On Grace

For the last week or so, I have been listening only to Christian music at work. No, I've not burned all my secular CDs. I don't think rock is evil. No, I didn't invest in CCM stock. But with all the stress already at work, I began considering how useful it would be for the music I surround myself with to have a message other than angst or worldly desire. I have been very blessed by the results of the change.

In particular, the following piece by the ever-convicting band Caedmon's Call hit me upside the head today. The writer's beautiful but simple turns of phrases demonstrate how economically I tend to look at life so I can live it my way, but how God means it to be so much more than I could even imagine - and reminds me that it's not all about me after all.

What a relief.

Sometimes I believe all the lies
So I can do the things I should despise
And every day I am swayed
By whatever is on my mind

I hear it all depends on my faith
So I'm feeling precarious
The only problem I have with these mysteries
Is they're so mysterious

And like a consumer I've been thinking
If I could just get a bit more
More than my fifteen minutes of faith,
Then I'd be secure

My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I stand on grace

I've begged you for some proof
For my Thomas eyes to see
A slithering staff, a leprous hand
And lions resting lazily

A glimpse of your back-side glory
And this soaked altar going ablaze
But you know I've seen so much
I explained it away

My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I stand on grace

Waters rose as my doubts reigned
My sand-castle faith, it slipped away
Found myself standing on your grace
It'd been there all the time

My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I'll stand on grace...