After I was discharged from the hospital from my cancer surgery in May, 2000, I experienced severe pain for several days. Nights were the worst. I would sit in the hotel room at 2:00 AM feeling almost hopeless. But the phrase "when I must weep amid the fires of pain" came to me over and over. When I began to tie that phrase together with the rest of that magnificent old song I gained a lot of fresh perspective. My pain didn't go away, but my reserves to handle it increased significantly. I was really ministered to by that song, and I have been thankful ever since that God inspired that writer.

I can't ever sing, "till the sinful world be won, For Jehovah's mighty Son," without shivering.....

My wife and I just finished playing in a Christmas Program for the other band director I work with and I heard Christ's birth described like never before, "You wrapped your best in our mortal flesh." The whole concert was great but that stuck with me.

As I mentioned in a previous post regarding Christmas songs, one of my favorite is Chris Rice's "Welcome To Our World".

On the next to last verse, the following verbiage puts many things into perspective in regards to God's plan and his forgiveness through Jesus Christ, especially in this glorious Christmas season...

Fragile fingers sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorns
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born...unto us is born

No other gift or blessing Thou coulds't bestow could with this one compare:

A constant sense of Thy abiding presence where're I am to feel that Thou art near.

Not really buried but I thought about this one this morning as I went out to get the newspaper,where I was greeted by the Sun rising, and blazing brilliantly this morning into the clear, cold morning. "Morning has broken, like the first morning. Bluebird has spoken, like the first bird.

"My sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and i bare it no more...praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul!"

tim magill
kansas city, ks

There is one song that i love from Acappella Heroes...i love it because it is a fun, comical song...but when it gets to the bridge, it has some very deep lyrics...always makes me marvel about how God uses us ordinary people to be his representatives here on earth. i listen to the song just to get to the bridge!

"In our pursuit of the truth
How often we are deceived
By trusting only that which we see
Would the unsearchable God
Merely show me his will
Through only those who look like me?

If it's the glory of Kings to search things out
And it's the glory of God to conceal
Then a wildman prophet can be no more absurd
Than the manger King he reveals"

Two especially come to mind for me:

"Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee" That prayer, answered, may well explain the seemingly untimely, early deaths of many saints.

"Keep me from secret sin" Seems particularly poignant in a time when so much temptation to sin is so accessible through the same medium (computer) that can also be such a great source of blessing.

" . . . sorrow and love flow mingled down . . . "


" . . . the one we love the most is now our gracious host."

" . . . change and decay in all around I see; Oh, Thou who changest not, abide with me."

"They who fain would serve Thee best are conscious most of wrong within."

"With wings like an eagle, my heart made to fly, over sin over sorrow, to new realms of life.
From glory to glory, my gaze fixed so high, that I only see Jesus, the love of my life."

Even typing it, it gets me all choked up.

Morgan

"I want to hold the hands that bled for me...."

"No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand!"

First time I heard this phrase I was "driven" to my knees in prayer. After that I listened to this short phrase at least 100 times traveling from Athens Texas to Longview Texas. (wore out the tape in that spot.) (Go Dale Underwood).

But when God broke this man, oh I began to understand
What drove Him to the tree

Last week we sang these words:

"Behold the man upon a cross - my sin upon his shoulders.
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.
It was MY sin that held him there until it was accomplished.
His dying breath has brought me life - I know that it is finished."

The last verse of that song says:

"Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart - his wounds have paid my ransom."

There are so many....

In the song Here I am to Worship....."I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross"

Because He Lives...."And then as death gives way to victory, I'll see the lights of Glory and I'll know He lives"

I bowed on my knees and cried Holy.."I want to see Jesus, the One who died for me"