'Til Kingdom Come

Two posts in the same day. This one was worth posting. Because my entire afternoon stopped when I heard the lyrics. If this isn't a worship song, I don't know what one is. Gazaneo, if you're reading this, let's start using this at Central.

Steal my heart and hold my tongue.
I feel my time, my time has come.
Let me in, unlock the door.
I've never felt this way before.

The wheels just keep on turning,
The drummer begins to drum,
I don't know which way I'm going,
I don't know which way I've come.

Hold my hand inside your hands,
I need someone who understands.
I need someone, someone who hears,
For you, I've waited all these years.

For you, I'd wait 'til kingdom come.
Until my day, my day is done.
And say you'll come, and set me free,
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.

In your tears and in your blood,
In your fire and in your flood,
I hear you laugh, I heard you say,
"I wouldn't change a single thing."

The wheels just keep on turning,
The drummers begin to drum,
I don't know which way I'm going,
I don't know what I've become.

For you, I'd wait 'til kingdom come,
Until my days, my days are done.
Say you'll come and set me free,
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.

Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.

- Coldplay

Disturb us, Lord...

The latest nugget of wisdom comes from Sir Francis Drake, via Jeremy Sizemore, in the form of a prayer. It's been haunting me for three days now.

Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when With the abundance of things we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wider seas Where storms will show your mastery; Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars. We ask You to push back The horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future In strength, courage, hope, and love.

attributed - Sir Francis Drake - 1577

Puppy dogs' tails and everything nice.

Is it just me, or is all this stuff that the Eldredges write about in Wild At Heart (for guys) and Captivating (for girls) totally transformational?

Now, I'm not one to jump on the latest Christian-book-bandwagon (The Prayer of Jabez, The Purpose-Driven Life, and Your Best Life Now being three that come to mind when I think of books that I'd rather not promote...at least, en masse), and I really rather prefer the writing style of Salinger to almost anything sold in a Christian bookstore...but these two books on the sexes seem to be irking, inspiring, reaching, and insulting me in a way that Salinger never has. I was in tears at one point, have been wincing often, smiling wryly when not, and even had the visceral desire to shut Captivating and whip it across the room at one point this afternoon. Why?

Why do these books get under my skin? Aren't they formulaic? Aren't they written in dumbed down narrative? Don't they have cliché, soft-focus covers? They just reiterate what we all know anyway, about guys and girls, don't they? Don't they?

Why is it only now, at the age of 25, that I know what I should and shouldn't be looking for in a romantic relationship? Why is it only now, after several "dramacides", that I understand how they have left me feeling barren? Why is it only now, after years of Christianity, that I feel the wooing pursuit of God's love for me?

I guess the questions are deeper than I even know myself. Or, as John and Staci Eldredge would say, the Questions. "Do I have what it takes?" asks the little boy. "Am I lovely?" asks the little girl. It's so simple. And makes too much sense.