A Far Green Country

Today is just some playful lyrics of my own I've been posting for fun/thought at Twitter. It's some lines I would use if I were a rapper :) - These are 3 disconnected, separate ones, in 140 characters or less:

• Growing pains - sanctification for the believer, so familiar with the hurt you can call me Mike Seaver
  
  
• Death was buzzing then the Lord plucked its wings/pinched it on the hide, pulled out its sting/now death is just bumbling under the King Bee
  
  
• You've got me just like a picture: caught in a moment / framed for the work of Another / now I'm hung up on You

I just love this one - not exactly sure why, but the imagery of the song paints a strong picture to me so I feel like I'm in this story. And I particularly love the last 4 lines of the final chorus.

HE WAS IN HEAVEN BEFORE HE DIED by John Prine

There's a rainbow of babies
Draped over the graveyard
Where all the dead sailors
Wait for their brides
And the cold bitter snow
Has strangled each grass blade
Where the salt from their tears
Washed out with the tide

Chorus
And I smiled on the Wabash
The last time I passed it
Yes I gave her a wink
From the passenger side
And my foot fell asleep
As I swallowed my candy
Knowing he was in heaven
Before he died

Now the harbor's on fire
With the dreams and desires
Of a thousand young poets
Who failed 'cause they tried
For a rhyme without reason
Floats down to the bottom
Where the scavengers eat 'em
And wash in with the tide

Repeat Chorus:

The sun can play tricks
With your eyes on the highway
The moon can lay sideways
Till the ocean stands still
But a person can't tell
His best friend he loves him
Till time has stopped breathing
You're alone on the hill

"Almost the whole Christian world have partaken of a common lethargy; & if here & there a few have thought about the state of pagan nations, & felt a faint desire for their salvation, or at most mentioned the ingathering of the Jews & the fullness of the Gentiles as a thing of course in their prayers, they have felt a self-complacency on account of their superior zeal; comparing their feelings, not with the greatness of the subject, but with those of their yet more lethargic neighbors."

- Samuel Pearce

"The victory is sure before we enter the field; the crown is already prepared to adorn our brows, even that crown of glory which fadeth not away, & already we have resolved what to do with it -- we will lay it at the conqueror's feet, & say, 'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give glory,' while all heaven unites in the chorus, 'Worthy the Lamb.'"

- Samuel Pearce

"We abide the greatest part of our lives beneath the power of the common lethargy; & if perchance a desire ever rises in our bosom for the good of others, we congratulate ourselves on our superior love for mankind, & doze, & doze, whilst millions of immortal souls, as precious as our own, drop into hell without an effort for their salvation."

- Samuel Pearce

Wade says at the 2:10 mark they are "arguably the greatest trio to ever play the game of basketball" before they've ever played a single game together. Really? They'll get their championship but it's sweet as honey it wasn't this year after pre-crowning themselves.

Scripture Abuse (but there's a principle here):

Luke 14:7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This is uninspired, but can someone send me a Jason Terry or Dirk Nowitzki jersey?

So let us not take this for granted,
Let us not waste the second hand
But let your love rage like a lion
And let your heart break like a lamb

- Andrew Osenga, EARLY in the MORNING

I don't know if it's year 2 or 3 that I can go to this video & still laugh to tears - I don't know why - from the unexpected pic, to the mugshot placard, to the reaction of the anchor, it's simply epic.

They say it's not about performance
They say it's all about the heart
But every critic with his pen or his computer
Talks about effectiveness and not about the art

- Justin McRoberts, Deconstruction

Use the right side bar to scroll all the way down, then click on "options", then click on "fullscreen" to view in proper format: