Incredible Quotes #12

"In his stillness there was a deep awareness. He knew of the wild things cradled in the woods and fields, and of the sheep going home over the hill. He knew about the orchards, and the farmsteads where little children were dreaming under the eaves. He knew where the dead lay sleeping and where the living wept. He knew all there was to know of this little country of his birth, and he held it in the hollow of his hand. And beyond these green hills was the pulsing thunder of the workshops and the roar of cities and the strife of kings, and he knew that, too, and watched it all. And he saw good and evil, light and darkness, heaven and hell, locked in combat; he saw the smoke of the battle and smelled the reek of the blood and sweat and tears, and yet he was not afraid. For he was a Man, standing guard over his inheritance of all that lives. To him it had been given to pass through life and death to life again, and know them one; to rise to the very peak and height of agony and find himself looking into the eyes of God beneath the crown of thorns, to fall through the bottomless abyss and find himself kneeling at the feet of God pierced through with nails, to probe each way through doubting and despair and find the arms of God outstretched in love upon the cross; because he was a Man and into man has been breathed the breath of life, and life is God."

~Elizabeth Goudge, The Castle on the Hill 

The Story

I've absolutely fallen in love with this album, called Music Inspired by The Story. It's a compilation of various, well-known Christian artists like the lead singers of Casting Crowns, Jars of Clay and Newsboys, Jeremy Camp, Chris Tomlin, and Mandisa. The songs themselves are written from the perspectives of Biblical characters.

Beginning with an overtude "Creation," the songs are Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Ruth and Naomi, David, Daniel, Esther, Job, Mary, Jesus, the thief on the cross, Mary Magdalene, the disciples, Paul, and the church at the Second Coming. I really like most of them and they make you see so much of what these people must have felt.

You can find all of these songs on YouTube. I would highly advise that you listen to them ALL even if it takes some time. I'll leave you with the first one "Good" (Adam and Eve) by Matthew West and Leigh Nash. Enjoy!

If I could, I’d rewrite history
I’d choose differently; if I could, I would
I’d leave out the part where I broke Your heart
In the garden’s shade, fix the mess I made
If I could, I would

If I could, close my eyes and then
Dance around again; if I could, I would
Be who You adored, why did I need more?
When beauty was not trained to hide behind my shame
If I could, I would.

Can You hear us cry?
Wishing we could turn back time
To feel Your breath when branches move
Take one more sunset walk with You
Must each tomorrow hold
Such brokenness untold?
Can’t imagine how You could
See all of me and say it’s good

If I could hold one memory
It would surely be how You walked with us
I’d go back in time, un-tell my first lie
And let Love’s injury heal in spite of me

Can You hear us cry?
Wishing we could turn back time
To feel Your breath when branches move
Take one more sunset walk with You
Must each tomorrow hold
Such brokenness untold?
Can’t imagine how You could
See all of me and say it’s good

It is good. It is good.
You still love us more than we believed You could
Could there be something more?
Will it ever be the way it was before?

Can You hear us cry?
Wishing we could turn back time
To feel Your breath when branches move
Take one more sunset walk with You
Must each tomorrow hold
Such brokenness untold?
Can’t imagine how You could
See all of me and say it’s good

Incredible Quotes #11

"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on my side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."

~Abraham Lincoln