Trinity Song -- Sandra McCracken

 

She was listening for Him. While walking on a beach in Portugal (see its flag here), Sandra McCracken says she wrote “Trinity Song”, even as the rhythm of crashing waves and her own steps metered and focused her mind on His three-person character. She found a simplicity and a power in what she heard that day; could it have been like the moments when other God-seekers have bent their ears to hearken to His whispers? It’s a rare commodity in our tech-consumed world, to seek silence. What is the normal human reaction when somebody whispers something that you cannot quite comprehend? Speak up! And yet, the God-seekers we meet in scripture did not dare say that to Him – note what Elijah (1 Kings 19:12) and others (Job 4:12-16; 26:14) said when they heard His voice faintly. That’s a picture of Sandra, as she directed people to listen for Him in 2016.

 

Silence was not a fad with Sandra, as she explained in several forums. It’s a lifestyle, a search with a goal to enter His space and receive His thoughts more intimately. She evidently had lit upon several biblical passages to spur her quest for a Godly silence; these included what ancient wisdom-writers (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2, Psalm 46:10, and Psalm 65:1) had concluded was true, but only if one heeds the advice. Be still, say little or nothing, for even in that silence, He can be praised. And so, Sandra thought that approach was how one might more deeply appreciate the parts of Him that even believers find murky – namely, the concept of the Trinity, the three persons of the Godhead. Whether Sandra’s Portuguese beach venue was just a coincidence, or instead a definite plan to find the Holy Troika in solitude, she doesn’t say. But something happened, and Sandra didn’t waste the moments trying to sort out how or why it had transpired – she just absorbed the time. She says she could imagine the three persons ‘danc(ing)’, and perhaps He was feeding her willing spirit with the sound of the waves and the pace of her own steps, which were the ones He made for her, we could say. Her own words were immaterial; only His mattered. Thus, she took a page from her own experience there to imitate for the song that was already in her head about Him in the three persons she’d just heard. Only a few words, repeated to draw the worshipper closer and closer to Him, were necessary. Say His names – Father, Son, and Spirit – and what He provides – Holy Communion. Alternately use a synonym for this Trinity – Three in One – to approach Him reverently. And then solicit what He is only too willing to provide – peace, an invitation, and holy love. That was the uncomplicated formula that Sandra apprehended on a beach in Portugal.

 

Sandra knew she had found something, and upon returning from the beach, she immediately recorded it. Perhaps because she felt it was the three persons of the Trinity, she wondered if harmony in three complementary voices would work in this embryonic composition. Some people might find what she’s accomplished too simplistic, but Sandra felt that space is where He can be encountered. He is the Omnipotent, but amazingly He doesn’t force Himself on you and me. I have to be a surrenderer. I must believe that what He brings me is so much greater, purer, and healthier for me in this world, that I am willing to cast aside my other stuff to get what He wants me to have. Less is more. Heard that one before? Gotta embrace that concept, because that’s what’s awaiting you and me – I’ll take nothing with me and instead inherit everything that He’s been prepping for me. It’s a good idea to start working on that less and more thing now.       

 

Read some of the author-composer’s thoughts on the song here: https://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Sandra_McCracken__A_songbysong_rundown_of_her_Gods_Highway_album/58907/p1/ …and here…https://markedministry.com/2016/11/04/song-stories-sandra-mccracken/  … and here also: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/sandra-mccracken-on-how-to-wait-well/

 

See information on the image of the Portuguese flag here:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Portugal_(official).svg …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States. The image may be found inside this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal

Change My Heart, Oh God -- Eddie Espinosa

He was deep in thought inside his truck in the middle of a street; the scene was Anaheim, California.  It was perhaps one of the most private moments for 28-year-old Eddie Espinosa, and one that he didn’t really intend that others should hear, when he breathed the words “Change My Heart, Oh God”. After all, it was a personal prayer, just between God and himself. And yet, he did something in that moment that implied that he wanted to remember; that, while it was an intimate episode, Eddie wasn’t embarrassed to tell others in appropriate settings about this experience. Others would indeed hear what he’d said on the way to work that day. If you or I had the nerve, would we share what we might say while driving our vehicles on a street in southern California? And, could such an incident always be described as a prayer, or instead as a complaint, or worse? Maybe that’s the kind of stuff that Eddie felt was inside himself that needed changing.

 

Eddie admits that things in his life that day in 1982 were going really well, and in fact were sources of great joy, and yet there were deeper issues that he knew were inhibiting his journey. He was a teacher at a local school, had a good marriage and two small children as a result, and was a worship leader at a growing church. So, these were three foundational things in any person’s life that one would not expect to leave a person wanting – a good job, a great family, and a role in a burgeoning faith group. Eddie apparently wasn’t one to just sit and bask in the glow of his life, however. Something gnawed at his insides, and though he doesn’t share specifically what that was, he did confess it to his Maker. (Eddie only says he felt just a bit apathetic.) ‘Change me at the heart level’ Eddie prayed fervently, as he sat in his truck. It was something that was making him feel that his life expression wasn’t genuine, for he sang and wrote the words ‘Make it ever true’ when he admitted to God what was going on deep down. He was apparently one guy who never felt he was alone, removed from the gaze and examination of the one who knew him best. And so, Eddie wasn’t afraid to get real with Him; and, unlike many people who find such scrutiny uncomfortable, and try to avoid its unsettling effect, Eddie grabbed a piece of paper to record the moment. Thank God for a stop sign and forgiving traffic that allowed Eddie to chronicle those emotion-filled few minutes! He was able to identify with the ancient King David, who in the wake of some infamous misdeeds authored his own confession (Psalm 51). So, Eddie knew there could be forgiveness when one is open and repentant. You cannot pull the wool over your Creator’s eyes, and you bond with other like beings -- the rest of the human race – when you admit your shortcomings. Let Him keep ‘molding’ you, like clay in a potter’s hand (v.2), Eddie said.

 

This proposition to let God be the potter and us the clay is good for all of us, Eddie must have concluded. Otherwise, he might have kept his song’s story to himself. Instead, when bit by bit, how and what Eddie wrote came to light, he coaxed others to join in and admit they needed what he’d already received. When I cannot find the enthusiasm I should have, I need to be honest about that. Maybe Eddie’s far vision longed for more than he already had, the trap many of us fall into. Some might call that feeling ‘reaching for the American dream’, to always be striving for more because one is unsatisfied. Instead, what Eddie concluded was that he’d already been incredibly blessed, and he needed to appreciate that reality more. Get red-hot about what He’s accomplished, not how I might feel about my humdrum, routine, terrestrial days. I’m heading for a mind-blowing place, into the presence of Him who made me. Ready?

 

 

 

The song story is found in the following books: I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, by Lindsay Terry, Thomas Nelson publishers, 2008; Celebrate Jesus: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2003; and The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.

 

Father God, Just For Today -- Marc Schelske

 

This young college student needed some time alone, and he got it. Or, maybe more accurately, somebody got him. You see, Marc Schelske had no idea the moment was coming when he uttered the words “Father God, Just for Today” and a song appeared, seemingly out of nowhere in a dark room in southwestern Idaho (see map-picture here) in the mid-1990s. Marc may feel like a vessel that was used to verbalize and ‘musical-ize’ the words and chords that he sang in just a few moments, and which have stuck around and impacted so many people unpredictably. The One to whom Marc was talking had something to produce that day, and Marc might say he was merely the receptacle, a guy who was willing to pour out for others what had entered into his being during that episode.  

 

Marc Schelske was probably in his 20s in 1994-1995 when the unexpected ‘…Just for Today’ prayer emerged during a dark-stage moment in his busy young life. Marc says he was plenty involved in his college studies and youth ministry one week while visiting a Boise, Idaho-area school as the guest speaker and worship leader. So, perhaps that was one reason he needed a moment just to himself. The dark stage in the school’s auditorium, where a grand piano that he had an urge to play was also located, provided what he needed. Soon, Marc stealthily found himself experimenting on this amazing instrument, and the words and music of the song just jumped out, an experience that he frankly says he hasn’t been able to repeat. But, he also mentions that the words reflect how he wants his prayers to be every day. ‘Just guide me today’, is how Marc might sum up what he was saying. That week’s students heard Marc’s invention, but he says he never expected it to have traveled so far for so long, two or three decades after he first spoke the words. He also taught this small song in a few other venues, but he’d be the first to admit that it certainly was not very complicated. Perhaps that is the source of the song’s appeal. When a person feels overloaded, and just at a loss for words, the simple, unadorned phrases of ‘Father God, Just for Today’ are the only medicine one needs.  

 

Marc certainly knew that God is infinite, and capable of so much more than anyone can fathom, right? Perhaps the connection between a human life and a divine God is rather like a structure that requires electricity to function, but not too much voltage all at once that could overload the circuits. That’s me, this limited structure that needs a link to power that I cannot acquire on my own, even if it’s just a microscopic amount. The Spirit need not explain to me how He does things; I cannot understand the whys and wherefores anyway. I just need one thing when I talk to Him, the same thing that Marc had when he approached Him on a dark stage sitting at a piano: Trust. Trust Him. Where else will you and I find what Marc found, a resource who can send a simple little song to faraway places, and listen to me in my space every day?   

       

 

Source for the song story is here: https://marcalanschelske.com/just-for-today-again/