Ray Phoenix ([info]participant) wrote,
@ 2003-07-17 08:24:00
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Current mood: thoughtful
Current music:Father, Forgive Us (Them and Me)

Song: Father, Forgive Us
Father, Forgive Us
c. Ray Phoenix

When I open up the Bible, and read how Jesus died
And understand the way that He was cruelly crucified
Then I wonder how He found the strength, the grace to see it through
And still say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know the way they hurt each other,
Father, forgive them, they don't understand that all men can be brothers
Father, I'm praying, as I'm coming home to you,
I'm praying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"

There are those who have hurt me, who have treated me unkind
Some have hurt my body, Lord, and some have hurt my mind
I've tried to get even, but I found I was hurting you
Now I pray, "Father, forgive me, for I know not what I do"

Father, forgive me, for the way I've hurt your Son
Father, forgive me, for the hate I've borne toward any one
Father, I'm praying, as I'm coming home to you
I'm praying, "Father, forgive me, and show me what to do"

-------------------------------------------------------

I'd like to change the words a bit here and there. I'm not quite happy with it as it stands. I do like the tune, however. Any suggestions for lyric changes?


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code and more
(Anonymous)
2003-07-19 11:59 pm UTC (link)
Do you by chance have a spare code you could lend me? I really want a LJ and have been unable to get one. I would give the one i got from signing up back to you. Please email me if you have one or can help me out on how to get one. Thanks.

Michelle
Best_rose@hotmail.com
Aim: Yur1Sweety

I came upon your site randomly. Even if you don't have a code i think it would be nice to talk and get to know you more. I belive we might care some same interests. Don't worry i am not hitting on you or anything just thought we would have some things to talk about. I don't have many people anymore willing to talk about faith.

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Re: code and more
[info]participant
2003-07-27 01:45 am UTC (link)
Michelle,

I'm sorry, I don't have a code. I hope you have been able to find one and get logged on. Apparently you can append comments to the journal entries without being in LJ. That's interesting.

I have crises of faith every so often, when I have difficulty understanding that I am loved by God. But most of the time I just accept it (my faith) on faith, just as I expect a chair to support me when I sit down on it. So I notice my faith more when it isn't there than when it is. Most of the time it's like water to a fish, or air to a bird. There, essential, and for the most part, unnoticed.

That's not very profound, but I don't feel very profound right now, just peaceful. I think faith is a gift, an unearned blessing. It's hard to shake faith when it doesn't seem to be a posession, but more of an environment, more of an attribute of God than an attribute of Ray Phoenix.

I think we are all climbing the same mountain looking for God at the top; we just come from radically different starting points. It is God's work to bring us to an understanding of Him (Her-)self, and our understanding will alway be approximate and limited. In my image, some of us start from the desert, and some from the rain forest. Some are shouting, "You have to carry water!", and others are equally loudly shouting, "Keep your boots dry!". No wonder we can't believe that we're looking for the same God. But if God is what/who I think, then we will eventually be drawn by the truth to an real understanding of our closeness to each other as we get closer to the top of the mountain and to God. Anyway, that's the way I see it.

Those are just some thoughts we can discuss. I'm not wedded to any of them as "the real truth", I think of them more as just illuminations by a flickering candle on a stormy night. Every so often, in my life, there is a flash of God-given lightning, and I realize just how flickering my puny little candle is!

One more story. When my first son was quite young, I asked God to give me just a little of the love that my step-father had had for me when I was little like that. In subsequent years he and I had come to see things very differently, and there was a lot of distance between us (up until the last 4 years of his life), but I vaguely remembered being loved by him, and I thought it would be good if I could pass some of that love on to my son. I was convinced that I would benefit from that little bit of love to add to my store.

I was bowled over by the love I experienced. I had never known how much my stepfather loved me, but if what I felt was "a little bit" of his love, it was an incredible amount, and the original love was far beyond what I had imagined. It really helped me to see how much love was there to be drawn on.

Well, more stories later. Time for bed.

Ray

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