silent praise.

This is life; and redemption is a reality we all need,   
and,
I; rather WE, are never too far gone.

An old song (She still moves me and dares me to believe)

PLANS- the Track Record

"It's so crazy how suicide occupies the minds of so, so many happy people
Don't lie you know you've thought about it, we all have
Part of growing up is asking questions

Isn't it mad weird how our wildest dreams tell us about our fears and what we want out of this life
Some say that it's healthy to experience breakups, mistakes, letdowns, or the death of a loved one

We owe all that we have to the people in our lives
We can only hope that this song reaches you in time

(Two pairs of eyes share a beautiful silence
Perfect weather breeds perfect smiles
So show me that face when you can't hold back yours
Plans to wake up on the beach
You know how it feels so fucking awesome when a song lets you know that you're not alone
Well these 3 minutes will beckon you too think, dance, live, learn, teach, and love)



So i'll meet you in front of Hagerstown at 10

And we'll live for the single moment
I swear i will hold you
On this bathroom wall forever
I promise not too hold this grudge against you
if you love like you've nothing to lose
I swear i will hold you



We owe all that we have to the people in our lives
We can only hope that this song reaches you in time"

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, whatever thought is on your mind,
I Hope it finds you well.
More then well,
I Hope it finds you Alive and well-

The purpose of this life is to truly live- -

The Track Record- Plans (to wake up on the beach)

Living: Pain, Salvation & Love

"Backing away from the problem of pain you never had a home
You've been misguided, you're hiding in shadows for so very long
Don't you believe that you've been deceived?

Pain is a struggle.  Pain hurts and we all experience it.  Some experience it more then others.  At the risk of being called a sadist, I rather like pain.  Let me explain...

Recently I have gotten frustrated at the amount of pain I have heard about.  My heart is heavy for my friends.  Maybe there is always this much pain, maybe I just know more people and care about more situations these days.  But regardless, that doesn't stop me from wanting to run out into the street and start screaming, at God and his angels, the stars and the trees, "Enough.  What is this all about, Stop, just stop"  No more bleeding, no more sadness.

Where is the purpose in all this?  If God is good, how come I feel so broken?

Every human experiences pain.  It manifests itself in a multitude of ways, physical, mental, spiritual and all of those elements pain has at its disposal.  I have experienced a lot of pain the last few years.  But I have overcome much of it.  Yet I don't want to have to go through the pain, at least of those experiences, again.  But I may.  For pain is inevitable, like the sunrise or the new year.  Pain is inevitable, even mandatory to the human experience, but suffering and hopelessness are NOT.

CS Lewis wrote a book called "The problem of Pain".  I have been meaning to read it, but for the purpose of this story, pretend I have.  Lewis goes about proposing the views on pain and supposes a solution in his unique theological, yet scholarly way. 

The existence of suffering in a world created by a good and almighty God—“the problem of pain”—is a fundamental theological dilemma, and perhaps the most serious objection to the Christian religion.- Jacek Bacz

As Lewis notes, pain is a problem.  Yet there is another book I have been meaning to read titled "purpose for the pain", by Renee Yohe.  Renee is the inspiration and story behind To Write Love on Her Arms.  Both these titles and books utilize non-fiction to speak on an inherently universal element in all of humanity, yet one speaks of Pain as a problem, the other as being purposeful or rather having a purpose, some would say purpose driven.
I now lean towards pain on purpose.  I cannot say that all pain will have a happy ending.  But I will say that pain has meaning, always; and that this meaning is of great depth, sometimes we never understand.
But that feeling, even feeling pain, is feeling.  Feelings are a gift, they help us navigate this world.  And feeling something, is better then feeling nothin.  What if this feeling had a purpose, and what if this purpose had a title, and what if somehow your story was building to a climax, and maybe God still has control, and if he doesn't do anything, so far as you can tell, maybe he's putting someone in your life to help you fix things, maybe He already did...
and maybe he wants us to realize we're in this together, that pain is as universal as the stars, and the desire to love and be loved, painful as it may be,
There could be a purpose to this all of this,
and it could be waiting over the next mountain, or the next, or the next,
and your feet, heart, and your eyes, must keep looking to the sky,
step by step, toward the light up ahead,
painful as it may be,



This is the correlation of salvation and love

(Don't drop your arms)
Don't drop your arms, I'll guard your heart
With quiet words I'll lead you in"--

listening:
Anberlin- Unwinding Cable Car, the

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