Stories
Come Home / Great Physician / I Have To Tell You / Ready Yet / Recognition / Restoration / Uncover Yourself
Come Home
For most of my time in listening to Christian music I have always found it hard to enjoy any song that was written from the perspective of God. I almost thought it to be pride that a person would dare step into those shoes (metaphor of course) those Pacific Ocean size shoes and speak as if they had the very words God would choose if He ever decided to write a song. The humor in this, and I hope God finds it funny also, (if He laughs, sure He does) is that though I have always had a hard time stomaching those songs, He used me to write the one song that He has been trying to get musicians to write for years. See I wouldn’t write a song like this unless I had talked to God Himself and heard Him clearly say, “Josh I’ve been meaning to write this song to tell my people a few things, so here’s the lyrics and the chords, why don’t you go ahead and put that together for me (since you got skills like that).” Hopefully by this point in the story you are at least a bit entertained or smirking just a little. And if you’re too legalistic to find humor in this then forgive me, honestly I’m sorry….but I still think God laughs (come on He created anteaters, those things are funny)
The song, from God’s point of view of course, is filled with words that I felt Him saying to me at a point in my life. I am also in a sense trying to beckon (you can’t use this word in Scrabble because Webster says its not a word) lost people and/or fallen away church goers to this idea that no matter what they find themselves in, whatever they are trying to fill the “void” of their lives, with nothing will do. Coming Home is the only healing, it is their only hope, their one shot in the darkness, and as the prodigal son parable so delightfully describes Home is everything they or I or You was ever looking for in the first place. God calls out to us, and that in it of itself is impressive that the Creator of the Universe would desire a relationship with us, sinful man, or that He would even be concerned about us is mind-boggling to me. But it is true; painfully true for that matter, so true that He even went to the means of sending His only Son to a cross, a physical sinless human death, to make this relationship possible. In view of that (God’s love) and this song (that God did use me to write) I hope people see their need and go Home to find open arms of grace, forgiveness, and mercy.Great Physician
I have never personally met Jesus, shaken His hand, played guitar with Him, touched the hem of His garment, seen Him at the well drawing water at noon, been lowered from a roof by my friends into His presence, nor has He called me out of a tree and told me He was having dinner at my place, or out of a boat to come and follow. All I know is what I have felt, what I have read, and what I have heard about this “Good Teacher”. He lived so many years ago in the middle of nowhere born into a nothing family, into a nothing profession, in a nothing time period, yet He is everything the world has ever needed and was ever searching and waiting for. How is it possible that This carpenter from Galilee could make such a difference in a persons life, and how is it that years and years later This Man is still by far the worlds most controversial figure? What did He do? Why is everything different now? Someone help me understand! (Understanding is on its way)
Psalm 51 as many know is the Psalm in which King David pleads with God in regards to the sin He has committed during the Bathsheba/Uriah incident. He pours out his heart before God begging Him not to take His presence away but to accept a broken heart, a contrite spirit as a sacrifice for forgiveness. David is broke. Nothing he is able to physically give is worthy to make things right, so in Old Testament times, the brother is in trouble. But the reason why I believe (another one of Josh’s beliefs…sorry) David is described as a man after Gods own heart is because of his willingness to confess his shortcomings before God and His bravery in that confession. He was good a repenting and knew that The Yahweh (God of the Covenant) he served would know his heart and bring about mercy and forgiveness.
I relate to Dave in that Psalm and I use his prayer as my prayer song and speak of Jesus at the end of the chorus. I have read, I have felt, I have seen who God is and I am a testament that The Carpenter from Galilee is actually everything He said He was, the God-Man, sent here to be our ransom, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of this world, as John the Baptist called Him (What an introduction by the way, when people introduce me its something like this, “Hey everyone this is Josh”, nothing like the words John gave that day, “Behold Jesus, The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the word….you think that turned some heads?). An impressive intro, a truthful explanation, and one that is truth to me, it’s been a process to get to that truth, but now that truth is all I have. I have heard He is the Great Physician, capable and willing to heal all of mankind’s problems, take on all of our burdens, I heard He was beaten and by His strips we are healed, and now I know this is truth, because He is the Truth. The song is simply me saying, “God I know my gifts are not what you desire, it is my heart that You are concerned with so here, take it, fix me, Great Physician, I’ve heard about You, now I’m here and I need You, help me please, I’m broke.” That was my prayer, my encounter, and since meeting (just not yet physically…can’t wait for that by the way) this uncommon, more then nothing Man, I have had all my hopes and dreams and selfish desires shattered and replaced with new hopes, new dreams, and new life. So, I’m thankful that Christ was everything He said He was and for David who put into words years ago everything that I ever wanted to say.[Read the lyrics to "Great Physician"]
I Have To Tell You
Reflection is something that our society does not know much about, it seems that we as a culture hate the quite, the serine, the stillness. We are busybodies and the past is simply that, the past, and nothing worth examining, nothing worth remembering. Only trouble with that mindset is that truth be told all of us are who we are because of our past. I don’t know anyone who just decided one day to be racist or a hater of a particular sports team (the former Houston Oilers for me) or some foreign country. People are born into a place in which they have no choice, you can’t pick your parents, and because of that, we are breed to be a certain way until were old enough to do something about it. Well, in my case, my past brought about life, my future, brought about my failure, my faith, and this song.
Many frustrating times in life I have sat in a pew or somewhere in some sort of church formatted gathering and listened to what is commonly called a “testimony”. I love this word and I wish more churches would allot time in their bulletins for this act of worship. I love hearing about what God is doing in the lives of His children, brings me much joy. The frustration comes in the regard that so many times I have heard testimonies where people spent 20 minutes talking about how bad a person they were and very little time talking about the redeeming Hand of God intervening through the lies to create a new life in them. Testimonies should be screaming to tell the people listening of God’s capability to restore, to heal, to replace the hurt with peace. Not a “brag-time” of how bad you use to be. Because frankly I don’t care how bad you were, I don’t care what you did, or how many times you almost died, or went to jail, tell me about your encounter, the moment the Almighty arrested you, how did God change you, tell me is He The Christ? What did He do for you and can He do that for me? Those are the questions people are asking, and a testimony, a good one for that matter should answer those questions.
I’m not saying that this song is the perfect testimony in a melodic fashion but what I do in this song is lay bare all of my tough times, all of my past, lay it all for the world to see and then tell the listener, something happened. I have to tell you that I was brought from all that into a precious Light that showed me He is the Christ! He does heal, forgive, make new. I attempt to call to lost people with this song, it is my testimony, and that is all that I need in this world, that is the only thing that no person, scholarly or not, can argue with. They can tell you God is a myth, a philosophy, a joke, tell you to prove creation, or dinosaurs, or the authenticity of scripture, argue with you about “why does a God of love, allow hurt in this world” and countless other topics, but they cannot refute a life that has been changed. There is power in testimony. God’s story and your story are the two greatest stories ever told. This song is my 4-minute attempt to share not who I use to be, but who I am now, how He changed me, and how He truly is Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, all that we need.Ready Yet
Some times years ago I heard a phrase that has, since it’s hearing, never really left my mind or my heart. The words were in reference to a person who feels as if he/she has failed God; blown it, completely let God down. As the saying goes in combat to that and in encouragement to all, “You can never let God down, because you are not holding Him up”. It is God who holds us up and it is He who sustains all that we are and all that this world is for that matter. I think of Job in this sense where after tremendous trials, tremendous endurance, and a tremendous amount of conversation with His friends, and even some bold words towards the Lord, God speaks. In chapter 38-40 of Job something fairly rare happens; the Almighty brags on Himself about creation, animals, stars, lightening, snow, and just about anything else you could imagine, and the whole time He’s telling Job, “I did this, it was I, it is I, it will be I, and I don’t need assistance”. What a comfort, almost terrifying, but comforting still, that God is reigning without help, and worthy of worship and in no need from us, or in no fear that we will “let Him down” for we as mere man are not “holding Him up”.
I have always somehow (since my salvation) felt a calling on my life to tell people about Christ in some form of full time ministry. I can even remember at age 16 telling people that I would never have a “real job” but that I would be working for the Lord for the rest of my life, which in a sense is the realest of all jobs. My song dawned in the fear and the desire, the want to and the not wanting to, the battle of spirit and flesh, calling vs. comfort. My heart is saying God I have to make You known, but flesh was saying am I ready for that, that’s huge, I don’t want to blow it for you, to let you down. (Which is impossible I now realize) The struggle was realizing that I was called (which by the way I think all believers are) and then thinking but God I’m such a screw-up, I don’t want people to look at me and my failures and have that in turn bring shame to You. This is a critical issue because what we do as believers reflects to this world He whom we worship. We are the light (implying that there is darkness) ambassadors for God’s kingdom, so we do have responsibility and my song is simply sharing some fears about this tension. I hope people relate and jump on board with making Christ known and putting aside all fears because God reigns supreme over all that, if He calls you He’ll provide for you. We’re all unqualified we’re all screw-ups but that matters not, your willingness is what God is concerned with. Be willing church.[Read the lyrics to "Ready Yet"]
Recognition
Due so many times to the whirlwind of daily life I have come to the conclusion (and I could be wrong) but it is my conclusion that I have “missed it” with God on many occasions. What I mean by that term is this: all around us are the Father’s blessings, His mercy (new every morning) and His hand of protection. As I sit here and type this, it is easy to recognize His intervention and His presence (everywhere) but during the scurry from here to there I know I have “missed it” “missed Him” countless times. My hope is to get to a point of recognizing God in the little things of life and in all circumstances that come my way. A monk whose job was to cook and clean in a monastery years ago, named Brother Lawrence called this idea “Practicing the Presence of God”. It is the thought that all your thoughts should be focused on Christ whether you are in the midst of the most menial of tasks or performing open-heart surgery (an extreme I know), but none-the-less the idea is that one should be mindful still of Christ, still of His mercy of His presence at all times. Obviously a hard thing to accomplish but a proposal that I believe is worthy of our pursuit. To practice His presence…think on that one for a while
This song came to life in the simplicity of this prayer “God I want to recognize You as all the great that is in me, and as the Great I Am”. Another thing about this song that I have personally struggled with and through is this word ambition. I had/have a teacher in college, who happens to be the Pastor of my church who boldly proclaims that ambition is not of God. This word as Webster defines it is, “a strong desire for fame, power, etc”, so in the Christian sense (which should always be the sense for believers) that word should have little to do with who we are. I wrestled with that because I have wanted on numerous occasions (as I’m sure many of you have) to be noticed, liked, popular, famous (if you will), powerful, and accepted. But Christ has called us not to fame but to servant hood, not to riches but to charity in giving, and not to selfishness but to selflessness. He wants His children to be obedient (I think this is an individuals greatest act of worship; simply obedience) not to be a following that comes and goes as the wind blows, but to be followers, ones who will bear the storm with Him by our side. That same pastor said that we should take this word ambition, throw it out of our vocabulary and replace it with a passionate desire to see God’s will worked out in our lives. So, I lay down my ambition to follow Him, and I’ll scream it from the mountains, put it in the paper, post it on the web, tell the 5 o’clock news that, I am nothing without Him, and I find refuge in that, for He is all that I need.[Read the lyrics to "Recognition"]
Restoration
I don’t know how to say this besides just to say it. God loves you. That is the basic principle of all theology of all Christian faith and probably a term each of us has heard a thousand times. So it should be obvious to us, obvious to me, but here’s a question: Have you ever had a moment in life where the obvious actually became obvious? A little light bulb turning on sort of event or a situation where it all just seemed to piece together and make sense (even when it shouldn’t) An instant (for example) where you find yourself on the floor drowning in sin, and lack of self-worth, feeling a million miles away from God, suffocated by the lies of the enemy and all the while he (the enemy) seems to be screaming at you: you are worth nothing, look what you have done, look at who you are, God is tired of you and He’s given up, your pathetic, just quite it’s hopeless. And in that moment, in the midst of extreme failure you hear a kind, forgiving, familiar voice break through the noise in your head with this simple, profound yet obvious truth. A truth that pierces through all the lies being told straight to the heart of you and makes you feel somehow even more unworthy then before but this time around it is almost an accepted unworthy sentiment that begins to cover you (nearly an ironic feeling). The voice is that of a loving God looking on His prodigal son and saying the very words that characterizes who He is, the very words you have heard a million times but the only words that can help you in this moment, the words: I love you. The chorus of this song was birthed off that floor and in that moment. “Restore me O God, I need You now more than ever before”, was my cry, and still is even as I type this.
Another quick note about this tune is the word “underwhelming”. I heard a preacher once say that God is no longer the mind blowing, amazing creator, surrounded with majesty and indescribable by any adjective in our language type of God. He does not overwhelm as He should anymore and I believe this is because we as “good Christian people” have placed Almighty God in the box of church and of quite times opposed to letting Him come in and annihilate (as Michael W. Smith said at a recent concert) our daily lives. We have compartmentalized Him into 15 minutes in the morning and a couple of hours a week (if you are a “good Christian that is) and therefore His presence is very small in our lives, powerless, joyless, and in turn underwhelming. The point of my lyric there is to say that I don’t want this to be the case, I want to talk about all the times God has intervened and about all the things He’s been to me. That is what will bring us back to that place where He ruins (in the best sense of the word) us again. Church would be great if every week we would simply came into a building together and worship God for what He has done for us. It is time we go back to the wonder of God and worship Him for His power and His might and not only for the things He has done, but for the overwhelming things He is still doing and will continue to do.[Read the lyrics to "Restoration"]
Uncover Yourself
There is something that does not sit well with me at all in regards to this song and where it comes from. I’m no Dr. Phil or Sigmund Freud (neither would I like to be) but I have had enough experience in this field to think that I can speak with hints of boldness here and there. Planet Earth and its photographers, television producers, magazine editors and record company executives have corroborated in an attempt to brainwash the minds of every girl in the world and personally I am on a campaign, a mission if you will, picketing daily to refute their efforts. My attempts might seem a little late and slightly in vain but if this song and its message helps one girl realize that her identity, her beauty, her treasure, her completion, her acceptance, her joy, forgiveness, foundation, her answer, her love, can be found not in pictures or in the mirror but in the Heroic man of Christ Jesus, then my effort was and is well worth it. Females please hear me and my heart on this: I know (I say that I know but I guess I never really will fully understand) but I still say I know that this is hard, crazy hard, but please I urge you to look past secular America and its idols and see that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, God’s workmanship, beautiful and lovely. I know it seems easy for me to say, being a guy and all this but let me be the first to tell you these words do not/have not come easy:
They come because I have bore witness to girls who still live with scars from attempted suicide, and girls who still struggle with eating disorders, girls who are haunted by physical and sexual abuse (sorry if this is getting a little sensitive) and I have wept over my sisters who struggle and hurt because of their past. I have even been to the point of felling physically angry in prayer over this issue and I have begged God to release you girls from this stuff, begged God to bring you all back to His healing arms, told Him, “God this isn’t fair, they shouldn’t have to deal with this, Lord it’s too hard”, and almost felt as if God Himself wept along with me because of his daughters and their hurts. I know its rough ladies, but everything that this world throws at you and attempts to sell you through immodest ads and air brushed photos I beg you not to buy it. You have everything you need in Christ…everything. That’s truth, I promise. I promise.
My prayer is that from this song, which was written specifically because of the closeness I had/have to a girl with these struggles, is that God would use this to encourage you. To bring a smile to your face, a spring to your step, a comfort to your frustrations, a joy to your heart, which is the place where true beauty is found. I hope this song ministers much more than it impresses and I hope it draws you to the realization that this world is fleeting, passing, it’s ending, it’s momentary (1st John 2:15-17), but what you have been given and entrusted with is something worthy of uncovering, something that everyone needs to see, because it’s eternal, it is Christ in you shining more beautiful then all of Hollywood’s finest put together. Be a light breaking through the darkness ladies and do this by stripping off the masks and façades you have worn and uncovering that you really are, beautiful daughters of the King.
Saying all that I think I should add something here at the end. Considering the potential magnitude of this issue, if you read this and relate or realize that there are things in your life that still won’t seem to go away, know first that there is healing in Christ, and next maybe it would be good to talk to someone about it, another female would be my only advice in regards to the person, because no matter how good a song or words of a man could ever be, only another woman can relate to what these issues really consist of at their core. So seek out a Godly woman and I know that they (whoever they are) would be more then happy to help you through this. Christ didn’t call us to be Lone Rangers, let the church be the church and minister to you. No one can help if they do not know there is a problem. My prayers are with you all on this one.Psalm 139
Proverbs 31:30
