Taking It Back to the Beginning

I've been terrible about keeping this Song of the Day a daily thing, but what can a sick girl do? So today, I'm gonna do a bunch of songs to make up for those I've missed and the ones I'm bound to in the future.

Today's songs are from my childhood. They're my first memories of music. When I was 3, I remember singing to these songs as the co-pilot in my mom's small red Saab on the way uptown, to preschool or to church. I remember cracking an imaginary whip to Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Busy Man" on his first album. (Of course, we had the tape.) I remember thinking one of my favorite Gaither Vocal Band songs "New Wine" said "Moo Wine". (I lived on a farm, surrounded my cows...are we surprised?) And it wasn't the "Gaither Vocal Band". It was the Loafer Gaifer Band or Vocal Gaifer Band, or however it managed to come out. Kinda like KFC was always Chicken Fried Chicken in my mind. It still is if I don't stop and think about it before I speak. ANYWAY, these are the first songs I ever knew. Therefore, they obviously shaped the person I became.

The first song was and is a favorite because (duh) it talks about horses and has a classical music prelude. But the older I get, the more I enjoy and can appreciate the words. I've always loved Steven Curtis Chapman...he just seems to get what it's all about. Love. Grace. An adventure and the thirst to know more about life along the way. When I get bogged down, like today in my final paper and parasites (yes, I've got 2 lil Peruvian friends that I'm currently zapping with some nasty medicine), I listen to a song like this. I'll be traveling for 3 weeks all around Peru, starting this weekend. That's another time to listen to this song. Read the lyrics...I especially love the part about "long-faced religion"! :D

The Great Adventure

Saddle up your horses

Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle, try to make it better than the last

I opened up the Bible, and I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner, and God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages, it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me, and I heard somebody say
"Let's go"!

Saddle up your horses, we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure

Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long-faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for

We'll travel over, over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys below
Still through it all, we'll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams



The second song is from an old tape we had by Michael Card. This, too, I appreciate the older I get. Sometimes, it's easy to feel like a fool because of having faith in something you can't prove. Espcially during this time in my life (college) when people typically question their beliefs, surroundings and raisings.

I will never think that there is anything wrong with questioning what you learn...if there's one thing I hate, it's a sheep (or clone, robot, whatever you want to call it!) I can't stand narrow-mindedness. It's why I'll never live again where I was raised. Many people, though, would probably think I am a fool, like this next song says. That doesn't bother me. I've wrestled with my faith day in and day out and found it to be what keeps me going. I've determined that I'd rather be foolishly in love than not.

God's Own Fool

Seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind

For even His family said He was mad
And the priests said a demon's to blame
But God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong

And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell-
Believe the unbelievable
And come be a fool as well

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
And you'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam

So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see



Here's another wonderful S.C.C. song. It basically describes, well, my life.

Lord of the Dance [Col 1:15-20]

On the bank of the Tennessee River
In a small Kentucky town
I drew my first breath one cold November morning
And before my feet even touched the ground
With the doctors and the nurses gathered 'round
I started to dance

A little boy full of wide-eyed wonder
Footloose and fancy free
But it would happen, as it does for every dancer
That I'd stumble on a truth I couldn't see
And find a longing deep inside of me, it said...

I am the heart, I need the heartbeat
I am the eyes, I need the sight
I realize that I am just a body
I need the life
I move my feet, I go through the motions
But who'll give purpose to chance?
I am the dancer
I need the Lord of the dance

The world beneath us spins in circles
And this life makes us twist and turn and sway
But we were made for more than rhythm with no reason
By the one who moves with passion and with grace
As He dances over all that He has made

I am the heart, He is the heartbeat
I am the eyes, He is the sight
And I see clearly, I am just a body
He is the life
I move my feet, I go through the motions
But He gives purpose to chance
I am the dancer
He is the Lord of the dance

And while the music of His love and mercy plays
I will fall down on my knees and I will pray

I am the heart, You are the heartbeat
I am the eyes, You are the sight
And I see clearly, I am just a body
You are the life
I move my feet, I go through the motions
But You give purpose to chance
I am the dancer
You are the Lord of the dance