here for You
This is the new CD that the worship ministry (aka-my friends) at my church has put together. I absolutely LOVE this CD. The title song, here for You is one of the many recent anthems of my life. Here are the lyrics:

“I’ve come to serve, not to be served,
give not to get
All for the One who makes me sing

I want to place Him before my selfish ambition
To become an offering

So I’ll worship Him not because I seek His blessing
Who am I to be this way?

And I will sacrifice not to gain or hold His favor
Just because I want to say

I’m here to love and adore Him
Lay my life before Him

All for Jesus Christ my King”

It was written by Phil Coleman, a good friend, and I just adore it. I am working on a CD of songs about my trip to Honduras...guess which one is at the top of the list? This is what I have written about the song:

I’ve come to serve, not to be served…

Why do we go into mission trips thinking they are even remotely about us? It’s so easy to pray about what we’ll get out of the trip, how it will change US…but the reality is that it doesn’t have a single thing to do with what we think we should get out of it…and all it took was the very first line of this song to remind me of that. I am on this trip, I am in this country, I am stepping out of my comfort zone simply because I have been set apart by Him and he has told me to go. If God Himself can come to serve people instead of being served by them, then who am I to think that I am better than God? Our world and our culture are so consumed by what we WANT and what we think is best for us. Everything around us says that ‘more’ is the answer, not less. How can we get more out of our lives, what can other people do for us? It really is all about ‘us’ if we listen to the world. It’s that look out for number one mentality…and then I listen to this song and I think deep and hard about the scriptures from which it comes…and I realize, I’ve come (I’ve been brought into this world, into this place, for a time such as this) to serve, not to be served...

...give not to get…

Oh that my life could be such a deep offering to Him and to those He loves! I have never been surrounded by this kind of poverty, by this kind of need, and this kind of…love. In serving these beautiful souls, in giving everything I can to them, we have been lucky enough to get something, although we don’t deserve. Standing on this mountaintop, looking out over the city, there is nothing but beauty and tears in my heart. What I thought I could give has turned out to be just a fraction of what He knows I can give…Father, help me to live these words!!! Help me to give to You and Yours every piece of me. Take away my need to receive something out of this trip and fill me with the dream to give it all up for you!

…I want to place You before my selfish ambition to become an offering…

This song is on repeat in my heart. I wake up singing it; it is the last thought on my mind before I fall asleep, exhausted from another day. Every time I start to think about myself and my needs, it pops back into my head…it’s as if God is using this little song, written by a friend, to remind me of His plans for my life. If the message of Christ can be boiled down to something as simple as “love one another and love God” this song is a powerful way of making that a reality. By loving Him, we serve, we give, and we place Him before ourselves and our dreams for our lives. We place Him before our need to be the best, the smartest, the prettiest, and the most famous. We place His world before our little one and we give everything, even our lives, for Him. This song is the simple way of saying “this is what God says—Love Me, love those I love, deny yourself and I will lift you up.”

…So I’ll worship You, not because I seek Your blessing…who am I to be this way?...

Who am I but one person living one day in one place. Father, rid me of the worldly need to get something out of my relationship with You. My very reason for life and for worshiping You is not so that I walk away feeling fulfilled and good about me…it is completely about You and that You are worthy. Help my world to revolve around You, not myself. Perhaps the most poignant line in this entire song for me is the simple question—“Who am I to be this way?” You were willing to bleed and die on a cross for me. You endured everything, and I sit around whining because I didn’t sleep well or because I don’t like what I’m eating or because my muscles hurt. WHO AM I TO BE THIS WAY? You deserve so much more than what I give you, but you still accept my meager moments of complete surrender---and you remember those moments. You forget the pain and tears I put you through and you hold on to that moment, maybe only one in my whole life, when I give you everything. Why do I not live my entire life like that? Why am I afraid of surrendering everything to You? Why am I afraid to live a life worthy of Your love?

…I’m here to Love and Adore You, lay my life before You…

Let this song echo in my heart. Let not another day pass when this song, which has touched me and moved me like no other, is forgotten. Father, I may not know about tomorrow, I may not know what will happen when I close this journal and go back to my ‘normal’ life, but this I do know: “I am here to love you and adore you. Lay my life before you. All for Jesus Christ, my King!”