Untitled Document

Michael Card - Scribbling in the Sand

El Shaddai

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El Elyon na Adonai
Age to age you're still the same,
By the power of the name.
El Shaddai, El Shaddai, Erekamka na Adonai
We will praise and lift you high
El Shaddai

Though your love and through the ram,
You saved the son of Abraham,
And by the power of your hand,
Turned the sea into dry land
To the outcast on her knees
You were the God who really sees
And by your might you set your children free

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El Elyon na Adonai
Age to age you're still the same,
By the power of the name.
El Shaddai, El Shaddai, Erekamka na Adonai
We will praise and lift you high
El Shaddai

Through the years you made it clear
That the time of Christ was near
Though the people failed to see
What Messiah ought to be
Though your word contained the plan
They just could not understand
Your most awesome work was done
Through the frailty of your Son

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El Elyon na Adonai
Age to age you're still the same,
By the power of the name.
El Shaddai, El Shaddai, Erekamka na Adonai
We will praise and lift you high
El Shaddai

Immanuel

A sign will be given, a virgin will conceive
A human baby bearing undiminished Deity
The glory of the nations, a light for all to see
And hope for all who will embrace His warm reality

Immanuel, our God is with us.
And if God is with us, who could stand against us?
Our God is with us
Immanuel, our God is with us
And if God is with us, who could stand against us?
Our God is with us, Immanuel

What shall be your answer? Oh, will you hear the call
Of Him who did not spare His Son but gave Him for us all?
On earth there is no power, there is no depth or height
Could ever separate us from the love of God in Christ

For all those who live in the shadow of death,
A glorious light has dawned
For all those who stumble in the darkness, behold, your light has come!

Jubilee

The Lord provided for a time
For the slaves to be set free
For the debts to all be canceled
So His chosen ones could see

His deep desire was for forgiveness
He longed to see their liberty
And His yearning was embodied
In the Year of Jubilee

Chorus:
Jubilee, Jubilee
Jesus is our Jubilee
Debts forgiven
Slaves set free
Jesus is our Jubilee

At the Lord's appointed time
His deep desire became a man
The heart of all true jubilation
And with the joy we understand
In His voice we hear a trumpet sound
That tells us we are free
He is the incarnation
Of the year of Jubilee

Chorus

To be so completely guilty
Given over to despair
To look into your judge's face
And see a Savior there

Chorus (2x)

Soul Anchor

Though the wind is raging all around
And even though the waves may rise
There's a place of stillness in the storm
And you can find it if you will believe

It's a soul anchor
Hold on to the hope
It is a soul anchor
Just hold on to your courage
Before we call
He answers us with hope

We are so sure of what we're waiting for
And certain of the things we do not see
For we are told by One who cannot lie
And in this hope is our security

It's a soul anchor
Hold on to the hope
It is a soul anchor
Just hold on to your courage
Before we call
He answers us with hope

So hold fast, draw near
So hold fast, draw near

It's a soul anchor
Hold on to the hope
It is a soul anchor
Just hold on to your courage
Before we call He answers us
Before we call He answers us

Know You in the Now

Echo of history, the light so many strain to see
The One we talk so much about but rarely ever live it out
Would you tell me why?
Was it for this You came and died; a once a week observance when we coldly mouth Your words?
But I long to see Your presence in reality, but I don't know how.
Let me know You in the now.

We should confess we lose You in our busyness
We've made You in our image so our faith's idolatry
O deliver me!
Break my heart so I can see all the ways You dwell in us,
That You're alive in me!

But I long to see Your presence in reality,
But I don't know how
Let me know You in the now
But I long to see Your presence in reality
But I don't know how
Let me know You in the now

The Poem of Your Life

Life is a song we much sing with our days,
A poem with meaning more than words can say
A painting with colors no rainbow can tell,
A lyric that rhymes either heaven or hell.

We are living letters that doubt desecrates;
We're the notes of the song of the chorus of faith.
God shapes every second of our little lives
And minds every minute as the universe waits by

The pain and the longing, the joy and the moments of light
Are the rhythm and rhyme, the free verse of the poem of life

So look in the mirror and pray for the grace
To tear off the mask, see the art of your face.
And open your earlids to hear the sweet song
Of each moment that passes and pray to prolong
Your time in the ball of the dance of your days,
Your canvas of colors of moments ablaze
With all that is holy, With the joy and the strife,
With the rhythm and rhyme of the poem of your life
With the rhythm and rhyme of the poem of your life

The pain and the longing, the joy and the moments of light
Are the rhythm and rhyme, the free verse of the poem of life

Starkindler

A billion bright and holy beams
From a light that's traveled far
Began the trip from His fingertips
O the wonder of the stars
Proclaim the signs and seasons
As so silently they sing
Of the wonder of their Kindler
Of the power of their King

O the firey flames above us
In the vast veil of the sky
Are Your servant flames of fire
Are Your silent holy guides
And like the star-led magi
They guide our souls to You
And shine a light of awesome love
Into eyes that see anew

Why?

Why did it have to be a friend who chose to betray the Lord?
And why did he use a kiss to show them? That's now what a kiss is for.
Only a friend can betray a friend, a stranger has nothing to gain.
And only a friend comes close enough to ever cause so much pain.

Why did there have to be a thorny crown upon His head?
It should have been a royal one, made of jewels and gold instead.
It had to be a crown of thorns because in this life that we live
For all who would seek to love a thorn is all the world has to give.

Why did it have to be a heavy cross He was made to bear?
And why did they nail His feet and hands, His love would have held him there.
It was a cross, for on a cross a thief was supposed to pay
And Jesus had come into the world to steal every heart away.

And yes, Jesus had come into the world to steal every heart away.

The Basin and the Towel

And the call is to the community
The impoverished power
That sets the soul free
In humility to take the vow
That day after day
We will take up the basin and the towel

In an upstairs room, a parable
Is just about to come alive
While they bicker about whose best
With a painful glance
He'll silently rise

Their savior servant
Must show them how
By the will of the water
And the tenderness of the towel

In my ordinary place
On any ordinary day
The parable can live again
If one will kneel
And one will yield

Our Savior servant
Must show us how
Through the will of the water
And the tenderness of the towel

And the space between
Ourselves sometimes
Is more than the distance between the stars
By a fragile bridge
The servants bow
Who'll take up the basin and the towel.

God's Own Fool

It seems I've imagined him all of my life
As the wisest of all mankind
But if God's holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind
For even His family said He was mad (Mk 3:21)
And the priests said a demon's to blame (Mk 3:22)
For God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane

Chorus:
When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and he opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable
And come be a fool as well

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
Then you'll have the faith his first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam
So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say "I believe"
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see

(1985 Birdwing Music/Mole End Music (admin. By the Sparrow Corp.))

The Things We Leave Behind

There sits Simon, foolish and wise
Proudly he's tending his nets
But Jesus calls and the boats drift away
And all that he owns he forgets
But more than the nets he abandoned that day
He found that his pride was soon fading away
Its hard to imagine the freedom we find
From the things we leave behind

The sightless beggar pleading each day
Catching coins in his robe
At finding Jesus he threw it away
And joyfully followed his Lord
But more than the robe that he left by the way
The darkness that dwelt in his heart went away
It's hard to imagine the freedom we find
From the things that we leave behind

Matthew was mindful of taking the tax
And pressing the people to pay
At hearing the call he responded in faith
And followed the Light and the Way
And leaving the people so puzzled he found
That the greed in his heart was no longer around
It's hard to imagine the freedom we find
From the things that we leave behind

Love Crucified Arose

Long ago He blessed the earth
Born older than the years
And in the stall a cross He saw
Thru the first of many tears
A life of homeless wandering
Cast out in sorrows way
The Shepherd seeking for the lost
His life the price He'd pay

Love crucified arose
The risen One in splendor
Jehovah's soul defender
Has won the victory
Love crucified arose
And the grave became a place of hope
For the heart that sin and sorrow broke
Is beating once again

Throughout your life you felt the weight
Of what you'd come to give
To drink for us that crimson cup
So we might really live
At last the time to love and die
The dark appointed day
That one forsaken moment when
Your Father turned His face away

Love crucified arose
The One who lived and died for me
Was Satan's nail-pierced casualty
Now He's breathing once again
Love crucified arose
And the grave became a place of hope
For the heart that sin and sorrow broke
Is beating once again

The Sunrise of Your Smile

Reject the worldly lie that says
That life lies always up ahead
Let power go before control
Becomes a crust around your soul.
Escape the hunger to possess And soul diminishing success
This world is full of narrow lives;
I pray by grace your smile survives

For I would wander weary miles, Would welcome ridicule, my child,
To simply see the sunrise of your smile,
To see the light behind your eyes,
The happy thought that makes you smile.
Yes I would wander weary miles
To simply see the sunrise of your smile.

Now close your eyes so you can see
Your own unfinished memories
Now open them, for time is brief,
And you'll be blest beyond belief
Now glance above you at the sky;
There's beauty there to blind the eye.
I ask all this, then wait awhile
To see the dawning of your smile.

F For I would wander weary miles, Would welcome ridicule, my child,
To simply see the sunrise of your smile,
To see the light behind your eyes,
The happy thought that makes you smile.
Yes I would wander weary miles
To simply see the sunrise of your smile.

Repeat

Underneath the Door

My father was a doctor
Who would come home late at night
With a soul so bruised and bleeding
From his unending, faithful fight
To keep a hold of kindness
In a world that isn't kind
To hold out the hope of healing
To his hurting humankind.

Then he'd flee back to his study
To his bookish, quiet place
With notes and books and journals
To wall in his special space
And then he'd lock the door
From things that cannot be locked out
And his youngest son would starve for what
He'd always do without

But it was meant to make me who I am
And for all these many years
Still the little boy down on his knees
Full of hope and full of fear
Calling underneath the dorr
"This is me, it's who I am."
Cause we love the best by listening
When we try to understand

Desperate stubby fingers
Pushing pictures 'neath the door
Longing to be listened to
By the man that I adored
Inside someone who needed me
As much as I did him
Unable to unlock the door
That stayed close inside of him

It's strange the way we tend to flee
From what we need the most
That a father would lock out a son
When his heart would hold him close
But our wounds are part of who we are
And there is nothing left to chance
And pain's the pen that writes the songs
That call us forth to dance.

Joy In the Journey

There is a joy in the journey, there's a light we can love on the way.
There is a wonder and wildness to life and freedom for those who obey.
And all those who seek it shall find it, a pardon for all who believe.
Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind.

To all who've been born of the Spirit and who share incarnation with Him
Who belong to eternity, stranded in time, and weary of struggling with sin.
Forget not the hope that's before you, and never stop counting the cost,
Remember the hopelessness when you were lost.

There is a joy in the journey, there's a light we can love on the way.
There is a wonder and wildness to life and freedom for those who obey.
And freedom for those who obey.

Grace Be With You All (Hebrews 13:1, 4, 8f, 13, 25)

Remember to love one another
And do what is pleasing to Him
Be strengthened by grace
And worship in reverence and awe
The God of peace

And grace be with you all
And may the Great Shepherd of the sheep
Equip you with all things
For doing His will
And grace be with you all

Forget not the sufferings of Jesus
And bear the disgrace that He bore
Confessing His name, for Christ is the same
Yesterday, today, forever

And grace be with you all
And may the Great Shepherd of the sheep
Equip you with all things
For doing His will
And grace be with you all

And grace be with you all
And may the Great Shepherd of the sheep
Equip you with all things
For doing His will
And grace be with you all
And grace be with you all

Scribbling in the Sand

Amidst a mob of madmen she stood frightened and alone
As hate-filled voices hissed at Him that now she must be stoned
But in the air around Him hung a vast and wordless love
Who knows what luminous lesson He was in the middle of

At first he faced the fury of their dark, self-righteous scorn
But then He stopped and at once became the calm eye of the storm
It was His wordless answer to their dark and cruel demand
A lifetime in a moment as He scribbled in the sand

In its silence it was music
It was art. It was absurd.
He stopped and shouted volumes
Without saying one single word
It was the finger of the hand
That had written the ten commandments
That now was simply scribbling in the sand

Within the space of space and time he'd scribbled in the sand
They came to hear and see as much as they could understand
Now bound by cords of kindness they couldn't cast a single stone
And Jesus and the woman found that they were all alone

With ten words He had stilled the storm and saved her life instead
But now it was her soul He sought, with a gentle smile He said,
"Now no one condemns you leave your sin" and understand
That love cannot be spelled out, only scribbled in the sand

Could that same finger come and trace on my soul's sacred sand
And make some unexpected space where I could understand
That my own condemnation pierced and broke the gentle Hand
That scratched the words I'll never know
That scribbled in the sand