2011 in review

Tags

blogging, blogs, blogs and blogging, WordPress

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.  This has been a very busy and in some ways difficult year for me.  I haven’t been writing much lately, although I hope to return to more regular blogging at some point.  I sincerely appreciate all of you who have taken time out of your busy schedules the last three years to read and comment on my posts.  If you’re interested, you can scroll to the end of this post for a link to the full Worpress.com report.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 56,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 21 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

More cowbell (and the winner is…)

Tags

books, Campus Crusade for Christ, christianity, John Piper, West Chester University

It’s time to announce the winner of my John Piper book giveaway.  The names of everyone who entered were placed in a bag, and shaken well.  My son then randomly drew a name from the bag.  And the winner is…

Tom Hudzina, a Campus Crusade staff member at West Chester University

All you had to do to enter the giveaway was leave a comment… any comment.  I enjoyed reading every single comment, and want to express my genuine appreciation for everyone who took the time to leave one.  I would also like to thank Trevin Wax for mentioning the giveaway on his blog.

Tom was one of a small number of entrants who chose to inject a little humor into his comment.  The title of this post is based on his comment, which he posted in the form of a quote:

“I need more Piper (cowbell)!!”

I’ve confessed my general cultural ignorance before, so it may not surprise you that I had no idea what his comment meant; however, Google made it easy enough to find out.

Congratulations, Tom.  May the Lord richly bless your ministry to the students at West Chester University.

Are you a Gregory?

Tags

advent, christmas, Early Christianity, Greek, gregory, Jesus, second coming of Christ

My mother’s maiden name was Gregory, so the title of a post over at BibleDude.net caught my eye today.  Now that I think about it, it’s a little odd that I’ve never really wondered what my mom’s family name meant.  Oh well… now I know.  Turns out it’s a perfect name for the Advent season.

In [Mark 13] verse 33, Christ declares, “Be on guard, keep awake.”  And in verse 35, “Therefore, stay awake.”  And finally our text closes with, “And what I say to you I say to all:  Stay awake.”  Jesus message to his four disciples that day was to be alert and watch for his coming.  His message is the same for us today.

The last word in our text is the Greek word gragoreo.  This word when translated may mean to be watchful, be on the alert, be wide awake, or to be alive.

The early Christians reminded themselves of this message of Christ to be alert for his coming by naming their sons after this word gragoreo.  This word is where we get our name Gregory.

In verse 33, Christ declares, “Be on guard, keep awake.” And in verse 35, “Therefore, stay awake.” And finally our text closes with, “And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Jesus message to his four disciples that day was to be alert and watch for his coming. His message is the same for us today.

The last word in our text is the Greek word gragoreo. This word when translated may mean to be watchful, be on the alert, be wide awake, or to be alive.

The early Christians reminded themselves of this message of Christ to be alert for his coming by naming their sons after this word gragoreo. This word is where we get our name Gregory.

You see we are all to be Gregory(s). We are all to be alert, wide awake, and watchful for Christ coming. We, in a sense, are called to be Gregory.

Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the coming of Christ.  We look back and celebrate the first coming of Christ, and long for his second coming.

I don’t think I always take the commands to be alert and watchful seriously enough.  Jesus reinforced those commands with a strong warning in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13).  If you haven’t read it lately, take a minute and click the link.  It really is a sobering admonition.

I want to live up to the family name.  I want to be a true Gregory.  Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev. 22:20)

Advent and Christmas Music (Part 2)

Tags

advent, christmas, Friction Bailey, Future of Forestry, holiday, holidays, music, Pie Jesu, Spotify, Sufjan Stevens

A few years ago I posted a pretty extensive list of some of my favorite Christmas CD’s.  Recently, Under the Radar posted a list of the 6 best Christmas albums of 2011, which made me think I should update that old list of mine, originally compiled three years ago.

So, here are a few more CD’s that have become Christmas favorites:

• The Silent Night– Friction Bailey
  Very nice acoustic folk sound with some new arrangements of old songs, and a couple of good original tunes
• Over The Hills And Everywhere: A Christmas EP — Seabird
  Traditional Christmas hymns with distinctive new Seabird melodies
• Advent Christmas EP — Future of Forestry
• Advent Christmas EP, Vol. 2 — Future of Forestry
  Both of these EP’s apply Future of Forestry’s trademark sound to the traditional melodies of Christmas hymns. Volume 2, I think, has a little more variety and better musicianship than the first, including a beautiful organ-backed rendition of Pie Jesu, and a fantastic original song, “The Earth Stood Still”.
• Songs for Christmas[Box Set] — Sufjan Stevens
  It’s Sufjan (need I say more?)

If you use Spotify and would like to hear some of the new albums mentioned by Under the Radar, as well as some of those I’ve listed here, you can check out this Spotify playlist.

‘Tis the season… John Piper Book Giveaway

Tags

books, calvinism, christmas, free, giveaway, John Piper, theology

I love books.  Always have.  I have a lot of them.  Maybe too many (if that’s possible), and almost certainly more than I will ever live to read.  So I’ve decided (since it’s almost Christmas) to give a few of my books to one of you.

All of the books, booklets, and tracts in this giveaway were written by John Piper.  All are brand new.  The lot includes:

• Finally Alive
• This Momentary Marriage
• Filling up the Afflictions of Christ (hardcover)
• TULIP: What We Believe about the Five Points of Calvinism
  (booklet, out of print)
• 4 copies of For Your Joy
• 4 copies of In Our Joy
• 25 copies of Rain (tract, out of print)

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave any comment below.  The contest will end two weeks from tonight, at midnight central time on December 15.  I’ll draw a name and announce the winner in a new post on December 16.

Since I have no idea what it might cost to ship internationally, the winner will have to provide a U.S. shipping address.  I’ll mail the books promptly (once I receive your shipping information) by media mail, which means, unfortunately, that you probably won’t have them by Christmas… but then I never said I was Santa Claus.

“You will explode”

Tags

autobiography, books, C.H. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, christianity, Jesus, Katie Davis, Kisses from Katie, orphans, quotes, Uganda

As I was thinking about writing this post, it occurred to me that explosives may have inadvertently become a recurring theme here.  I once wrote about Christians who unwittingly play around with TNT; another time I quoted Charles Spurgeon’s criticism of preachers who explode rather than expound Scripture.

Today’s explosive post comes in the form of an excerpt comes from the book, Kisses from Katie, by Katie Davis.  We’re reading it out loud together at home right now.  On a side note, do someone a favor this Christmas and pick up a copy of this book for them.  Get one for yourself, too, if you haven’t read it.  I may not always see eye-to-eye with Katie theologically, but her compassion and Christ-like, sacrificial service are not only deeply moving, but also very challenging and humbling.

In chapter nine Katie describes the endless barrage of questions that her adopted Ugandan children constantly unleash on her.

One of the questions that surprised me most was this: “Mommy, if Jesus comes to live inside my heart, will I explode?”

“No!” I proclaimed as the children and I headed to the Nile River for a few of them to be baptized that day.

Then I thought about the question a bit more.

“Yes, if Jesus comes to live in your heart, you will explode.” That is exactly what we should do if Jesus comes to live inside our hearts. We will explode with love, with compassion, with hurt for those who are hurting, and with joy for those who rejoice. We will explode with a desire to be more, to be better, to be close to the One who made us.”

It may be more accurate to say that whether Jesus lives in your heart or not, you will still explode, and whatever is in your heart will come out.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45 ESV)

Sometimes, I’m sorry to say, I find my heart exploding with things that are unworthy of Christ.  Today, I pray for the grace to explode “with love, with compassion… and with joy” — the kind that can only come from Jesus living in me.

Flying with Electrical Gremlins

Tags

Christ, Denver, family, fear, flying

A couple of years ago, I compiled a list of random facts about myself. In that list mentioned that I had never flown. I can no longer say that. I recently flew to Denver (twice in a week, in fact).

I’ve always been a little apprehensive about flying. Heights don’t bother me at all. High rates of speed don’t bother me. The thought of plummeting toward the earth at several hundred miles an hour, however, bothers me. I know, I know, airplanes are safer than cars. I’ve never found that very comforting, though. I have a chance of walking away from a car wreck; I don’t have much chance of walking away from a plane crash.

Okay, now that you know how neurotic I can be, you’ll have a much greater appreciation for what I’m about to tell you.

20 or 30 minutes after we boarded my very first flight, the pilot made an announcement over the intercom. “We’ve been fighting some electrical gremlins this morning. We have a lot of computers on here and we need to restart them. I’m going to have to power down the plane, so you’ll be in the dark for a little while. We hope that’ll take care of the problem.”

I briefly panicked. Great. I’m on a plane with a defective computer. We’ll get three miles up in the air and the stinking gremlins will strike again. How are you going to restart the plane then, captain? We’re all going to die. Little did the unsuspecting lady sitting beside me with her baby know when she boarded this plane that no one would ever see them alive again.

Then, as suddenly as it departed, my sanity returned. Eventually we took off, and I loved every minute of the flight. The turbulence didn’t even bother me. I had a window seat and saw things I’ve never seen before. One of the most amazing sights was the surreal alien landscape formed by the top of the low lying clouds near Denver. It was like a vast, sprawling field of something resembling heads of cauliflower, with a variety of other formations dotting the landscape. Here and there were what looked like the ghostly hulls of sunken ships, jutting up through the field of cauliflower. Off in the distance were mountain ranges and a huge lake, composed entirely of clouds. It was beautiful.

I saw a lot of other things too. I saw as I have many other times that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above ( and below!) proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1)

I also saw that my faith can still be very weak, in spite of my confidence in the goodness and sovereignty of God. I’m thankful that Christ sympathizes with us in our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).

I may tell you in another post at another time about my second flight, and the terrific thunderstorm that diverted it.

Christian Carnival CDXI

Tags

blogs, christian carnival, christianity, Jesus, religion

Welcome to the 411th edition of the Christian Carnival.  Christian blog writers share their best post (one post only) from the previous week.  Topic is not necessarily about Christianity but must reflect a Christian worldview, and the writer must be Christian to qualify.  You can see who’ll be hosting future Carnivals (and/or submit your own post) on the Christian Carnival home page.

I’ve been a bad blogger lately if blogging consistency counts for anything (and it does), so I have no post of my own to add to this carnival.  There have been a few changes to the Carnival in the last few months, including new categories for submissions and a new Facebook page.  Here are this week’s posts, arranged in the order they were received, and within the categories to which they were submitted by the authors.

Devotionals

David R Wells presents First Fruits, not Leftovers posted at Revelation 3:10 – Blog, saying “Today’s passage… is about giving God our first and not our last.”

Raziel presents Lessons from the three Temptations posted at Pens Or Swords

Joe Plemon presents How the Golden Rule Could Fix Everything posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying “Could the Golden Rule REALLY fix everything? There is a huge IF involved.”

Josh presents 25 Great Waiting Quotes posted at What Christians Want To Know, saying “We all struggle with waiting. Whether it be waiting in line or waiting on God it is a struggle for us all. Take a look at these great quotes and verses.”

Koty Ray presents Too much people-pleasing posted at Teen Devotionals

Cindy Jeffrey presents Prayer for Patience and Calmness posted at Christian Prayers, saying “This site provides Christian prayers daily.”

Charles Chua C K presents 10 Keys to Live a Balanced and Happy Life posted at All About Living with Life

Christian Amit presents Jesus Heals the Woman with Blood Issue posted at Bible Study Lessons | Free Inductive Study Guide, saying “Bible study lesson on healing of woman with the issue of blood on Mark 5:24-34. Her faith in Jesus. Why did she touch Him? How was she instantly healed? Faith lessons and life applications.”

Zowada presents The Eternal Sunrise. posted at Zowada Blog, saying “In order for one to live in sight of eternity, one must also live in sight of their own imminent earthly demise.”

Russ White presents Adam and Maslow posted at Thinking in Christ

Adam Faughn presents Powerful Prayer posted at The Faughn Family of Four

Brandon Peters presents Putting My Future Fully in His hands posted at INSPIKS, saying “The end of December 2010 was probably the craziest time of my life. After getting home from Bible school I told God to do whatever He needed so that I could fully live for Him. I found out that is a very dangerous prayer.”

Ed Renk presents God Does Big Things in Small Places posted at InFaith’s Mission Blog

Narratives

Lahesha Williams presents 5 Tips for Proper Time Management in College posted at Lahesha Williams, saying “Many students do not know how to manage their time while they are in school. They think they have loads of free time, when in fact, they are just procrastinating all of their homework and tests. Here are 5 tips to develop some time management skills.”

LaTisha D Styles presents Fun Trivia: Books of the Bible | BiblicalFinances posted at BiblicalFinances, saying “Can you find the names of the books of the Bible in this paragraph?”

Ridge Burns presents Sounds of a Funeral posted at Ridge’s Blog

Henry Neufeld presents Why Justin Quit Reading the Bible posted at Jevlir Caravansary, saying “Does our encouragement of young people always have the results we expect?”

Uncategorized

Richard H. Anderson presents Matthew misread the Book of Zechariah posted atdokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos, saying “one in a series of articles on the priority of the Gospel of Luke”

Lisa Battista23 presents The Top 40 Informative Forums for Theology Students and Educators posted at Theology Degrees Online, saying, “You don’t have to be studying theology to be confused and curious about different religions and beliefs. From the most devout to the most skeptical, many people have questions about their own beliefs as well as others. These incredible forums offer information from experts as well as bloggers who are interested in sharing their knowledge with others.”

Engelbert Hudson presents 30 Incredible Q&A Sites to Help You Understand the Bible posted at Biblical Learning Blog, saying “The Bible is not an easy area of study. With thousands of years of history and various versions, students often have many questions. That’s where the use of Q&A sites come in. These 30 sites are incredible resources to help you better understand the Bible, and they are written by Bible experts, writers, preachers and other professionals.”

What impression will we make tomorrow?

Tags

christian, church, corporate worship, God, Jesus, Religion and Spirituality, worship

I normally lead the corporate singing at our church.  Occasionally after a service someone will say that they enjoyed the music.  There’s probably nothing inherently wrong with that, but this post by Mark Altrogge made me think about the kind of impression we leave on people when we gather for worship.

Are people impressed with us and our excellence (or lack thereof, as the case may be), or are they impressed with Jesus?  Mark quotes an excerpt from Jonathan Leeman’s book Reverberation and concludes with this thought:

When people leave our churches tomorrow, may they not say, “What moving worship, what a great worship band, what an incredible preacher, or what a cool building” but may they say, “What an incredible Savior.”

Read it all: What Will People Say When They Leave Our Churches Tomorrow?

An iPad Experiment

Tags

blogging, iPad 2, technology, travel

This will be brief.

This is an experiment. Due to the lavish generosity of a dear friend, our family owns an iPad 2. Right now I’m on the road without a laptop so I thought I would try to write a post using the iPad and the WordPress app. I didn’t think I would like it, but it’s not bad. The worst thing about it is having to use the small virtual keyboard to type. I’ll say a little more about the road trip in my next post.

That’s it.

Even if it breaks our hearts

Tags

blogs, christianity, death, God, loss, sorrow, sovereignty, suffering

I’ve never met this young couple, although I once knew several members of their extended family well.  This is a deeply moving story of one young family’s loss, and a sovereign God’s tender care for them.  I want you to read it for yourself.

Start here.  You might want to read every post on the blog (there are only twenty at the moment).  But whatever you do, don’t miss this recent post.  Here’s an excerpt:

The day that I sat in that dreary room and  they told us there was nothing that could be done for Sadie, a quote came to mind. At the end of the new Pride and Prejudice when Lizzy is talking with her father about her betrothal, her father sat crying and said, ” I could not part with you, my dear Lizzy, for anyone less worthy.” Oh how worthy is the Lamb who was slain! How worthy is He of our all, even if it breaks our hearts, even if it feels as though it is ripping us into pieces.

This powerful story of God’s grace is still unfolding.  There was a funeral today.  I’m sure a lot of tears were shed.  I’m also sure God was glorified.  Many lives will never be the same.  Eventually the story will reach its conclusion in heaven, when the Lord “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)

Not all marriage books are created equal

Tags

books, christian, christianity, ix marks, ix marks ministries, marriage, Paul David Tripp, sanctification, sin, What Did You Expect

Unlike the grand statement about “all men” in the Declaration of Independence, not all marriage books are created equal.  A couple of years ago the guys at IX Marks ministries published a list of brief but helpful reviews of several marriage books.  As you can see from that list, some of the books on it are well worth worth reading and some are… perhaps less worthwhile.

The helpfulness of each book in the list is evaluated based on how God-centered (or gospel-centered) it is.  I don’t know of any better way to evaluate anything.  Obviously, there may still be a certain amount of subjectivity in the reviews, but I think overall they’re fair and accurate.

At least one exceptionally good marriage book has been published since the IX Marks list was created.  Exceptionally good, mind you, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy to read.  If you’re as flawed as I am, you get your toes stepped on a lot when you’re reading an “exceptionally good” marriage book.

The book I’m referring to is What Did You Expect?by Paul David Tripp.  My wife and I are slowly reading through it together.  I may write a review of it when I’m finished, but for now I simply want to recommend it for its gospel-centered approach to marriage with this excerpt (from the section on building a “a sturdy bond of trust”):

When you are working on rebuilding trust, you need to place your hope not in your husband or wife but in the third Person in your marriage, the Lord Jesus. He is with you and for you. As the designer of marriage and the one who brought you together, He has more zeal that your marriage would actually be what He created it to be than you will ever have.

He has the wisdom you need. He has the strength you need. He offers the forgiveness you need. And He will not leave you when the going gets tough. Cry out to Him; He will never turn a deaf ear to you. Listen to His Word; there is wisdom there that has the power to restore.

And when you are discouraged and feel that you are all alone and no one understands, remember Jesus. He suffered rejection and mistreatment. He was not even able to trust His closest companions. On the cross, as He bore our sins, even His Father forsook Him.

It’s encouraging to know that in marriage, as in all things pertaining to our sanctification, God is more zealous for our good (Romans 8:28) than even we ourselves often are.

The best blog I’ve ever read

Tags

blogs, christianity, discipleship, grace, mercy, poor, poverty, Religion and Spirituality, social action, Uganda

I’ve benefited in many ways from reading the blogs of faithful Christian men and women.  Today, while visiting the new blog of a friend of mine, I was reminded just how grateful I am for one blog in particular.  I’m not even sure what it’s called (maybe Kisses from Katie).  But I do believe it’s the best blog I’ve ever read–not because of its profound theological insights, not because of its intellectually stimulating posts, and certainly not because it’s funny, or fun to read; but rather because it’s so blasted humbling.  It exposes my self-absorption.  It condemns my love of comfort.  It shows me true Christ-likeness in action.  It shows me something I don’t see enough of, and don’t display enough of.

I’ve mentioned the blog before, and I will surely mention it again.  In her most recent post, Katie Davis tells (in her own typical, unassuming, heart-rending way) the stories of Regina and her starving children, of Makerere the resident crazy man, and of baby Juma and her grandmother.  Katie’s home is a haven for poor and needy and lost souls.

This house I call home, it is where people flock for help. For a glass of water, for a welcoming smile, for a story of redemption, for a place to belong. “Come and listen,” we say. “Come and listen to what He’s done for us. For you.” These 8 will leave, but more will come. They always come. I don’t know why us and I don’t know why here. Our house is a wreck and dinner is late. We make a ruckus in the grocery store and we don’t get invited out much because surely we will bring a screaming baby or worse, crazy people. We are late to church and sometimes we get there and one doesn’t have shoes and one forgot to comb her hair. We are the messy ones. And we pray and we pray that we could spill out the grace God has so lavished on us.

Please, please, read the whole article.  I can’t recommend Katie’s blog highly enough.  Subscribe to it.  Buy her book when it’s released in October.  Buy multiple copies and give them to everyone you know.  And above all (God help us!) imitate her, as she imitates Christ.

Once saved, always saved?

Tags

bible, calvinism, christianity, eternal security, Perseverance of the saints, reformed, reformed theology, Robert Lewis Dabney, southern baptist, southern baptist convention, theology

Wow.  You would think I would have a little more time to blog in the summer, but it always seems to be just the opposite.  This will be my first post in June.  It’s somewhat of a follow-up to a brief thought I shared about a month ago regarding the possibility of believing in vain.

I grew up in a Southern Baptist church.  I’ve been a member of three different Southern Baptist churches in three different towns–which means, among other things, that I’ve been exposed to the well-known phase “Once saved, always saved” all of my life.  It has become something of a Southern Baptist mantra.

For the record, I despise the phrase.  I wish it would go away.  Despite the grain of truth it contains, it is so misused that not only is it not helpful, it’s often detrimental to the cause of Christ.  It seems much better to me to simply stick with the biblical emphasis on what is commonly referred to as the perseverance of the saints.  The Bible is clear, I think, on the fact that final salvation is conditional on perseverance in faith and holiness.

Strive…for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard (Col. 1:21-23).

but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope (Heb. 3:6)

For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end (Heb. 3:14).

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain (1 Cor. 15:1-2).

I could quote more passages, but I think those are sufficient to make the point.  I recently came across a statement on this topic by the Reformed theologian R.L. Dabney in a Theopedia article.  Dabney strongly condemns the misuse of the “once saved, always saved” proposition, and even derides those who abuse it.

We do not teach that any man is entitled to believe that he is justified, and therefore shall not come again in condemnation on the proposition “once in grace always in grace,” although he be now living in intentional, willful sin. This falsehood of Satan we abhor. We say, the fact that this deluded man can live in willful sin is the strongest possible proof that he never was justified, and never had any grace to fall from. And, once for all, no intelligent believer can possibly abuse this doctrine into a pretext for carnal security. It promises to true believers a perseverance in holiness. Who, except an idiot, could infer from that promise the privilege to be unholy? (R. L. Dabney, The Five Points of Calvinism)

Personally, I would stop short of using such strong language toward people who misuse the doctrine of eternal security, but I have no problem with strongly condemning the abuse of the idea.  In fact, it would be wrong not to clearly and publicly denounce it.

A Song for Servicemen (and those who love them)

Tags

Bob Bennett, christian, Iraq, Jesus Music, Memorial Day, military, music, prayer, songwriting

I still like to listen to some of my old Jesus music.  There were several good Christian singer/songwriters back in the 70′s, but few better than Bob Bennett. I’m thankful that he’s still writing and recording today.  Many of his songs, both old and new, touch me deeply.

Most of Bob’s songs are original compositions.  Occasionally though, he writes his own arrangement of an old hymn, as he did with My Redeemer Lives (click to listen) on his very first album.  You can still buy that CD, entitled First Things First, as well as some of Bob’s other music from his online store.

This post, however, is not about Bob’s music in general.  Rather this is about one particular song Bob wrote a few years ago for his son, who was a Marine serving in Iraq at the time.  One of the things Bob does best as a songwriter is bare his heart as he tells a story.  This song is a perfect example.  I dedicate it to everyone who has ever served in the military (both to those who have lived and those who have died), and to the family members who love them.

Click to listen to My Heart Across the Ocean

You can read more about the song and download it for free at Bob’s website.  Here are the lyrics:

MY HEART ACROSS THE OCEAN
WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY BOB BENNETT
© 2003 BRIGHT AVENUE SONGS (ASCAP)

I am an American father
And as countless fathers have done before
I hide my tears in the middle of the night
For I’ve sent my American son to war
Far from this fruited plain
To the eye of a desert storm

So proud of the man he’s made of himself
Semper fi and the uniformPlanes and tanks and satellite phones
Flashing across on our TVs
But we still have commercials in between
The Wall Street scores and the casualties

So I pray my prayers as best I can
And hold on tight to the notion
That all of life is in God’s hands
And my heart is across the ocean

I was never in the military
My father served and now my son
Sometimes I wonder if it had to be
Could I ever do what they have done?

But every day I look for hope
My fears under my breath
For all parents share the same nightmare
That we might follow our child in death

So many mothers and fathers now
At the very start, they were just like me
Now their sons and daughters are standing watch
On the other side of eternity

So I pray for them and I pray for myself
With faltering devotion
To the One Who shares our sorrows and cares
For my heart is across the ocean

My heart is across the ocean

(BONUS:  Here’s another poignant song Bob wrote while going through a painful divorce:  I’m Still Alive Tonight)