Inspiration

Just wanted to share this new song I heard in the car this morning (about the only benefit of having a long commute!) by Sidewalk Prophets.  I hadn't heard this song before and the radio station is hyping up all the bands playing at WinterJam this Saturday, so they featured this song as well as had an interview with Dave the lead singer of the band.  I was just  blessed and inspired this morning and hope you will enjoy this too.  Don't worry, I am not going to sing!!!  Here are the words to the song,

You Loved Me Anyway:

The question was raised
As my conscience fell
A silly, little lie
It didn’t mean much
But it lingers still
In the corners of my mind
Still you call me to walk
On the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future’s so far
My heart is so frail
I think I’d rather stay inside
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
How You love me
It took more than my strength
To simply be still
To seek but never find
All the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And why do loved ones have to die?
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway
See now, I am the man that called out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with this smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
But You love me anyway
Oh, God… how you love me
You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
You love me, You love me
You love me, You love me
How You love me
How You love me
How You love me

Behind the Song:
"You Love Me Anyway is a song that embodies what the band is all about, loving God despite our fears and questions, and loving him because He first loved us. We wrote this song in the basement of Ben’s house in the middle of a thunderstorm, I remember thinking how incredibly safe I felt. The storm raged all around and shook the walls, but safe inside we sat. That’s just like our God, a shelter in the storm. I then started to remember all the things I had done not to deserve such a shelter, such a loving God. I remembered being a child and telling my very first lie. It was about the death of a goldfish.

When I was 4, I just thought that a goldfish needed a chance to breathe the air, to get out a little, and that he must be tired of swimming all the time. So, I reached my little hand in the tank and set him free. He wiggled and flailed for a while but then finally stopped and slept. I felt that I had really helped that fish out, and that knowledge felt great, until….

My babysitter had a radar for tragic things, things like pushing another child or falling and scraping your hand on the pavement. When that fish stopped moving, her radar kicked into overdrive. She flew out of the kitchen, looked me directly in the eyes, and asked, “who killed Morty?” My mind was distraught. I had never meant to kill anything, ever, not even a roly-poly worm. In such distress, I did the only thing that came natural. See I was a good boy, and I knew my bible verses. So, I puffed out my chest, looked my babysitter directly in the eye, mustered up all my courage, and then quickly pointed at my friend Joel and yelled, “He did it!” And for some reason, a reason that to this day I can’t explain, Joel admitted that he did the deed. He took the bullet. Then, he stood in the corner for a mind numbing 30 minutes. As I watched cartoons that afternoon, I couldn’t concentrate. I remember glancing back at Joel and every second that I glanced was guiltier than the last.

The following Sunday, I sat in a pew up in the balcony at church with my Mom. I cried and desperately tried to hide the tears, but Moms can always tell when something is amiss. They have a knack for understanding puffy eyes and tear soaked sleeves. “What is wrong?” was all she needed to say to open up my heart. “I hurt you. I hurt Jesus,” I cried. Then I told her the whole dramatic story, and that I really wasn’t trying to kill anything at all, and that I was so, so sorry. I will never forget the lesson I learned that day. It was on this occasion that my mother explained to me the power of Jesus’ death on the cross and the amazing grace that covered the world’s sins. It was because of His blood I could experience true unconditional love and forgiveness for the first time.

It was there in that “silly, little lie” that I began to realize the power of grace. All the faults and downfalls will occur, and the true measure of a man or a boy is what we do after those moments. Some tragedies occur and the reason is never known, but in the midst of all storms there is a place where we are safe,
a place where we are truly loved, in the arms of Jesus Christ." - Sidewalk Prophets