Praying for Redemption

A Christian band named Waterdeep has released a CD entitled, Everyone's Beautiful. The title track of that album moves me every time I hear it - the lyrics are so raw and capture exactly how I feel when I think about the stupid stuff I have done in the past and simply pray that God will somehow use my foibles, my weaknesses, and even my sin to bring glory to Himself in the end. My favorite line is, "all of us crawling on hands and knees in need of You," ...

... finally, that's really all that any of us do.



Everyone's Beautiful

I used to draw all the time back when I was in high school
Thick yellow pencils with soft lead that smeared real easy
Page after page I was longing, but senior year
I met a girl and she made me feel better here
But a girl was a girl was a girl
And she was beautiful, everyone's beautiful
I smeared the picture of her and then I walked away

I remember in junior high, half sick from fear on the hillside
Eddie wore braces and talked like he couldn't be beaten
Shawn had said, "Friday, out back after school"
Eddie was stumbling, blood mixed with drool
But a fight is a fight is a fight
Still they were beautiful, everyone's beautiful
All of us crawling on hands and knees in need of You

I want to lift up my memory of down in the desert and set it on fire
Watch it burn, watch it burn up -- how it changes --
And hope that the smoke of the sins of my youth
Will sail to the base of the throne of the King,
'Cause a prayer is a prayer is a prayer
Then they were beautiful, everyone's beautiful
All of us crawling on hands and needs in need of You...

...and they were beautiful, all of us beautiful,
Let them all find their redemption down deep in Your eyes...

A Free Society of "Slaves"

Stephen Lawhead, one of my favorite authors, has written a fantasy series called The Dragon King Saga. It is made up of three books - In the Hall of the Dragon King, The Warlords of Nin, and The Sword and the Flame. The following is a conversation between the two main characters of the story, Quentin and Toli. Quentin begins his journey as an acolyte in the High Temple; Toli is from a race of people known as the Jher (whose culture is very similar to that of Native Americans). Toli is my favorite character...

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"The Jher believe that every man is responsible for his own life. The Jher are free -- I am free -- we do not suffer any to be masters over us. But a Jher may take a master if he chooses."

Toli's voice rose and the lines of his face began to ease as he continued. "For a Jher to take a master, to serve him in all to the death - this is the highest honor. For to serve a worthy master accounts the servant worthy. Few of my people ever find an opportunity as I have found." He spoke this last part as a boast, his eyes sparkling. "A great master makes his servant great."

"But the danger..."

"He who serves shares his master's portion - danger, death, or triumph. If the master receives honor, so his servant receives much greater honor."

"But I did not ask you to be my servant."

"No," he said proudly. "I chose you."

Quentin shood his head. "What about your people?"

"They will know and rejoice for me." Toli's face beamed with pleasure.

"I do not understand," complained Quentin, though he did not much mind his lack of understanding.

"That is because your people are brought up to believe that serving another is a weakness. It is not out of weakness that one serves, but out of strength."

The Perfect Day

May 14, 2007 was the perfect day...

I spent the day with my beautiful girlfriend, Allison Herling, in Leavenworth, WA. Leavenworth is a tourist Bavarian village near the center of Washington state, and the town sits on the magnificent Wenatchee River. We ate waffles for breakfast, had some of the best bratwurst and hamburgers I've ever tasted for lunch; then in the afternoon, on the bank of the Wenatchee River, I asked her to marry me...

...and she said, "I WILL!!!!"