Music/Lyrics that have touched me lately

Lately I have been challenged, encouraged, and blessed by two different songs that aren't new songs but songs that have meant something to me in the past and now more than ever. The first song is called Collide by a group called Madison Greene. Here are the lyrics:

I am colliding, I will not tell you why, I cannot tell you- 'why' is not my cup of rain
I am freeing again. In falling to the earthen floor with you, I pronounce my change
I do not want these silhouettes, these shadows of your soul
if you can't give up every piece of who you are, don't give up any piece at all
it's not my time for sitting down, or gawking from the fence
you stand behind your church doors silent, smoking up your holiness
and I hear, I hear you perfectly well

I am not the judge, you say, I am not the judge, what is this hyprocrisy?
you shake hands with your human pride and then it slaps me in the face
you think that I'm too young to discover reality formed from a fallen race
well I've sinned, I've bit the dirt, no one says they're perfect here
but how are you going to reach the spirit when you can't get past the clothes you wear?

And I hear, I hear you perfectly clear
I am not the king, you say, I am not the king, where is your authority?
well I'm not the king but I'm not afraid to separate the two
you make religion of your compromise when you hold tradition higher than the truth
you frustrate me, you divide us, you act like you don't care
turn back to your dusty books and watch this pagan world disappear.

And I hear, I hear you perfectly clear
you can't accept the change, you say, you won't accept the change
it's pretty where you are
well it might be pretty, it might be clean, but it's not enough to change the world we're in
content to stay inside, your silent speaks in waves
your silence tells me I should leave
like some Pharisee, you hold on to your ways,
with this I know we must collide...

take your sky-rise church, your plasic hooks, your diet pills from your mother's hand
take what you get and don't give back and then speak some language I don't understand
plant a seed inside your pocket watch your bank account and houses grow
turn me around, upside down, I am by myself to find my way back again

why do you keep insisting on this breaking in my head
turn me inside out, all around, now I'm going to have to find my own way in
we do not belong to just ourselves and what will make ourselves comfortable
but you can't reach out when you get too disturbed, when you're afraid that you might lose control.

why you keep insisting on this breaking in my head?
I am turned around, I'm right side in, I'm leaving, and I'm never coming back again
take my stepping stones and smash them into bits of gravel if you can
take your 1950's dogma and enforce it on this generation if you can
take your irrational fears; take your exaggerated codes
you frustrate your sons and daughters and make them slaves to what you think is 'holy and just'
when it's all just a bunch of rules
why do you keep insisting on this breaking in my head?
I am turned around, I'm right side in, I'm leaving and I'm never coming back again.

I'll write the other lyrics to the Dime Store Prophets song called "Hitler's Girlfriend" later.

RISK and the future

Several months ago I read the parable of the Talents in the Message and it struck me like no other time I had read it. In particular these words, "The servant given one thousand said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.'
26-27"The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.
28-30"'Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.'

The words that struck me were, "It's criminal to live cautiously like that!" and "And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. That began a journey with the word risk. It seemed like everywhere I went, I ran into it. I went to England and ran into it. I read books and ran in to it. I went to Lampeter UMC and they talked about Risk taking mission. I even preached on it myself (go figure). It was almost comical at times.. I couldn't escape it. For the last several months I have been asking God what he is calling me to when it comes to risk. I believe that the risk that he is calling me to is multi-dimensional. I believe there is a personal, professional, and spiritual risks that he is calling me to take. Where it leads is anyones guess..except His. I am glad that he has everything under control.....I just need to have trust and faith and to step out in risk onto that bridge (like Indiana Jones did in the last movie...stepping onto a bridge he couldn't see) and he will take care of the rest.

I ask for your prayers during this time as we together discern the future of Veritas, and of Kim and I's future. If you would like to be a prayer partner for Kim and I, please let me know.
I am excited about the future and what God is going to do in and through us.