You Can Change The World

A while back I was thinking about free will. How, in the midst of a omnipotent power, we are each handed the ability to choose. How we are given the choice, each day, between our own agendas and a higher agenda.

In the mix, of course, are the evil forces that control this world at present. This makes the choices much muddier than they otherwise would be. Most would admit that “a higher calling” is downplayed in this world we live.

 For those of us fortunate enough to have been brought up by God-fearing parents, we have a better perception than most. But even given that advantage, I find the choices more and more obscured as our hearts acclimate to a colder and colder world.

 It’s amazing to me that people will choose to rebel against the creator, and yet, how can I dare be amazed when I do it myself everyday. It was in one of these thoughtful times I sat down and wrote a lyric. Know, as I remember, its been almost 5 years.

 I got a message a few weeks back that a publisher wants to sign the song and start pitching it. I’d almost forgotten about it. I may ruffle some feathers with this song, and you may have a theological difference with me on this. To be honest, I struggle with it still. I know that there’s a plan and a knowledge of our lives, but I also know our free will is a part of that plan and that knowledge.

 Perhaps you struggle with it, as well. Let me know what you think.

 When I wrote the lyric, I tried to give it a musical life, but ended up asking a friend of mine to put it to music. Alan Johnston is a great songwriter from the state of West Virginia, and he has a voice and life that can speak truth into these lyrics.

 Alan’s had songs nominated for IBMA’s song of the year, and has had his songs sung by the legendary greats of bluegrass. When Alan sent me the track, he urged me to add some piano. I decided it was just right where it was, and frankly, I was scared to add anything more.

 Here’s a link to the demo: YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

 Here’s the lyric:

You Can Change The World (But you can’t change me)
©2010 Tim Wheeler, Alan Johnston

Chorus:
You can change the world, but you can’t change me
You can change the world, but you can’t change me
And If I don’t let you, you can’t change my legacy

You can lead a horse to water
You can force a horse to drink
You can get inside a horse’s head
And teach him how to think, and

You can change the world, but you can’t change me        
You can change the world, but you can’t change me
And If I don’t let you, you can’t change my legacy

You can stage a protest
You can change the laws
You can march on Washington
And stand up for your cause, and

You can change the world, but you can’t change me
You can change the world, but you can’t change me
And If I don’t let you, you can’t change my legacy

You can be for the devil
You can be for the Lord
You can be for the president
Don’t care who you’re working for, cause

You can change the world, but you can’t change me
You can change the world, but you can’t change me
And If I don’t let you, you can’t change my legacy

You can walk on water
You can heal the blind
You can offer me forgiveness
It don’t matter ‘cause you’ll find that

You can change the world, but you can’t change me
You can change the world, but you can’t change me
See, If I don’t let you, you can’t change my legacy
If I don’t let you, you can’t change my legacy

Ring, Ring. Awesome SEX calling...

Relevant Magazine published an article entitled, “Christians aren’t called to have Amazing Sex”. I’m sure the article title was meant to attract some readership, and it attracted mine. It’s views on abstinence, however, seemed flawed. The overall attitude towards sex, depressing. I’m sure she meant well. You can read the article here.

Here is my response:

I have to disagree that sexual compatibility "doesn't matter to Christians".   I think when we are gifted with abundant life, good sex within the constraints of marriage is not excluded.

I would first make the observation that couples do not have to have sex to make a pretty good judgement about whether they are sexually compatible. Honest, frank communication should be part of the courting process. Abstinence should not prevent communication, especially when a couple is intending to marry. Frank communication on these issues, however, seem to be rare in the church. They shouldn't be.

For instance, if couples express an expectation of Amazing sex in marriage, to each other, before marriage, it would reveal pretty quickly if their expectations and views on sex are compatible. Because of this, I doubt the validity of the claims from the woman who "abstained and then divorced because of it", and suspect there was more to the issue than a "physical" discovery. What did she expect? What did he expect? Did they have that conversation on their honeymoon?

The other thing I would say is that I've always taught my kids (something that I was never taught by the way) that sex before marriage isn't something we avoid in order to please God. Obedience to God is for us.  Abstinence is for OUR good, not God's. I believe this distinction is the key to get someone to own and protect their own purity.

Christ's sacrifice forgave sin, all sin. Sin in our past. Sin we are yet to commit. The earthly consequence of sin, however, is ours (and our friends and families) to bear while we live out this mortal life. The bond we make with a sexual partner goes beyond the physical, and will in some way always invade the relationships you eventually build with your future spouse. It will forever color or even damage the potential for future relationships. In my opinion, that's the real reason to abstain.

Of course, only hind-sight can confirm this, and thus is usually learned the hard way.

You See Jesus

Time is such a fickle thing. Sometimes is goes by slow. Sometimes it flies. Sometimes it acts like a veil, making something good look bad. Something holy, evil. We don’t know the future. We can’t see the impact of a life from the perspective of eternity.

C.S. Lewis said this in his book, THE GREAT DIVORCE :

“Son,'he said,' ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why...the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, "We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.”

I’m always enthralled by the concept that when we do good (or bad) for someone on the street or in our lives, that Christ sees it as if we did it to or for himself.

Thinking more on that subject, one of the things I do to almost anyone I consciously encounter, is judge them. I consider myself a pretty forgiving person, and so I’d like to think I go easy on people when I judge them, but I judge them, nonetheless. I like their clothes, or their demeanor, or not. I marvel at someone’s intellect or cleverness.. or not. I evaluate how fast they served me.. or not.

Sometimes I love them.. or at least the thought occurs to me (thanks to the Holy Spirit). Other times, I mindlessly pass by my opportunities to love. I miss the chance to assign value to people. I miss the opportunity to see, what God sees. Jesus.

The song is entitled, YOU SEE JESUS. Joel Lane, sang the vocal for this song demo. You can listen to it here.

You See Jesus

I see a hungry child who has nothing to eat

A cycle of poverty that will repeat

I see a dependency that’s just begun.

But, You see Jesus. You see your Son.

I see a rebellious man who curses your name

Convicted and guilty one who takes no blame

I see a fugitive upon the run

You see Jesus. You see your son.

Light from darkness. Old made new.

Flawed and ugly, beautiful to You

I see my apathy towards the oppressed

I’m weakened by atrophy and selfishness

How jaded and cynical I have become

But you see Jesus. You see your Son.

You see Jesus. You see your Son

You see the purity of a holy one

All my unrighteousness has come undone

You see Jesus. You see your Son

You see Jesus. You see your Son

You see the purity of THE holy one

All the unrighteousness has come undone

You see Jesus. You see your Son

You see Jesus. You see your Son

You see Jesus. You see your Son

Look To You

10 years ago, on September 11, 2001, I was packed into a small video duplication room at the end of the hall with a dozen coworkers, watching a 10” black and white tv set, as we saw the second 747 fly into tower #2. We all felt helpless. I was horrified; as if I’d just been punched in the gut. I heard someone say, “what should we do?” I remember thinking, “yes, what should we do?” and waited for an answer. When no one answered I looked back to see the whole room looking at me, waiting for an answer.

It was a sobering moment, especially since I didn’t have a good answer. I’ll never forget that moment; When those around me, faced with a difficult life question, chose to look to me for an answer.

I went home that afternoon, and for the next few days I watched the non-stop news coverage. I saw the towers come down, over and over...at least a couple dozen times. When I close my eyes, I can still people running from the cloud of dust and debris. I still see the people jumping to their deaths. I still see the smoking wreckage.

A few days later, on Saturday morning, after the world had finally started to turn again, I was sitting on the side of a soccer field on the west side of Detroit. After a moment of silence, I remember sitting in the morning sun, watching my son’s team play ball. I remember thinking about being in that video duplication room. I remember the feeling of being blind-sided by the humbling responsibility of leadership. As I sat there, I was flooded with words. I pulled out something to write on, and In less than 5 minutes I had written down the words of LOOK TO YOU.

I remember thinking that this was a song about September 11th. A way of dealing with the pain and the horror. A song about our human condition and our natural response to demand and eye for an eye. I remember struggling with the truth that tells us we should overcome our natural reactions and respond to a higher calling.

Ten years later, the words that flowed through me still ring true, and I feel blessed to have been given this song.

Look to You
Tim Wheeler ©2001 Weaver of Words Music

What do you believe in
Do you believe it’s true?
Do you hold it over others
who don’t believe like you
Call it righteous indignation
Or a justified alarm
But muster his compassion
for those who wish you harm

Our world, your world, will look to you

The world is full of anger
and broken empty dreams
And the canopy that shields her
is tearing at the seams
Hatred rage and vengeance
seem a natural response
But you know your call is greater
as a child of renaissance

Our world, your world, will look to you

We’ll look to you
To see how you respond in tragic circumstance
We’ll look to you
To see what happens when your enemies advance
We’ll look to you
To see just where you turn when you haven’t got a chance
We’ll look to you

I know it must be tempting
just to follow happenstance
It’s hard to lead the music
when you really wanna dance
But the servant that’s within you
is calling you to stand
The reason for your being
may be close at hand

Our world, your world, will look to you

Update: August 9, 2011: Nu-Blu has just released a new version of Look To You on their new CD, The Blu-Disc. It is available on iTunes and other fine purveyors of e-music or you can get it by clicking here.

A Hymn.

I’ve been collaborating with a great writer from Houston. Eva and I have written a few tunes together and recently she asked me to write a hymn with her.

When we were researching the hymn, Eva sent me a link to a sermon on the subject. It turned out that the sermon was an all-night sermon from new year’s eve, 1960. The speaker was W.A. Criswell. Wally Amos Criswell was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas from the mid 40’s until the mid 90’s. Pastor Criswell dedicated my two oldest children. He was a gentle soul with a powerful passion for the gospel and people.

The sermon was entitled, “The Scarlet Thread”, the same title we had chosen for our hymn, and was about the common thread of God’s holy sacrifice throughout the history of mankind. Amazingly, the audio tape of the sermon was available in the W.A. Criswell library online! It was amazing to me to listen to a sermon from so long ago, and to be so moved and enlightened. It was an exciting find.

W.A. died in 2002. First Baptist Dallas has had eight senior pastors since its beginning, but only two pastors, George Truett and Dr. W.A. Criswell, for the period between the church’s founding in 1897 through 1995.

The hymn, SCARLET THREAD is the result. Here’s a video of the demo:

The Invention of Lying (Faith)

Rented this movie last night.

It had a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Not terrible, I guess. Better than 50/50. I should have required a higher standard. What’s odd, is that when you read the reviews, they are totally polarized. Witty / Stupid Hit / Flop. There seems to be no connect between the reviews. Its as if they’re talking about two different movies.

I think I figured out why.

It was a pretty funny premise. No one lies. Everyone tells the truth, in fact; Everyone is compelled to be brutally honest.. its their nature.

As a result, there are a lot of funny scene possibilities. Unfortunately, most of them are acted out in the first 10 minutes of the movie.

The first lie happens after the main character (played by Ricky Gervais) has lost his job and is evicted from his apartment because he doesn’t have the $800 for his rent. He goes to the bank to withdraw his last $300 so he can rent a truck and move his stuff out. The system is down and when asked how much is in his account, he is so obsessed with the $800 dollar figure he blurts it out. Conditioned that no one lies, the teller assumes that there is a mistake in the system and gives him the $800.

All is well and good until his mother is on her death bed, scared of an eternity of nothingness. Equipped with his new ability to lie, he tells her that she is in fact going to a good place and that she will see all her friends and her deceased husband.

Happy, she dies, but the entire hospital crew, who’s been listening, wants to know more.

The next day he returns home to find throngs of people on his front lawn, wanting to know where they go when they die, and the main character is revered like Moses. The people wait for his revelation.

He goes inside and spends some time, writing down his story. he thinks his scribblings look unimpressive, so he pastes them on the back of pizza boxes. He makes his way downstairs and reads out his 10 “facts” about the man in the sky who makes everything that is good and also makes everything is bad. But he makes more good things than bad things, so its ok.

So, the religious similarities are complete.

Ricky Gervais had an agenda. A self-avowed atheist, he took a pretty funny premise and used it to paint faith as a lie, cooked up to make people feel better about dying into an eternity of nothingness.

Now I know why the reviews are polarized.

As he read the 10 facts, and suspecting his agenda, I couldn’t help but be annoyed with their silliness, and how the crowd, portrayed as gullible, saw all the holes in the idea of a “man in the sky”. Ricky, improvised and although it took him 2 hours to get through the 10 FACTS, he became rich (another over-obvious cliche’ comparison to televangelists) and was immortalized in stain glass windows in churches where people go to “think about the man in the sky”.

The part that constantly annoys me (with these types of films), is the simplicity with which the arguments against faith are made, and the way in which multiple religions are kneaded together to create inconsistency and contradiction in their logic. But he’s the one making the movie, and he can do whatever he wants. He’s the guy with the script and the investors, and the popularity to at least float such a movie.

What annoys me more is that there are not more people of faith using the same arena to tell their stories. If they do, the standards are almost always lower. (Bruce Almighty, excluded) The dismissal of the arts and excellence in many segments of the church is at least partially responsible. Its a travesty that more people of faith aren’t well-versed in the theatrical arts and comedy writing. At least if we poke fun at the human race, we could do so with an accurate depiction of the elements of faith.

Back to the reviews. The movie premise was funny, but the plot was terrible and predictable. The schmarmy ending was one in which you instinctively turn to those with whom you’re watching with a face that says “That didn’t just happen, did it?” It was really bad writing and acting. If Ricky’s character had had more tension against him, the movie could have worked. As it turned out, he was revered throughout, and there was never the successful delivery of a moral. I guess its appropriate that a movie portraying faith as a lie has no moral.

So, the reviews? What was that about? How could there be 57% good reviews on this movie? Perhaps they liked the agenda, and it was funny for some to see faith bashed, even at the expense of the writing and acting.

As for the 43% of bad reviews, I suppose some of them didn’t like the agenda, but I’d have to assume most of them just wanted to see a good movie...

Yeah, right.... Oh? You're serious?

So I mentioned that I started leading a new small group 24/7 with Jesus series.

Sounded like a good idea. A good study for our group.

Well, this week we’re looking at Simplicity, Silence and Solitude. Great, right! I’ve written songs about silence and solitude, and how important it is; Even how scary it is. How we avoid silence, even when we’re getting ready for sleep and turn on Conan or Jimmy Kimmel to keep our minds busy while we drift off.

Silence is always a time when you hear things. Important things. Things you need to hear.. sometimes things you don’t want to hear. Maybe that has something to do with why we avoid it so aggressively...

Well, I’m prepping the lesson and the instructor (on the video) asks the question, of the 168 hours we have in a week, what do we need to change in order to free up 7 hours a week to train. 7 hours to be in silence and solitude with God.

7 HOURS!?! Wait a minute? Did I sign up for this? Surely there must be another way! Can’t we get a CD to play while we drive to work? Maybe we could buy some subliminal tapes to play while we sleep? Sure I want this, but.. 7 hours?

No one said anything about giving up things like TV watching, getting up early, saying no to stuff, just so I can free-up time to spend with God.

Hmmm? Wondering how this lesson’s going to go over with the group tonight?!? Based on my initial (if I’m being honest) reaction, I’m a little worried. : )

I’ll report back later.

T