Holding onto conformity

 People are dying 

Not every rumour is true

Do what it takes, master all makes 

Not just what the family will do 

One of these days 

If you live to your best

You’ll give thanks for breaking ranks

Your children will call themselves blessed

If you toe the family line

In your head there lives a cop

He’s speaking rules, he’s faking fools

Your family line May stop 

There’s no need to nash or wrath

Just no need to yell 

Inspect the labs, get your jabs

It’s  the really real rebel.

God cannot be gamed

 If we think we can game God 

We’re backing into a corner 

He knows the heart, He sees all plans 

Knows when I’m a mourner

There’s just no gaming God

God cannot be gamed

There’s just no gaming God

God cannot be gamed

It’s cause and effect 

We reap exactly what we sow 

We refuse to give up 

We watch a fruitful show 

There’s just no gaming God

God cannot be gamed

There’s just no gaming God

God cannot be gamed

There’s just no gaming God

God cannot be gamed

There’s just no gaming God

God cannot be gamed. 

Galatians 6:7-10

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

People are saying

 People are saying you have to think this way or that way

Talking  ‘bout  heaven and hell just ain’t correct 

Rebellion means many  things, and the many, they serve their own kings 

Crowd’s mostly wrong, though they’ll try and direct

One of the weapons we like is the media 

help folks see they just ain’t that good 

Phone pics a’sharing, souls out there bearing 

It’s all surface, Nothing under the hood

Chorus:

People are saying, folks  keep on thinking 

There’s a treasure, there’s a method, there’s truth

They’ll  all keep chasing, off-base on what they’re basing 

Peers & present, Missing Long in the tooth 

Truth still elusive, all are desperately looking 

Maybe next screen, the one after that 

We can paint on that frown, keep-’em all looking down 

Truth is treasure, why trust the wrong map?

Just like with Pilate, people ask the same question 

“What is truth”, there’s an answer, here’s a clue

A simple suggestion, rephrase the question 

Swap out one word, replace what with Who

Chorus:

People are saying, folks  keep on thinking 

There’s a treasure, there’s a method, there’s truth

They’ll  all keep chasing, off-base on what they’re basing 

Peers & present, Missing Long in the tooth 

Pilate’s entire answer to his own question 

Staring at him, was the answer he sought 

Had his head slightly lifted, had his chance at freely gifted 

Truth is treasure that cannot be bought 

One thing amazes, amazes me still 

Christ is standing in front of us all 

He’s truth and He’s Treasure, loves us beyond measure 

All that’s needed, come when He calls 

Chorus:

People are saying, folks  keep on thinking 

There’s a treasure, there’s a method, there’s truth

They’ll  all keep chasing, off-base on what they’re basing 

Peers & present, Missing Long in the tooth 

Verse 4:

Call us He does, He’s constantly calling 

Doesn’t matter just what the crowd says

Like a dove He was sinless, now His Kingdom is endless 

Free to follow, ‘cause with His life Jesus pays .

John 18:37-38

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.

Majority

 I’ve got You, don’t need a crew 

Now know where I belong 

I just need You, for all I do 

Be it business, book, or song

Majority is the greater part 

The split that’s overcome 

When you stand, hand in Hand

You’re now the sweeping sum

Majority

Majority

With Him you’re sweeping sum

Majority

Majority

With Him you’re sweeping sum

All my life thought friends were fine

Taught I need my team 

Just a breath, I  see, even though it’s just me 

With God there’s a head full o’steam

Majority

Majority

With Him you’re sweeping sum

Majority

Majority

With Him you’re sweeping sum.

God help me love the saints

 Given over to me I can’t do it

On my own I just won’t 

I need Your grace to fill all the space 

Stars should  shine but they don’t 

God help me love the saints

They should be my delight 

God help me love the saints

Help make my heart right

I’m not the One to judge as noble 

I’m not the judge and jury 

Know love’s a verb, can’t kick to the curb

Yet my mind’s still filled with fury 

God help me love the saints

They should be my delight 

God help me love the saints

Help make my heart right

God help me love the saints

They should be my delight 

God help me love the saints

Help make my heart right.

Psalms 16:3

I say of the holy people who are in the land,

“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”

Adult of God

 Started  life as a child of God 

Grandma prayed for me 

Learned to wait at Grandma’s gate

A bull at the gate at three 

Bull I’ve been, got used to sin 

With many sins I’s saddled

He thought he had me, just had bad me

The old guy roped and rattled 

New guy coming over the land

Takes time, like a good sunrise

Hope and wait, for a bull at the gate 

They’re just words I can’t see with my eyes

Learned how to trust, how to commit 

Flippin hard but it’s noon I must say 

Seen many a man cooped up in a can 

Suns out, what’d I do, make hay

Growing up is a trickle, the process is long 

Have to watch all these others succeed

Still waiting and hoping, just barely as coping 

Of a sudden you’ve all you need

Making hay as children just seems like a chore 

Sunshine slinks to a plod 

One day you wake up, know who you are, your makeup 

Day comes you’re an adult of God 

Day comes you’re an adult of God.

Psalms 37:5-7

Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,

your vindication like the noonday sun.

Be still before the LORD

and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways,

when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Psalms 37:34

Hope in the LORD

and keep his way.

He will exalt you to inherit the land;

when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.

Theocratic

 God's still in control, His will is Automatic

Solid steel will, still says, "stand ye still"

Kingdom of God is Theocratic 

God still fights our battles 

We don't need to fight 

His ways are high, above our sky 

Directing day and night 

If humans were our enemies, we'd all lose and lose 

Continually fighting each other 

It's always been Him, He's given life and limb 

Forgiven, frequent to forgive your brother 

God still fights our battles 

We don't need to fight 

His ways are high, above our sky 

Directing day and night

 

God still fights our battles 

We don't need to fight 

His ways are high, above our sky 

Directing day and night.

2 Chronicles 20:5-7

5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard 6 and said: “LORD, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7 Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?

Matthew 18:21-22 (KJV)

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Already immortal

 Caught  the Muscle Shoals special, saw  The Swampers, Wexler, & Hall

Clarence Carter (CC) said, “once recorded, you’re immortal”, I’d  done  passed through the portal 

Got in line when I heard His call

Time was early nineties 

I went down and knelt at front 

Found what I’d been looking for, He’d been knocking on my door 

I’s just a little lost out in the hunt 

Already immortal

Already immortal

I stood up immortal , My names in the book

no matter where I go I can’t get lost 

Takes a lifetime of learning to know why you ain’t burning 

Truly understand all it cost 

Moving forward in this life 

I seek, I get things done 

The day that really counted 

Was back in ‘91

Already immortal

Already immortal.

I’m back from crazy

 For a little while there I slipped into insane 

Now know how it feels to be crazy 

Looking back over again it, no matter how I spin it

Had a little to do with lazy 

I’m back 

I’m back from crazy

Don’t ever want to go there again 

I’m back 

I’m back from crazy

Stay sane for my family and friends 

Make sure I stay sane, stay in my lane

Do things that push us forward 

Way better choices, better head noises 

I’m talking less noise and way more Word

I’m back 

I’m back from crazy

Don’t ever want to go there again 

I’m back 

I’m back from crazy

Stay sane for my family and friends.

Unity

 Starting out today  I thought it was settled 

We had it in the bag

Turns out His timing, kinda like a’rhyming 

At times there’s a little lag

Unity is needed, Unity is felt 

Somehow sense it in your soul

When seeking a selection, best choice or direction

Of a sudden two halves make a whole 

Thank You we can hear You, Together we can move 

Push past the season of doubt

Listening for calling, we are both His darling 

Spring comes, winter’s on the way out 

Unity is needed, Unity is felt 

Somehow sense it in your soul

When seeking a selection, best choice or direction

Of a sudden two halves make a whole 

Unity is needed, Unity is felt 

Somehow sense it in your soul

When seeking a selection, best choice or direction

Of a sudden two halves make a whole 

Forget my name

 Forget my name I don’t want fame 

My God is all that’s needed 

The One to show, I point and go

Strain to where He’s seated 

Forget my name 

Forget my name

Fame is fickle, beauty blind 

This world’s view won’t  last

There is One who made the sun 

From Him the mold is cast 

He’ll be here just wait and see 

The world won’t  be enticed 

The name you see, not you or me

The name is Jesus Christ 

Forget my name

Forget my name

Philippians 3:13-14

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Shone a light on His Word

 How kind a couple 

generous to a tee 

You've  opened up your home and life 

Shown the Lord to me 

You've looked past the differences 

Hang ups, Habits, & hurts

All these years, through laughs & tears 

Shared many mains & desserts

Through all of life’s ups and downs 

Seems come hell  or high water 

You've entrusted to me, a king I now see

Your precious oldest daughter 

We’ve lived through all the hard stuff 

Now know that His love endures 

What I’m  calling out, with whisper and shout 

Through trials we’ve learned so does yours 

Above all I’m grateful 

I’ve seen and I’ve heard 

Lived life to the full 

Shone a light on His Word

A tribute to David & Rosemary Harrison… my in-laws.

Psalms 136:1

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.

His love endures forever.

Growing up again… at 55!

 I was young and I was free 

All of Texas to roam 

Long hair, barefoot, living large

Didn’t even own a comb

Of  a sudden I’m 25

Married, overseas

Have a house now, mortgage,babies

Boss and wife to please

It all happened fast, adult at last 

Like someone snapped their finger 

Guess God knows best, More’n all the rest 

He knows how lads can linger 

A day in time, a rhythmic rhyme 

They too go hand in Hand 

I’m suiting up, I’m cutting hair 

I’m breaking up the band 

To work I go, twas time to grow 

Up from boy to man 

Now looking back, clear as white on black 

Handwriting’s in His hand

Grow up I did, to man from kid 

Done  all the adult stuff 

Done seen and heard, first worm, now bird 

This world’s flippin hard and tough 

Thought it may be like valleys and peaks 

Where life was all good or all bad 

Adult firing on all fronts, sees life all happens at once 

Like train tracks, part happy, part sad

Happy trumps sad, joy buries bad

I’m older, I’m healing, I thrive 

No reason to hide, interesting ride

Growing up again at 55.

New Zealanders

 I love Kiwis, of course I married one 

She's led me to The Lord my whole walk 

1991, my new man saw the sun 

Where I've tred I've tried to walk the talk 

I've watched in admiration, I've learned a thing or two 

I'm learning, in The Body, I'm a part 

It's not all or any, I'm just one of many 

All my kin worship from the heart 

I do love New Zealand, I see its flags and flaws 

My central citizenship's in heaven 

No nation is the heart, All people form a part

He forgives seventy times seven 

Kiwis, as a lot, are some things I'm just not

Muted, kinda boring, lack of passion 

Makes them rational, as an ethos, international 

Solid thinking unfollows fashion 

I thank the Lord He brought me here back in '91

I've struggled and I've bloomed where I'm planted

I've been forgiven, protected as I've driven 

Now I don't take anything for granted. 

Psalms 22:27 (KJV)

27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

1 Corinthians 12:14 (KJV)

14 For the body is not one member, but many.