Enough already! I'll buy your music!

I gave in to Ross King and bought his music today. I didn't buy Rhymes with Orange but the pretty good one that isn't for children, Perhaps I've Said to Much.



I am buying this CD on the heels of receiving another CD of his, Big Quiet Truth.



Now, I first bought Big Quiet Truth in High School when it was brand spankin' new. Somewhere since then it was lost/stolen/misplaced/sold, whatever. I didn't have it anymore but still remembered several of the songs on it.

The main songs I remembered were As Much for Me and Foolish to You, both great songs. As Much for Me is a song about how God's grace is just as needed by Ross as it is by those who have committed horrendous crimes. It can be easy to be like the Pharisees and raise our noses and say "at least I didn't kill anyone!" Yet God still holds our sins against us. A forgiven sinner gets into Heaven while the unrepentant proud good guy gets left outside. Foolish to You is based on 1 Corinthians 1:18-29 and John 14:6.

As soon as I got the CD I threw it into the player and played those two songs. I then let the rest of the CD play and a flush of memories raced back as I heard the songs that I knew in my youth.

I first met Ross when I was in High School. He was the worship leader one summer for the summer camp my church had. Being on the worship team I worked with him in planning evening worship. Several years later I attended Community Church in College Station. The first Sunday I walked in, Ross was sitting at a table in the back of the hall by the door. At the time Community Church met in the Hilton. As I walked in, Ross welcomed me then said that I looked familiar. I told him where we had met before, but as I walked away I told my friend who was with me that there was no way Ross recognized me from that. You know what, maybe he did.

As I listened to the CD one song in particularly hit me, Long and Lonely Fall. This song is great on so many levels. First, it just a good song to listen to. It is a simple guitar and mandolin with a drum and tambourine, but it is pleasant to the ears. Second, the poetry! Now, anyone who has read my blog knows that my taste in poetry is pry lacking, but I think Ross has some good lines in the song. Check out this one, "I wonder how Columbus felt when he landed on the show and knelt to pray/ think about it/ he had found America/ but he didn't know that India was so far away/ has my journey ended hopelessly?/ or have I made some great discover?/ all I know is/ even though there's peace my stomach say's I'm not OK." Maybe it isn't poetry, but it is a great line. Finally, the message of the song is amazing and hits me exactly where I am in life today.

The song is based on three pieces of Scripture, Psalm 43, 1 John 4:18, and Job 23:10.

Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?

Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

Then will I go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Psalm 43

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

But He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Job 23:10

A while back I wrote about another Ross King song in my post, Not seeing is believing. In the post I wrote about how I might have spent my life planning for something that may never happen. I have come to the realization that this may be true. The plans I have been making for years have not been carried out the way I planned. I know I am better for the plans I made, but I am not where I planned to be. But through out it, these words ring true, "I don't want to put too much weight on this thing/ but sometimes it's a bit disheartening/ so I will trust You for the ending/ cause there's no use in pretending that I know/ oh Lord I need You so."

I do not know the ending, I only know where I am right now. I planned on one thing but ended up elsewhere. I continue to trust in God and this experience has only made my trust greater. I may feel down because my plans didn't pan out, and they were good plans!, but I have stayed faithful to God and I know that he remains faithful to me.

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.