When We Grow, it Happens Fast and Slow

"If we only got one try, if we we've only got one life, if time was never on our side, well before I die I wanna burn out bright."           ~Switchfoot

~ When we Grow, it Happens Fast and Slow ~

Winter has ended and spring has arrived.

The ice in our hearts is melting away.

The storms of life are turning from snow to rain.

And our spirit is in its prime to grow. 

Actions define who we are.

Bitter, joyful, angry, humble.

How we react to situations shows others who we are.

And who are you, and who am I?

In thee seasons we are growing.

If God is in our lives, we will have to grow.

Sometimes it is fast.

Other times it is slow.

Are we becoming what we are meant to be?

Will we bless people who come our way?

Or do they shy away from what we have to say?

Are our branches inviting in those who wish to believe?

When we come into contact with others,

When we are by ourselves,

We have the opportunity to get closer to God.

To grow and get stronger in Love.

Today is today.

Tomorrow is too late.

Action takes the now.

And tomorrow won't be fast enough.

God save me from myself.

Save me from my disbelief.

Help me to begin today.

God save me from me.

Time will not be on your side.

Time always moves forward.

To trust in Love in the now.

To be what you were meant to be.

God I pray, take all my errors.

God I pray, do a work in me.

Love I pray, engulf me in your life giving light.

To grow in the season you have set before me.

And when the inevitable winter comes.

Help me through those days as well.

To continue to trust in you.

As I wait, learn, and pray for spring to come back my way. 

What Voice is it?

On the final day I die, I want to hold my head up high. I want to tell You that I tried to live it like a song. And when I reach the other side, I want to look you in the eye and know I have arrived in a world where I belong. ~ Switchfoot

~ What Voice is it? ~

All in all it is a place where you wonder if what you heard is from the right source.

A dissonance between what you think is going on and the guilt flooding your chest.

A string strikes tomorrow while you hear it today.

The drum bellows and is lingering while the soul tries to figure out what to do next.

Is it okay to limit what is spoken to you if you are unsure if the source is pure?

Is it right to determine a factor based on self, rather than relying on something that may be untrue?

Clarity is what I seek.

And clarity is what I will find one day.

If I am thinking this hard about the voice, then maybe it was from the correct place?

But I thought it would be a still quiet voice?

This was loud.

This was something I have experienced before and it ended up to be right.

But the other time it was wrong.

Here lies the confusion of the music.

To live it like a song is harder than you think.

When the music comes from multiple genres.

A rock and roll kind of day.

Mixed with a classical peace throughout the night.

But other times that peace is only when I am near others.

And the night becomes a heavy metal link to my brain and my heart. 

Taking a chance and distinguishing the flames that have occurred in the studio.

Hoping to be able to lean on others to incorporate more sounds into my song.

I will carry on the beat.

And I need another to help with the rhythm.

Music equals the melody of the soul.

Music is an instrument of the voice.

But what voice am I hearing?

And if I ignore it with something this small, will I be alright? 

In Front of You?

"Everyday a choice is made. Everyday I choose my fate." ~Switchfoot

~In Front of You~

Emotions fly like the birds in the sky.

Running and jumping spreading wings and denying once or twice.

Prayers thrown up and caught not being allowed to make it to Heaven.

Emotions that fly, where faith has been replaced by human desire. 

What do you do when a furnace is placed in front of you?

Will your emotions save you?

When the fire melts and burns you. 

Even before you are pushed in. 

The compromise will come.

The time to choose what you truly believe. 

Is it the testimony of Christ?

Or will it be the compromise that took your soul by surprise. 

Truth is not always popular.

It is usually in direct defiance to the norms of the world.

Truth is set before our eyes like glasses to help us see.

Truth is a fire that is more powerful than any furnace placed by men. 

This furnace can be used by the maker.

It can be used to destroy the ties binding you hands. 

What is In-Between?

"I am the war inside,. I am the battle line. I am the rising tide. I am the more I fight, eyes open, open wide. I can feel like I'm the crack in my spine. I can feel like the back of my mind. I am the war inside."

                                                                     Switchfoot

~What is In-Between?~

Down on my knees I pray.

Forward thinking in recovery kneeling.

A brightness in a black room I was thinking.

On my knees I decide to pray.

Will I continue until the end beginning?

Will I pray and feel grace and mercy,

On a day of hurt,

On a day of pain?

In these days when anxiousness takes over the mind.

When my worry blocks out my words.

While I am trying to be what I need to be.

When I am trying to live life and pray.

I am a flawed masterpiece.

I am a man who finds comfort in the rain.

Looking forward to the day I no longer fear to pray.

Looking for peace in a mind that sees magic as faith.

I want to be able to close my eyes and pray for more than just me.

To see the needs around.

To go forward in love in a world far from me,

To pray not as a checklist, but a relationship that feeds.

Can we hold onto the vines that come down from glory?

Can we depend on Love instead of ourselves?

Can we climb up high and experience a fall,

So that we can seek and climb once more?

Hope for more than your own desires.

Pray and believe that Love is listening. 

For Love answers in one way or another. 

And the answers will make us stronger.

Faith is above and below.

It is the sky and the dirt.

Fear does not belong in the in-between.

When I look up and see the glory, the in-between falls down.

And I do as well, to my knees and then I begin to pray. 

Time to Look Up

~Time to Look Up~

A Kingdom has and will come down.
White and dipped in blood it will come.
Healing that goes deeper than whatever came before.
With music that calls the dead and awakens them through the mouth of a King.

For the invisible Kingdom is here with us now.
But there is another on its way.
A physical one for all to see.
What do we do while we wait?

We wait and use the sky to see the Lord.
We wait and Love all who wander on our paths.
We wait and Love those who do not wander in our way.
We wait and live lives on purpose, in urgency, for love, as we pray.

Fear is not from Love.
So cast is aside and look into the sky.
We will know when it happens.
We will know the glory of the stars.

The world must die before it can be saved.
My life died before I lived.
I live for an end, not the beginning of me.
For the end is the new beginning for those who believe.

Because of this we need urgency.
We need to show Love.
We need Grace and Mercy.
The King of the stars died, so I could die and break clean.

Something is not right here.
Something is not adding up.
The place where we live has something missing.
The place where we live thinks forward thinking is equality.

They would rather have pleasure than hear the Word of the Stars.
They would rather feel good than feel what real love is.
They would rather live in false hope than have a rock under their feet.
I would rather have euphoria with my King.

Did you see it?
Did you see the love?
Did you see the blood poured out?
Did you see the eminence of a world where we belong?

Was your eyes open,
Or did you close them because you would rather love flesh than eternity?
Was your eyes open,
Or did you not look up and see the wonder of signs sent into our sea?

People look up and ignore it.
People look down and plant seeds in the weeds.
People hear a warning and look the other way.
Only to believe when they see the rain and run to an Ark when it it too late.

Do not worry about your things.
Do not look back and become nothing.
For your fleshly goods will pass away.
But your soul will live on in one place or another.

If you have everything this world has to offer and do not have a soul,then your life is nothing.
I would rather love and know the Maker then get off with endless women, men and money.
For when the physical Kingdom comes,
I won't be dashed away.

Live For More

"So I set off running
To reach the other side
To find a place to call my own
There in the distance the rivers open wide
And I was lost but not alone"
                              ~Switchfoot

~Live for More~

Trust and let live your life into the unknown that is worth letting go for.

Give up control to the one who gave it all.

I want to live my life to upset the status quo.

To hurt the one who wishes to take it away from me.

I long for the other side.

My hopes hope relies on the sea

It sails me to a place where I am happy.

To a place where you will meet me where I am.

The plan was said, 

And the plan took place.

Fulfill my soul and break my heart.

Please make me hurt and long for the end of days.

In the meantime I wish to live and breathe free.

I wish to bring those whom I talk to with me.

In the meantime I wish to drink and see,

All the glory of the world around me.

I plan to take full advantage of the words placed before me.

I plan to learn more than philosophy and greed.

I plan to pray in the day even when I should sway.

I plan to teach myself and others the hope created by death.

Our information stretches far.

It instantly travels faster than a man tapping his finger.

We live in a world that is so connected.

Yet we are more alone than ever.

Death will come and information shall be sent.

The digital nation making a person infamous.

The answer to the truth is just a click today.

The answer to what comes next is a prayer and eye shut away.

What is this fear that we have when it comes to dying?

We need to live in the moment and for our end in the same breath.

We need to hear our personal prophecy fulfilled.

Our self contained moments restored to a group of those who truly love.

Are you ready?

Is your life awakened and closed?

Is your heart running and standing still?

Is your soul pointed north longing to be home?

Trust, live, hope and dream.

Create and be created for purpose and the sea.

Set sail and know where your destination lies.

Love the loveless and give hope to those who have no hope at all.

My end is a home in a place where I finally know I belong. 

If I die, or if I ascend I will never stop praying and loving all that loves back.

If I die, or ascend I will do my best to doubt my doubts and live your dreams.

If I die, or ascend I will continue to be on fire and burn for love.

I will burn and be on fire for a nation of sinners.

I will be a saint that is worth the title given to me.

I will burn down this town for a hope beyond my being.

I will burn and live for God, and then die or ascend into a home. 

A home where I will sing the truth and harmonize.

 With the saints that set sail before, during, and after me. 

~Lost on Our Islands~

"From the day we're born we are scarred and torn.We've been scared to sing out loud, but we don't care no more'cause we know life is short. We don't care who hears us now.Breathe it in and let it out."

                ~Switchfoot (Jon Foreman) 

~Lost on Our Islands~

Lost and then saved.

Freedom comes with the wind, with the ocean, with my broken heart. 

Lost and then saved. 

Freedom comes from wood and nails, blood and vinegar, earthquakes of vengeance.

Lost and then saved.

I have these nails and I have two pieces of wood. 

I have these prayers sent up to the sky hoping for them to come down as rain. 

I have these nails and I have two pieces of wood. 

I have these prayers sent into the ground hoping for them to spring back up.

Blank pages on scrolls forged by fire.

What will be written about me?

Blank pages on scrolls forged by love.

What will it be written in?

Blank pages on scrolls forged by fire.

Are we using ink, or graphite, or should we be using blood as white as snow?

I have this hammer that came with my nails and wood.

I have this device to nail up my Savior.  

Over and over again I pound and hammer my words away. 

I nail up my savior instead of realizing the empty tomb.

I am lost but I can be found.

I am lost and sometimes need to see the hands.

The holes that represent life, and bring me back to repentance. 

I am lost but I can find my way back by his saving grace.

This world that we live in does not adhere to the teachings of God.

But he is in this world.

This world is lost, but we as vessels can help them become found. 

He is in the world.

One should understand he came to save those who are lost. 

We are lost on our islands and our eyes are covered by black smoke. 

There are monsters moving in to take us away from the truth.

But he is there and he shed his blood for me, and you.

Freedom comes in the wind, it comes with fire, it comes from the ocean. 

The waves crashing over our souls eroding the strife and the pain. 

The fire burning away our sins.

The air blowing away the smoke that clouds our eyes.

So what will my blank pages be filled with?

What will your blank pages be filled with?

I hope for words that say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

The Son of God and man paid the price, so he could write my scroll in blood.

Lost and then saved.

Freedom comes from the cross, the nails, the blood.

Lost and then saved.

Freedom comes from the sins being washed away. 

Lost and then saved.

Freedom comes when the poor are fed. 

When we do our part and take up his sacrifice. 

Be like the God that saved the world and covered the price for our salvation.

From being nailed up on my two beams, and then overcoming death.

We are lost, but we can be found.

By his blood, by his story.

The truth can set us free.