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The Sloppy Wet Kiss

For about 7 months now, I’ve been aware of a song by a worship leader named John Mark McMillian entitled “How He Loves”. At first listen, it is a very vivid picture of the deep, passionate, intimate love the God has for us. Lines describing God’s love as the wind of a hurricane and we are like the tree bending beneath the weight of his mercy. Finally, the chorus comes which is an anthem in a much higher part of the key simply proclaiming “He love us.” Again, the first time I heard this song, I was intrigued by the imagery and the massive wall of sound a local worship band created during the chorus.
Verse 2 is where I began to get confused.
It begins in much of the same manner as the first verse, but then includes this line describing God’s grace: “heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss.” First, I was distracted, then almost amused, then confused (not by the lyric, I understood the meaning, but by the necessity of such a picture), then finally just resigned myself to the fact that it wasn’t my song and I should leave it alone.

So, I did.

But it kept coming back! Everywhere I turned I heard this song playing. It was so strange. Then, last week, I learned that David Crowder Band had recorded it for their next album! Again, confused. Finally, today I heard the full recording and they have changed “sloppy wet” to “unforeseen” which I think gets more or less the same meaning across.

So, what’s the big deal? I’m not sure either and since no one reads this blog, no dialogue is going to occur about this anyway. I’ve been trying to make myself accept the original words, but have been unable to so far, but should I?

In the William Rees and Robert Lowry hymn, “Here is Love” they use a similar picture.

Grace and love like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
Heaven’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love

As best as I can figure, that pretty much says the same thing, in the same language (well, it would have been in the 1800s) and it’s not offensive to us at all.

So really, I think this has all been a meaningless ramble. I still don’t know where I stand. I like the song, very much actually, but those 2 words have stopped me from accepting it. I like the translation by David Crowder even better. Anyway, if you’re reading this, go ahead and plop your 2 cents in below, and take a listen to the song www.myspace.com/davidcrowderband.

Crime and Punishment, or Sin and Death

So, I never read the book Crime and Punishment, but it seemed like an appropriate title for this post.

If I were to commit a crime, it is quite obvious that a punishment would follow. Either a jury would vote, or a judge would make a ruling and a fine or prison time would be imposed. But perhaps, depending on the crime, that would not be where the punishment ends. The punishment would also be hurt friends and family, broken relationships and the like.

Sin works the same way. The ultimate punishment for sin is death, but we receive many earthly consequences for our sin as well. Often, our sins hurt well beyond what we think. We think, “well, it’s my choice, it only effects me.” Unfortunately, many times those choices effect others as well. Broken relationships. Hurt people. Consequences that continue well beyond what we would have thought.

However.

God gave us two awesome gifts. Forgiveness and Grace.
Selah (I’ll try not to overuse that)

The punishment for sin may be death, but in Christ, there is no more sin, there is no more death! What’s more, he gave us the ability to forgive each other, so the relationships we hurt can be repaired. What a joy it is to be a child of God.

Back to Joseph. After his father had died, his brothers assumed he would now use his power in Egypt to punish them for what they had done to him. However, God had used the sins they committed against him for His glory, and Joseph was able to forgive his brothers. Not only did he forgive them, but he supported their families and gave them much more than they deserved. What a great picture of what Christ has done for us.
May God allow me to forgive like that.

Finally

Well, here I am. Finally posting a blog for you all to read. I’ve also moved from Xanga to Blogger.

Anyway, I’m not really sure what’s going to end up being posted here. I’m thinking that it’s going to become more like a journal that people can comment on. I also really encourage conversation. I’m going to talk about what God’s teaching me and what I’m learning about His Word and living a life of worship. There will also probably be some rants here and there…
So, here we go…
Sarah and I have both begun a journey through the entire Bible. We’re not necessarily reading the same thing everyday, but we’re trying to get through it all. I’m sure that you will hear much about this journey. Today, my readings had me near the end of Genesis, the life of Joseph. What an incredible story. The picture of redemption and the foreshadowing of Christ just shows how God planned history. In our minds, we see Joseph as a pivotal character in the Bible, but in his mind, I’m sure he just thought he was an average, unworthy person being used somehow by God. It was really because of how God used Joseph that the nation of Israel even began. Bringing his brothers to Egypt, they would birth the 12 tribes of Israel and eventually be exiled back to the land God promised them.
Perhaps that’s the most important thing. God’s promises. How amazing! Wow! (as Nancy Beach would say) We make so many promises to our family, friends, people we don’t even know, and even ourselves. How often do we find that we either made a false promise, or can’t live up to the promise we made? God’s promises are sure, true, everlasting, and REAL. So awesome!
Selah (that means, stop reading and think about that for a minute)
He promised Israel the Land. He promised them a nation. He promised them a Savior. All three have come, but only in part. They have their land, but not the eternal, glorified land they will have. They have their nation, but again, not the eternal one waiting for us. The Savior has come, but will come again and restore Creation to what God meant it to be!!!!
I’m sorry. I’m getting wordy, but I’m just so excited about the coming glory of God!
That’s all for today friends.
Have a wonderful week.