Archive for June, 2005

MofM: Trust

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 30, 2005

Month of Music Day 30
Smalltown Poets
Trust
Smalltown Poets

So he sat behind his natural defenses
And there he wrestled with the song
He heard his name in every line, his life in every measure
Faced with feelings he could not explain

There was hunger in his hollow hesitation
There was posturing for peace
But even where the spirit willed
The flesh was still maintaining
Ground to give only for a sign
And the call went out again

[Chorus:]

Take this bread, drink this cup
Know this price has pardoned you
From all that’s hardened you
But it’s going to take some trust

He lost a heartbeat when he heard the testimony
Another soul forsaking pride
And quickened by the Spirit
He’s so sure that he could hear it
Jesus his Saviour calling him to come

[Chorus:]

Take this bread, drink this cup
Know this price has pardoned you
From all that’s hardened you
But it’s going to take some trust

[Bridge:]

Come every soul by sin oppressed
There’s mercy with the Lord
And He will surely give you rest
By trusting in His word

[Chorus:]

Take this bread, drink this cup
Know this price has pardoned you
From all that’s hardened you
But it’s going to take some trust

My Take:

I’m not sure what my favorite song of all time is, but I know this song will be played at my wedding, and my funeral. In fact, had it not been for Sondra’s mention of Smalltown Poets, I probably wouldn’t have cared.

When I first heard this song in 1997, it didn’t seem all that memorable. Then the bridge - merely the song ‘Only Trust Him’ without the chorus - made me stop in my tracks. It was this simple addition that made me listen to this song another 300 times.

Unlike other songs, this one doesn’t get worse with play. I love it more now than I did in 1997, 1998, and so on. There’s just something about the story, and how we don’t find out what the guy does. It’s much like the book In His Steps, the inspiration for the What Would Jesus Do? wristbands.

And you know that no self-respecting pastor would leave without extending an invitation? See that link up there in the top-left? That’s the plan of salvation. That’s it, it’s all you need.

If you’re reading this, that means that God wanted you to see this. Maybe you’re not ready to make a commitment, that’s okay. Never let it be said that I forced an answer out of you. And that conflict you might be feeling is God pulling at your heartstrings, wanting you to come.

Take this bread, drink this cup
Know this price has pardoned you
From all that’s hardened you
But it’s going to take some trust

Categorized:
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MofM: Where You Belong/Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 29, 2005

Month of Music Day 29
Newsboys
Where You Belong/Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Not Ashamed

When you´re dull from all that glitters
When you´re thoughts have a hollow ring
When you can´t escape from the feeling you´re getting it wrong

All your foolproof plans seem foolish
All your status is status quo
All your really need to know is where you belong

[Chorus:]

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

I was used to the cold for so long that couldn´t feel anything
And I shivered and stared like a beggar who won´t lift his hands
I was numb until He touched me
I was deaf until He heard
I was senseless ´til I met the One who understands

[Chorus:]

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

Turn your eyes
Turn your eyes
Turn your eyes

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

My Take:

Quite simply, without this song, when I was going past the railroad tracks by the graveyard near the light on the North side of campus in Hattiesburg…I would be either dead, a drug addict, or worse.

No, I didn’t wake up one day, this song was playing, and I stopped dealing drugs. It’s never that easy. I was watching cable TV at 3 AM one night, full of bitter rage (which is usually why I’m up at 3 AM) and a thing called ZTV was on. The video to this song was playing.

At the time, I was finally on my own in the big city, and I could’ve done anything with myself. It was really becoming easier and easier to equivocate morality. It was becoming easier and easier just to be more like my friends. Things weren’t becoming less complicated, just easier.

It was after I’d slept with (but not sexed up) this girl that God started working on me again. I really was becoming one of “them.” Not that “them” are evil people, it’s just that “them” aren’t living in the light of God’s ways, for the most part. Not that I’m ever going to hold a candle to Jesus, it’s just that I was heading in the wrong direction.

Fast.

On a greased rail.

Something else about “them:” I love “them.” “Them” are my friends, and I have great love for “them.” It just that my God calls me to rebuke the sins that “them” were involved in. It was really just the Devil working on their sin nature, but I wasn’t helping, either.

3 years earlier, I’d enjoyed singing the Hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” I was living for God, even when ignoring my Mother’s cancer. Amazingly, God was patient with my immaturity, as He still is, to this day. I owe it to this song.

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MofM: Jesus Freak

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 28, 2005

Month of Music Day 28
dc Talk
Jesus Freak
Jesus Freak

(What will people think
When they hear that I’m a Jesus Freak?
What will people do
When they find that’s it’s true?)

Separated, I cut myself clean
From a past that comes back in my darkest of dreams
Been apprehended by a spiritual force
And a grace that replaced all the me I’ve divorced

I saw a man with tat on his big fat belly
It wiggled around like marmalade jelly
It took me a while to catch what it said
Cause I had to match the rhythm
Of his belly with my head
‘Jesus Saves’ is what it raved in a typical tattoo green
He stood on a box in the middle of the city
And claimed he had a dream

[Chorus:]

What will people think
When they hear that I’m a Jesus freak
What will people do when they find that it’s true
I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus freak
There ain’t no disguising the truth

There ain’t no disguising the truth
No, I ain’t into hiding the truth

Kamikaze, my death is gain
I’ve been marked by my Maker
A peculiar display (peculiar display)
The high and lofty, they see me as weak
Cause I won’t live and die for the power they seek

There was a man from the desert with naps in his head
The sand that he walked was also his bed
The words that he spoke made the people assume
There wasn’t too much left in the upper room
With skins on his back and hair on his face
They thought he was strange by the locusts he ate
The Pharisees tripped when they heard him speak
Until the king took the head of this Jesus freak

[Chorus 2x:]

What will people think
When they hear that I’m a Jesus freak
What will people do when they find that it’s true
I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus freak
There ain’t no disguising the truth

What will people think
When they hear that I’m a Jesus freak
What will people do when they find that it’s true
I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus freak
There ain’t no disguising the truth

No, I ain’t into hidin’…

[Bridge:]

People say I’m strange, does it make me a stranger
That my best friend was born in a manger
People say I’m strange, does it make me a stranger
That my best friend was born in a manger

[Chorus 2x:]

What will people think
When they hear that I’m a Jesus freak
What will people do when they find that it’s true
I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus freak
There ain’t no disguising the truth

What will people think
When they hear that I’m a Jesus freak
What will people do when they find that it’s true
I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus freak
There ain’t no disguising the truth

What will people think
(What will people think)
What will people do
(What will people do)
I don’t really care
(What else can I say)
There ain’t no disguising the truth
(Jesus is the way)

My Take:

This song is actually controversial, not because of the words, but because of the sound. I’m constantly amazed at how this song won the Dove Award for the Song of the Year, yet was almost universally condemned for being the music of the Devil. Especially from my Dad.

The reason this song’s on the list is that it was the first song that started a run of about 8 years where CCM was the driving force in the music industry. Bands were starting to comp the sounds coming out of Nashville studios. That’s where the bulk of my music collection was started.

This song’s never gotten old, because most Christian radio stations are afraid to play it. It just sounds too controversial, I guess.

Insert ironic “Jesus freak” joke here.

Categorized:
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MofM: Sierra

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 27, 2005

Month of Music Day 27
Sierra
Sierra
Sierra

Lord, here I am again
In search of a quiet place to rest
I’m walking in a wilderness
That always puts me to the test

My hope is in the truth
I have no strength apart from You
So when I need to hear Your voice
I have a choice

[Chorus:]

These steps of life I’ll climb
To reach a home to call it mine
On holy ground right by Your side
Is where I need to be
A higher place

Sierra
A higher place
Sierra
A higher place

The miles, they stretch ahead
They twist and turn and never end
Shaking my confidence
‘Til I run to Your arms again

That’s when, You lift me up
In sweet communion’s holy cup
I see the valleys down below
I won’t let go

[Chorus:]

These steps of life I’ll climb
To reach a home to call it mine
On holy ground right by Your side
Is where I need to be
A higher place

Sierra
A higher place
Sierra
A higher place

These steps of life I’ll climb
To reach a home to call it mine
On holy ground right by Your side
Is where I need to be
A higher place

Sierra
A higher place
Sierra
A higher place

My Take:

So, one day I’m looking at my CD collection, and I make the off-hand thought, “this band sounds nice, but they’ll never have another hit, and wouldn’t record another album. I liked this song, but I had no idea why I would even care whether or not the band was going to keep going on. It just seemed like they were not going to come back.

It wasn’t until a couple of years later, when I was talking to Gina that I was looking through _her_ CD collection, that I saw the next Sierra album, Devotion. That’s when I told her about what I thought about the band.

“So, you thought they weren’t any good?” she asked.

“It’s not that I didn’t think they were any good, It’s just that I didn’t they had staying power.” I’m not sure how in the world that line of logic had ever popped into my feeble brain.

“Well, I guess you were wrong.”

I was. In fact, they also went on to record Story of Life and Change. All the while, I’d yet to record album the first. To this day, I’ve yet to record an album.

That story sticks with me for this reason: I underestimated them. I did so without any thought to their abilities or desires. It really showed me that I can be judgmental, and that I can issue edicts based on little more than a bad idea.

I pray for wisdom. It’s another thing Gina taught me. Someday I’ll be wise, and I’ll have Gina to thank for it.

Categorized:
Media

MofM: Sock Heaven

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 26, 2005

Month of Music Day 26
Steve Taylor
Sock Heaven
Squint

Out of the wringer, into the dryer
Spins the clothes higher
Squeezing out static and shocks
Little stockings tumbling ’round together
Couldn’t cling forever
Now I’m missing one of my socks

[Pre-Chorus:]

Lord, where do they go?
Lord, where do they go?

[Chorus:]

One pile waits with their god in a box
The other pile nervously mocks heaven
Misfits lost in the dryer, take heart
Maybe there’s a place up in sock heaven

Out of the wringer, into the dryer
Couldn’t just retire
Had to try tempting the fates
One little band spinning ’round together
Couldn’t cling forever
God, I think I’m losing my mates

Seven good years, followed by a feeling I’d hit the glass ceiling
Maybe I’d best disappear
Pick any market
Pick a straitjacket
If you can’t act it
Misfit, you don’t belong here

[Pre-Chorus:]

Lord, where do they go?
Lord, where do they go?
Lord, where do they go?
Lord, where do they go?

[Chorus:]

One pile waits with their god in a box
The other pile nervously mocks heaven
Misfits lost in the dryer, take heart
Maybe there’s a place up in sock heaven

Didn’t want a platform to build a new church
Didn’t want a mansion in rock heaven
Didn’t want more than to be understood
Maybe there’s a place up in sock heaven

Lord, where do we go?
Lord, where do we go?
Lord, where do we go?
Lord, where do we go?

Lord, where do we go?
Lord, where do we go?
Lord, where do we go?
Lord, where do we go?

We’re gathered here to ask the Lord’s blessing
Maybe not his blessing
Maybe we’re not asking at all
Out of the box with every good intention
Did you fail to mention
This time we were destined to crawl?

And every day that we died just a little more
I was sure you were sovereignly watching us dangle
I don’t get it now
But I’ll get it when
In sock heaven I see it all from your angle

[Chorus:]

One pile waits with their god in a box (god in a box)
The other pile nervously mocks heaven
Misfits lost in the dryer, take heart (dryer, take heart)
Maybe there’s a place up in sock heaven

Didn’t want a platform to build a new church (build a new church)
Didn’t want a mansion in rock heaven
Didn’t want more than to be understood (be understood)
Maybe there’s a place up in sock heaven
One pile waits with their god in a box (god in a box)
The other pile nervously mocks heaven
Misfits lost in the dryer, take heart (dryer, take heart)
Maybe there’s a place up in sock heaven

Didn’t want a platform to build a new church (build a new church)
Didn’t want a mansion in rock heaven
Didn’t want more than to be understood (be understood)
Maybe there’s a place up in sock heaven

My Take:

Learn more about this song and Steve Taylor Sock Heaven.net. Now, how many songs (just songs, not the artist) have their own websites? Not a lot. You wouldn’t last 5 minutes on that ‘Who wants a Millionaire’ show.

I actually wrote something very personal about this about 5 years ago, but I’m not telling. Not just yet. Consider it me trying to keep a little mystery in the relationship.

But, remind me to tell you this story someday.

Categorized:
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MofM: Agnus Dei

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 25, 2005

Month of Music Day 25
Third Day
Agnus Dei
Exodus

Alleluia, alleluia
For the lord God almighty reigns
Alleluia, alleluia
For the lord God almighty reigns
Alleluia

Holy, holy are you lord God almighty
Worthy is the lamb
Worthy is the lamb
You are holy, holy are you lord God almighty
Worthy is the lamb
Worthy is the lamb
Amen

My Take:

I won’t bore you, I have nothing to say here.

It’s appropriate then, as there are just times when we need to relax, and just savor the moment.

Like the day I came back to America, and breathed in the formerly sucky New Jersey air.

Like the time I first kissed a girl.

Like the time I got the whole room to roll with laughter.

Like the time everybody showered me with praises.

Take a minute…and enjoy something. You’ll thank me later.

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MofM: Is This The Day

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 24, 2005

Month of Music Day 24
The Waiting
Is This The Day
Blue Belly Sky

Is this the day when You will do a work in me?
Is this the day when Your face is all that I can see?
Is this the day when the old in me will die?
Is this the day when You’ll be glorified?

Is this the day when I will listen to Your voice alone?
Is this the day when every word I say is not my own?
Is this the day when I will run from every lie?
Is this the day when You’ll be glorified?

Is this the day when You will have the victory?
Is this the day when there’ll be all of You and none of me?
Is this the day when every spot in me shines white?
Is this the day when You’ll be glorified?

Is this the day, Lord, when You’ll be glorified?

My Take:

If you’ve never seen this before, then you haven’t been looking. In fact, my original intent for MacStansbury.org was a personal place to vent my own Spiritual ruminations. But it didn’t turn out that way.

I bought the MacStansbury.org domain to be the non-commercial part of the MacStanbury.com Empire, a computer-fixin’, blog-makin’, network-setting-uppin’ company extraordinaire. But, even after a few months of getting things going and making a usable product, people found out how freaking easy Blogger is to use, and I tasted cold, bitter defeat. It wasn’t a fun time to be me.

So, I took my $20,000 loss, and now I’m an un-employed failure. Not that it bothers me, I’ve really never cared what other people think of my personal achievements, as long as they don’t personally hate me. I’m a people pleaser by nature, and sometimes that will get in the way of my better judgement.

A few months ago I decided to make this domain my blog, or ‘blorg’, as in MacStansbury.ORG. Yeah, it wasn’t funny then, either. It’s just a place where I blorg about stuff.

But, then again, this is who I am…a Christian, an MC, a guitar player, an Army officer, a music critic, and a Mac user. It’s really impossible to divorce any of these things from me, and I’m learning to embrace them. And lucky you…you’re getting to read about it.

Wake up…I can hear you snoring. I’m getting to the interesting part. Promise!

Okay…something interesting…something interesting…what could I possibly talk about that’s interesting….

Oh, right…the song. Forgot about that…and time to stop using dots…

I’d bought the first The Waiting album called…’The Waiting’ earlier in 1997, so I was familiar with the band when I saw their name on the screen. The screen was above the band, playing ‘Is This The Day.’ We were watching them in Gulf Shores Baptist Assembly in Mississippi, in the Spring of 1998. We were at Gulf Shores on a retreat with the Youth group.

I saw the words as the band played, and it struck me odd. This was not written as a praise and worship song, yet it sort of worked. There was a sort of rhythm to it that I couldn’t make out - it just kept me enthralled.

The week after the retreat, I went looking for that CD. I couldn’t find it, since it wasn’t ever produced. I’m not sure how the band even found the song, seeing as how it was never produced. It wasn’t until years later that I would find it in a re-release tape. The band made a very small run of the CD and tape in 1995, long before they ever made it to Sparrow Records, a major outlet.

They’d re-released ‘Blue Belly Sky’ in 1998, and almost nobody knew about it…well, maybe somebody in that band. The CD is unremarkable, unless you are a huge The Waiting fan, it’s not going to really do much for anybody. Well, except for this song.

It’s amazing what failure does to some people. Donald Trump has gone into bankruptcy more times that Jennifer Lopez’s been married! But, they perceiver, because you just have to keep fighting, working, and moving on.

Sure, you have doubts, and there will be trials, and it will seem like you can’t keep going. That’s when God picks you up, and totes you on His shoulders. Or, at least slows down and lets you rest for a second.

I mean, can He really spend all day picking people up all the time? He’s like, all powerful and stuff, but I don’t think He goes around lifting all the time. And what’s up with always being in sand? What was I doing again…

Right, asking some questions. Questions that take the emphasis off me, and put it on others. Questions that remind me that there’s a purpose behind what I do. Questions for which I don’t have the answers.

Fittingly, there are no answers in this song. Just more questions. Isn’t that like life? It makes me wonder when I’m going to figure out all this stuff. Is this the day?

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MofM: Hand On My Shoulder

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 23, 2005

Month of Music Day 23
Sandi Patty
Hand On My Shoulder
Le Voyage

My heart, breaking up inside me
How could anyone feel so alone
Tears flow, pouring from my sorrow
No one here but me knows, I’m alive

[Pre-Chorus:]

And the thunder rolls in me
As the rain falls endlessly
Who could save me from my life

[Chorus:]

There’s a hand, a hand on my shoulder
Through the storm, however it blows
There’s a hand, a hand on my shoulder
Stays with me, wherever I go

Clouds fade, even on a bad day
Even when the bough breaks in the wind
And love stays even when a man cries
And though a part of him dies in the end

[Pre-Chorus:]

It’s the lamp that tears the night
With a spark of Heaven’s light
Never leaves me on my own

[Chorus:]

There’s a hand, a hand on my shoulder
Through the storm, however it blows
There’s a hand a hand on my shoulder
Stays with me, wherever I go

[Bridge:]

When darkness hides the light of day
My God is there to point the way
The arms that hold me through the night
And lead me on into the light

[Chorus:]

There’s a hand, a hand on my shoulder
Through the storm, however it blows
There’s a hand, a hand on my shoulder
Stays with me, wherever I go

There’s a hand, a hand on my shoulder
Through the storm, however it blows
There’s a hand, a hand on my shoulder
And it stays with me, wherever I go
Wherever I go

My Take:

I never listen to this song. I think I’ve listened to it maybe 25 times in my life. For once, it isn’t because I’m not interested, or I don’t like it; quite the contrary. It must never get old.

It’s like fine wine, or a girl in a really nice pair of jeans…too much, and it just looses it’s flavor. There are many songs in my collection that have 15 or 20 plays just since I’ve started counting in iTunes. In fact, even with over 2,900 songs, there are still many favorites with dozens of plays.

But not ‘Hand on my Shoulder.’ It is special. I can’t place my finger on when I heard it first, or where, but it was such a wonderful sound, that I never wanted it to be ruined. So, in 1992, I pledged to never listen to it unless it was a special occasion.

This is the rare tune that I really will make people shut up, and I will turn up the volume. And I will savor it. The day I hear this song is a good day.

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MofM: Hang You Upside Down

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 22, 2005

Month of Music Day 22
Model Engine
Hang You Upside Down
Take Time To Listen - Volume 5

As sometimes happens
A moment hovered and remained
For much more than a moment
Underneath the weight of everything
We’re turning black coals into diamonds
And we’re sifting through the remains
And picking out the pearls when we find them

[Chorus:]

And we’re drawing lines to form fish in the sand
If they find you out they’ll hang you upside down
With sharpened spikes to form fit through your hands
And twisted thorns for a crown

Now the happy ever after is still a ways away
Have patience
When the good news took root
All the other just became outside interference

[Chorus:]

And we’re drawing lines to form fish in the sand
If they find you out they’ll hang you upside down
With sharpened spikes to form fit through your hands
And twisted thorns for a crown

Rumor has it the skeptics are restless
Be sure to tip your hat when you go by

[Chorus:]

Now we’re drawing lines to form fish in the sand
If they find you out they’ll hang you upside down
With sharpened spikes to form fit through your hands
And twisted thorns for a crown

Crown, crown, crown, crown
Crown, crown, crown, crown

My Take:

Rarely does a sampler make the list for the favorite CDs of all time, but this is no ordinary sampler. In fact, it was my favorite CD of 2000. Seriously!

Five Minute Walk put out these samplers every year to raise money for charity. This particular year, the got other labels to contribute to the effort. And there were some memorable songs:

Artist/ Title

Soul-Junk/ Ill-M-I: This is the same song as on Toby Mac’s ‘Diverse City.’ Only his version’s better.
Philmore/ Our Finest Hour: Glam rock. This was the song that brought it all back. Yep, this dumb song was the start.
PAX 217/ Gratitude: You already know about PAX 217, and how I think they are furreal. This was my first exposure.
Relient K/ Hello McFly: Addictive. Like PAX 217, this was my first exposure.
Brave Saint Saturn/ Space Robot 5: One of the Five Minute Walk artists, this song is weird, but cool.
Rivulets & Violets/ I Hate You: Anti-love song. Also cool.
The W’s/ Somewhere Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea: Ska, mein. Oh yeah. I miss ska.
Earthsuit/ One Time: How Earthsuit _didn’t_ make this list is a tragedy. I should talk to the management, or something. Maybe it’s cause it’s too cool for MofM.
The Elms/ Life Boat: How are these guys not famous?
John Reuben/ No Regrets: Planting the seeds of my current white-guy rap phase
Luna Halo/ Aliens: The former singer in Reality Check, he was trying to be the Kevin of DC Talk. This is a cool song.
Justin McRoberts/ 5th Wheel: Like Space Robot 5, this is a cool, quirky song.
Five Iron Frenzy/ Solidarity: More of the Ska. Have I mentioned that I miss ska?

Anyhow, there are some not-so-obvious reasons why I love this particular song. Mainly, the references to how the early Church had to go about it’s business. That’s the story of the Ichthys.

The ichthys from Wikipedia:

It is believed that societies of Christians in the early Roman Empire, prior to the Edict of Milan, protected their congregations by keeping their meetings secret. In order to point the way to ever-changing meeting places, they developed a symbol which adherents would readily recognize, and which they could scratch on rocks, walls and the like, in advance of a meeting. Another story suggests that the ichthys was used as a sort of secret handshake: one person would draw with a staff a single curve, (half of the ichthys) in the sand, and another person could confirm their identity as a Christian by completing the symbol….

It’s also tradition that Peter was crucified upside down, so as to not be like the man he saw crucified and then returned to life.

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MofM: Down On My Knees

Published
by
John Stansbury
on June 21, 2005

Month of Music Day 21
Susan Ashton
Down On My Knees
Wakened by the Wind

I’ve got a witness not too stable
It wouldn’t get me very far
I’ve got one hand on the table
And one in the cookie jar
I’ve got sins that need eviction
From a temple that’s a wreck
I’ve got a chain of contradiction
Hanging around my neck
So I go down, I go down, down
I go down on my knees

I feel the bitter winds grow colder
They are dancing with my pride
I’ve got a chip on my shoulder
Bigger than a mountainside
And these claws of human nature
Hold me tight within their clasp
I’m not worthy of forgiveness
But I just had to ask
So I go down, I go down, down
I go down on my knees

[Chorus:]

Feed my hunger – slake my thirst
For a spiritual rebirth
Light my darkness
Move in me
Make me more than what you see
As I go down on my knees

When I’ve all but killed the fire
And my soul’s in desperate need
But I wallow in the mire of complacency
That’s when I go down on my knees
I want to taste the fruit I’m missing
And yet I feast only on the bread
My desire’s alive and kicking
But my drive is dead
So I go down on my knees

[Chorus:]

Feed my hunger – slake my thirst
For a spiritual rebirth
Light my darkness
Move in me
Make me more than what you see
As I go down on my knees

You bear the weight of condemnation
Cleansing with the blood of truth
So with my humble acclamation
I want to give myself to you
So I go down, I go down, down
I go down on my knees
I go down, I go down, yea
I go down on my knees
I go down, I go down, down
I go down on my knees

My Take:

Quite simply, I would not be here without this song. Yep, this song is that important to my life, even though I never listen to it, I can barely remember how it goes, and I don’t particularly even like it. So how in the world did it make the list?

Easy, this song proved that Christian music wasn’t going to suck for all time. How so? I was watching the 700 Club, and Susan was on the show with a guitar player, and she sang this song. Not knowing any better, I went to my local Christian book store and made my first of several hundred CD purchases.

It’s my faith that’s kept me going this far. When I was about to enter the University of Tennessee, I wondered what I would do when I got there. Would I be like the evil persona I’d been in High School, or would I be that genuine guy, who struggles to walk with the Lord?

Thanks to my college & career class, my Susan Ashton CD, and the encouragement from God, I chose the hard right, instead of the easy wrong, and made the tough decision to be open and honest with my faith. It’s helped my survive the rough patches, the hard times.

I owe it all to this song.

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