Sunday, August 13, 2006

you are there

(click here to listen or download)

When I hurt, I'll cry for You
for I know that You are there
When I break, I'll reach for You
for I know that You are there

And when I fall time and again
Still I'll have faith in my faith in You

Cause when I'm weak, You are strong
And, as always, You are there

This song is not a spectacular song by any stretch of the imagination. I just want to get that out of the way right from the start. It is short (a little over 90 sec.), very simple musically and theologically, and it doesn't say anything that hasn't been said before.

I know all of this. Yet, it is still very dear to my heart.

About 8 months ago, I got a call in the middle of the night. A friend's father had been murdered. He was out of town on a business trip and was walking back to his car with a colleague after eating out. They were mugged, and he was shot and killed.

I obviously had a hard time getting to sleep that night. I was wide awake and trying to somehow reconnect the dots between a loving, sovereign God and a world in which a good man with family and friends who dearly love him can be randomly murdered after eating dinner at Outback. It almost felt as if it had been my own father. I was so sad for my friend. I didn't know what to say or how to say it. And in that moment I wrote this song. It is a simple sentiment of faith.

I wrote it for my friend. I wrote it for myself.

Again, I know it isn't the best song in the world, but it says everything I felt that night and not a word more.

4 comments:

Clinton said...

sometimes simplicity is all it takes...ask any minimalist.

The Anonymous Human said...

It's funny...sometimes I think, "how can God care about me individually? How can he possibly care what job I have or who I eat with at lunch?" And then sometimes, I hear him speak to me, and I know he does. What you write doesn't always have to be a number 1 hit to be what he wants you to say.

The Anonymous Human said...

btw, I see you changed your tag from "a man deeply in love with his God..." to this new thing...I know i've heard that somewhere, I just can't place my finger on that self-promoting saying...

bill said...

ha ha. jerk. well, i always intended on having a line from one of my songs be the tag line...but i never rested on one and then i forgot about it. and then...well, whatever. i don't have to answer to you...