STARS

Since i sang this David Crowder song at a recent women's gathering it's become my personal worship song, and prayer for the spring at least. This morning we sang it again with the senior youth at their 'Overflow' service at our local church, and it's message impacted those who thought carefully about the words...a few people asked for the lyrics so here they are; [check out the David Crowder Band 2003 recording, Illuminate CD.] "I've got nothing of my own to give to you, but this light that shines on me, shines on you...and makes everything, beautiful again."

Stars

Words & Music by David Crowder:

You should see the stars tonight
how they shimmer, shine so bright.
Against the black they look so white,
coming down from such a height
to reach me now,
You reach me now.

You should see the moon in flight
cutting ‘cross the misty night,
softly dancing in sunshine
Reflections of it’s light
reach me now,
You reach me now.

And how could such a thing
shine it’s light on me,
and make ev’ry thing
beautiful again?

You should feel the sun in spring
coming out after a rain.
Suddenly all is green
sunshine on ev’ry thing.
I can feel it now,
I feel You now.

And how could such a thing
shine it’s light on me,
and make ev’ry thing
beautiful and you should >>>

>>> hear the angels sing,
All gathered ‘round their King,
More beautiful than you could dream.
I’ve been quietly listening;
You can hear them now,
I hear them now (eh yeahh)

And how could such a King
shine His light on me
and make ev’ry thing
beautiful

and I wanna shine, I want to be light,
I want to tell You it’ll be alright.

And I want to shine, and I want to fly
Just to tell You now, it’ll be alright
It’ll be alright. Yeah.

Oh, it’ll be alright….

‘Cause I’ve got nothin’ of my
own to give to You

but this light that shines on me
shines on you,
and makes ev’ry thing
beautiful
again

It’ll be alright
It’ll be alright

Mysteries So Bright

Excerpt ~ Chapter Three / FACEDOWN by Matt Redman (The Worship Series) 2004. Regal Books.

Mysteries So Bright
The God we worship is clothed in mystery. He reveals and He conceals. He invites and He hides. He confounds and He confides. The God who rests but never sleeps. Who thunders and whispers, terrifies and befriends. Whose anger lasts only a moment, but whos favor lasts a lifetime. Who is all-consuming yet kind, all-knowing yet capable of forgetting the sins He forgives. The God who wounds and binds us, who injures and who heals. The King whose footstool is the Earth, yet humbly washed the earth from the feet of those He discipled. Who reigns in righteousness yet carried our shamefulness. Who walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day, yet sweated drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane one agonizing night.
The God of the smallest detail and the grandest design, who issued ornate designs for an extravagant temple yet found pleasure in the humblest offering of a widow's two tiny coins there (see Mark 12:42; Luke 21:2). The suffering servant who commands the universe. The sinless friend of sinners. The Savior who hung in agony on beams of wood He Himself had called into being. He is fearsome yet welcoming, unfathomable yet knowable. The God of kings and beggars, presidents and paupers. Who fathers the fatherless and works through our weakness. Burning with holiness, yet refreshingly graceful.

He who is worshipped by the multitudes of heaven yet rejoices over a single returning heart. Perfect in every way yet able to help those who are being tempted. He who is faithful even to the faithless, for He cannot disown Himself. This is the God we worship - The God of all mystery.

"Too much activity + too little rest = a bunch of tired & cranky pups."

We're not like this at all ... are we!?

P.S. This is also what the lead worshipper in your local church sees looking at a congregation who stayed up too late the night before, or who are not happy with the choice of music.

PSALM 133:1 ~ "How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live together in harmony!"

The Best Kind of Friend ~ A Scottish Blessing

A Scottish Blessing For You ~

THE BEST KIND OF FRIEND

The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you’ve ever had.

It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they’ll love you back. Don’t expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart. But if it doesn’t, be content that it grew in yours. It takes only a second to get a crush on someone, a minute to like someone, and a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

Don’t go for looks; they can deceive. Don’t go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it only takes a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one who makes your heart smile.

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.

Always put yourself in others’ shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the other person more. The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes across their path.

Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried. For only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

Only You

2006. SKY OVER LORRAINE DRIVE ~ "We are breathing the breath that You gave us to breathe."


Song Lyrics; 2003. David Crowder. Illuminate CD.

Take my heart

I lay it down

At the feet

of You Who's crowned

And take my life

I'm letting go

I lift it up

to You Who's throned

And I will worship You LORD

Only You LORD

And I will bow down before You

Only You, LORD


Take my fret

take my fear

All I have

I'm leaving here

Be all my hopes

Be all my dreams

Be all my delight

Be my everything


And it's just You and me here now

Only You and me here now


And I will worship You LORD

Only You LORD
And I will bow down before YOU

Only You, LORD.

Explanation of God ~ Grade Three

EXPLANATION OF GOD from the perspective of an eight year old grade three student:

"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.

God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off.God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.

Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in my city. At least there aren't any who come to our church.

Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him. But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K.

His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven, and his Spirit could stay on earth, so they did that, and now Jesus helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important.

You can pray anytime you want and they (the Father, the Son, and the Spirit) are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.

You should always go to church because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God! Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.

If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.

But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases."

A Valentine Message For YOU

...It may be difficult for you to believe that God knows your name... but He does.

Written on His hand.

Spoken by His mouth.

Whispered by His lips.

Your name.

"I have written your name on My hand." ~ Isaiah 49:16

You have captured the heart of God. He cannot bear to live without you. God's dream is to make you right with Him. And the path to the cross tells us exactly how far God will go to call us back.

"It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us in sending His Son to be the way to take away our sins." ~ 1 John 4:10

If you want to touch God's heart, use the name He loves to hear. Call Him "Father". He thinks you're wonderful.

Excepts from the book God Thinks You're Wonderful, by best-selling inspirational author Max Lucado. Copyright of text 2003. by Max Lucado.