Tag: hope

How Can You Not

The next entry for my Blog is How Can You Not, which was written by Jeff Sojka, Leanna Crawford, and Jessie Parker Early.  It was first published in 2022.  A link to Leanna Crawford singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

How Can You Not

… I see the sun rise in the morning
And a million stars at night
I hear the birds, they can’t stop singing hallelujah
I see His goodness when I fall down
And it’s grace that picks me up
Every day, I can’t stop singing hallelujah

… How can you not see God
In every little thing, in every little moment?
How can you not feel loved?
How can you not? How can you not?
‘Cause He’s in the middle of
Every little thing and every little moment
How can you not see God?
How can you not? How can you not?

… I see the sunset and I wonder
If He paints it just for me
Nobody else could make a world so beautiful
How could I question His love when it’s everywhere I go
Wherever I look, I find another miracle

… How can you not see God
In every little thing, in every little moment?
How can you not feel loved?
How can you not? How can you not?
‘Cause He’s in the middle of
Every little thing and every little moment
How can you not see God?
How can you not? How can you not?

… Everything is evidence (ooh-ooh)
Showing me that You exist (oh-oh)
All creation singing hallelujah
Everything is evidence (oh, everything)
Showing me that You exist (He’s God)
All creation singing hallelujah

… How can you not see God
In every little thing, in every little moment?
How can you not feel loved? Hmm-mm
‘Cause He’s in the middle of
Every little thing and every little moment
How can you not see God?
How can you not? How can you not?

… Oh, how can you not see God (everything is evidence)
In every little thing, in every little moment? (Showing me that You exist)
How can you not feel loved? (All creation singing)
How can you not? How can you not? (Hallelujah)
‘Cause He’s in the middle of (everything is evidence)
Every little thing and every little moment (showing me that You exist)
How can you not see God? (All creation singing)
How can you not? How can you not?

Many people may ask, how do you know if there is a God if you can’t see him?  I believe this song really takes on this challenge.  Most of us have the opportunity to see a sunrise every morning.  I understand we may not be up to see the majesty of a sunrise, but it still happens.  Some of the most beautiful sunrises for me are those across the water or coming over the mountains.  It also seems as if the birds even enjoy these sunrises; they seem to be singing more often and more loudly as a new day begins.  I see more sunsets and they have just as much beauty as the sunrises.  How many times have you stared up at a dark sky that is full of seemingly twinkling stars.  My wife and I love to take trips away from the city lights and one of the benefits is we get to see those dazzling twinkling stars fill the sky. 

How about the things that happen in your life that maybe you take for granted?  You woke up yet another day.  You wake up with a plan to do good and be faithful to God, perhaps every day; but then you quickly stumble and your plan fails once again.  If you trust in God and believe in him, he is there to pick you up.  He lifts you up, helps restore your confidence, and lets you go on your way again.   He doesn’t ask anything of us, he doesn’t hold our mistakes against us; he just puts us on our feet yet once again.  His grace and his unconditional never-ending love are with us always, as long as we have accepted his son as our personal savior.  We should be singing his praises and thanking him every day.

Can someone truly believe that all of this just happens by accident, that the heavens just happened to come into existence in a spontaneous manner without a plan?  That the sun and stars just magically appear?  How can someone explain the powerful feeling of emotion and love that sometimes just hits us out of nowhere.  There are times when I feel an inner strength that seemingly comes from nowhere.  Some things are just hard to explain, such as how did I find the right woman to spend my life with?  How can these people explain the wonder and majesty of the sun, the stars, the seas, and the natural wonders that are found across our world.  Have you ever held a baby or small child who looked up at you and gave you that beautiful smile that only a little one can give?  Nothing happens by accident.  As the writer says, how can we not believe in God when we are surrounded by all of his marvelous creations, the people he brings into our lives, and the love that we feel deep inside of us.  The writer emphasizes how can they not believe when they are standing in the middle of God’s creations every single day.  The people who say they cannot feel and see the creations of God, are like people who are standing in the middle of a deep lake and wondering where the water is.  People become so wrapped up in their own little self-made cocoon and miss out on everything God is offering them.

I personally love watching a sunset and I love the question posed by the writer, did God paint the sunset just for me?  Some people may think that is a selfish view, but I think every sunset is beautiful and we all see different things in a sunset.  Each of us may see different color variations and different cloud shapes, that is why God made all of us a little different.  Although we may not all look or act the same, the beauty he creates amazes all of us.  The difference is that many of us understand that we all came from God’s master plan as revealed in the bible and others see the beauty but don’t understand the master plan.  The master plan is that God really wants all of us to spend eternity with him in heaven; after all, we are his children.  Even though he gives us all of the beauties of this world and shows us his love, many of us fail to recognize him and his plan.  All he asks of us is to accept his only son Jesus, who died on the cross for each of us, so that we could have eternal life with him.  Almost everyone can admire the beautiful mountains, seas, skies, and have other people to love; but they are not willing to admit that we have one creator who created all of this as part of a master plan.  He tells us that he has a plan in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In the midst of all God has done and continues to do, how can you not believe in him?

Click to Hear Leanna Crawford Sing How Can You Not

Glorious Day

The next entry for my Blog is Glorious Day, which was written by Jason Ingram, Jonathan Smith, Kristian Stanfill, and Sean Curran.  It was first released 2017.  A link to Passion singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Glorious Day


I was buried beneath my shame
Who could carry that kind of weight?
It was my tomb
‘Til I met You

I was breathing, but not alive
All my failures I tried to hide
It was my tomb
‘Til I met You

You called my name
Then I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day
You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day

Now Your mercy has saved my soul
Now Your freedom is all that I know
The old made new
Jesus, when I met You, whoa, what a day

When you called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day
You called my name
Then I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day

I needed rescue
My sin was heavy
But chains break at the weight of Your glory
I needed shelter
I was an orphan
But You call me a citizen of Heaven
When I was broken
You were my healing
Now Your love is the air that I’m breathing
I have a future
My eyes are open

‘Cause when you called my name
I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day
You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day

Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed and ashamed of some of the things you have done?   Maybe you hurt a friend or a loved one, perhaps they forgave you; but the shame of the hurt you caused just seems to stay with you.  Perhaps you have a storied past due your poor decisions or involvement in activities you knew were wrong.  Some of these past actions may cross your mind as you first wake up and start your day; you think about what you did to others as well as what you have done to yourself.  Where can you run, hide, and just escape your past?  This entire scenario has become your tomb.  We know from the bible that Christ was in a tomb with a very large stone rolled across the opening so that no one could get in and it was thought he couldn’t get out especially with two Roman guards standing outside the tomb.  Maybe your guilt and your shame has become just like the tomb Christ was in.  One of the big differences is that Christ was dead and placed in his tomb, but you are alive and living in your own self-created tomb.  Everything that has happened to put you in this situation was caused by your actions.  Take a few minutes and think about that analogy.  Yours is a self-created tomb, and although you are breathing, you are not really alive; you are mentally locked up and have no way to move that massive stone in front of your tomb.  Then, something happened that changed your whole world, the stone began to roll away.

The something that happened is that you heard about the man called Jesus, the son of God.  You heard about how he forgave sins and gave people new life; even those locked up in their own self-made tombs.  Here are the words Jesus said about the burdens we carry that led us into our tomb, it is from Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  Once you have accepted Jesus as your personal savior, he is there to take away your burdens.  Not only does he take them away, he forgives you from every wrong you have committed your entire life.  Once this happened, you ran out of your tomb and were able to face the world again.  You run out of that tomb as fast as you can into the waiting arms of Jesus.  You no longer have the darkness in your soul that light could never penetrate.  Jesus had been there all of the time, calling your name, and you finally heard him.  It is truly a glorious day as you feel the joy that only he can bring.

God could have let all of us live without the hope of salvation or spending eternity with him, but he loved us enough to send his only son to die for all of our wrongdoings.   Even as he knew his son was dying on the cross, he still loved us and was willing to forgive us for everything we had done wrong in our lives, as well as any transgressions we would commit in the future.  This is what mercy is all about.  He gave his only son to die so that we could have eternal life with him.  Jesus gave his physical life for us and all God asks of us is that we accept this offering of love so that we can spend eternity with him.   There is no greater gift than the gift of eternal life.  As the song says, we are now a brand-new person with a fresh start once we have Jesus.  We walk out of a world of despair into a world of hope and a life with a future.  I think the phrase in the song “whoa, what a day”, is such a simple way to describe what happens when Jesus enters our life; it is hard to put the emotion into words.

The first step in finding the light and love of Jesus is recognizing that you indeed need to be rescued; he can’t rescue us if we are not ready to be rescued.  The heavy chains of our sinful past get heavier and heavier every passing day, and we reach what we believe is the point of no return in our lives.  The chains have become too heavy to bear and we fall into a sense of hopelessness and despair. We finally reach out to Jesus and he frees us from our bondage and brings us into the light of his glory.  Maybe we felt as if we were alone during our misery and that we had no home and no family.  Jesus takes us in as part of his family and he introduces us to our eternal heavenly father.  He has healed our broken spirit, he has brought light into our world again, and you feel his love wrapped around you.  In addition to all of these amazing things he has done, he makes a promise/commitment to us, we find this in John 14:1-4; “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

As you stop and reflect on all of the above, I hope you have taken the opportunity to run out of that grave you have been living in and that you have begun rejoicing in that Glorious Day.  It is never too late.

Click to Hear Passion Sing Glorious Day

I Will Carry You

The next entry for my Blog is I Will Carry You, which was written by Benjamin Glover and Ellie Holcombe.  It was first released June 15, 2021.  A link to Ellie Holcombe singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog. 

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I Will Carry You

I know you’re tired, I see it in your eyes
All that anxiety that rules your mind
I’ll be your shield when you don’t feel like
You’ve got strength enough to fight
I’ll stand by your side

I will carry you
Through your darkest night
When you’re terrified
I will carry you
When the waters rise
When your hope runs dry
I will carry you

You are not the sum of your mistakes
You don’t have to hide the parts of you that ache
I choose you as you are a million times
‘Cause I am not ashamed of you
I won’t walk away from you

I will carry you
Through your darkest night
When you’re terrified
I will carry you
When the waters rise
When your hope runs dry
I will carry you

Up and over the mountains
Valley deep as the ocean
When you can’t keep going
I will shoulder your burdens
Up and over the mountains
Valley deep as the ocean
When you can’t keep going
I will shoulder your burdens

I will carry you
Through your darkest night
When you’re terrified
I will carry you (carry you)
When the waters rise
When your hope runs dry
I will carry you

I will carry you, carry you
Through the darkest night (you)
When you’re terrified
(I will shoulder your burdens)
I will carry you, carry you
When the waters rise (you)
I will carry you

I think we all go through times in our lives when we feel as if we just can’t take another step.  You have become so physically tired and emotionally drained that you just want to curl up in bed and stay there.  You have so much going on in your life that you can’t think straight and all of your strength has completely dissipated.  As you lay down and try to relax, your mind just keeps going as you try to resolve your problems, but there seems to be no off switch for your swirling thoughts.  Have you been in this situation before?  Perhaps you are now.  What is so easy to forget in all of this darkness is that we are never truly alone nor are we a lost cause in life.  God is there to stand with us, to lift us up, to carry us, and to help us fight the battle of life.  Psalm 16:8 reminds us of God’s diligence to each of us, “I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.” 

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The chorus of the song tells us that no matter how dark the world around us may become, God will walk with us.  When we are afraid, he is there to comfort us and help us to feel inner peace and strength that only he can give.  Even as we feel as if we are being swallowed or feel as if we have fallen under the raging storm of fear and guilt; he picks us up and carries us.  He is the only true hope for the hopeless, the only strength for the weak, and the only one who can bring sunshine to our personal world of darkness.  I believe this chorus does a wonderful job explaining how God is with us every step of the way and he will never leave our side.

I have heard people say that they are a complete failure.  They will also say they have never succeeded in any aspect of their life.  These people feel as if they are just one big mistake and have nothing to offer in life.  Perhaps we all feel this way at times, especially when we focus on the negatives of the past in lieu of the brightness of the future.  We look at others around us with their happy families, their high paying jobs, their nice homes; and we wonder what we did wrong that would keep us from having these same wonderful things.  We just keep believing it is because we are not good enough or we have just been a complete failure since the day we were born  God does not look at our life and keep score of positives and negatives, God only looks at what we can be.  The world judges us by our successes and failures, God measures us through the eyes of a father who knows that all of his children are special to him.  It is because of him that we even have a life, and he will never give up on us.  He also understands our fears and our failures, but his arms are always outstretched to hold us.  He is never ashamed of what we have done and will never turn his back on us.  He has a plan for each of us, it may not be a smooth journey; but his plan never fails.  We are told this in the book of Jeremiah 28:11-12, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”  If we choose to take God’s son as our personal savior, God forgives and forgets all of the bad things we have done in our lives.  He is only focused on what’s ahead for all of eternity, he has forgiven and forgotten our past.  We are who we become, not who we were in the past.

God is with us always and walks with us every step in our journey through life.  He is there to hold our hand and guide us, to carry us when necessary, to encourage us, and bring us hope.  There is no mountain too high for him to climb, no valley too deep, and no sea bottom beyond his reach.  We are told this in the book of Romans 8:38-39, “ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   What more can we ask for in our lives?  God has committed to being there for us and since he created the world, there is nothing that he can’t overcome.

If you are struggling with your past and worried about being all you can be in your future, I recommend listening to this song a few times.  I believe it will bring you hope and allow you to look to the future as you gradually walk away from your past.

God will carry you to where you need to be, if you only let him.

Click to Hear Ellie Holcombe Sing I Will Carry You

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