The Power of the Cross

To celebrate Holy Week, I am going to try to post a video a day, similar to the one below.  I hope it helps you dwell on what was accomplished for us on that Sunday so many years ago. 


We used to sing this song by Keith and Kristyn Getty at our old church in Boston, and it is rich with truths that I know I need to meditate on as Easter approaches.  I love a particular line in the last verse:


"Oh to see my name, written in the wounds..."


What a LOVE, what a COST.  We stand forgiven at the cross.




I'm not really familiar with this song, but Keith Getty describes it as a prequel to "The Power of the Cross", so I wanted to post it here!  It makes the good news of the first song that much better.

Come Awake

To celebrate Holy Week, I am going to try to post a video a day, similar to the one below.  I hope it helps you dwell on what was accomplished for us on that Sunday so many years ago. 


If the message of Easter is true, if Jesus' resurrection laid sin and death in the grave, then why do we often live as if it's not true - as if those things never happened?  Shackled, sleepy, and bored.

There is a great song called "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher, and my brother-in-law Rob's company Igniter Media did an amazing video using it.  Re-watching it just now filled me with hope and excitement for Sunday morning.  Seriously, make sure you watch til the end.

I love the last part: "O Church, come stand in the light.  Our God is not dead; He's alive!"

He Laid Death in His Grave

When I get the chance, I like to read blogs by songwriters that I really respect and look up to... a more recent find being Audrey Assad.  I read this post by her the other day, and it has stirred in me since, particularly the words she quotes from John Mark McMillan's song "Death in His Grave" (see video and words below).  


As Good Friday and Easter Sunday approaches, I am trying to dwell on this thought... that death is defeated and one day we will no more feel its sting.  Instead, we will experience LIFE full and complete.  Hard to imagine....  

The DEATH of death! 

To celebrate Holy Week, I am going to try to post a video a day, similar to the one below.  I hope it helps you dwell on what was accomplished for us on that Sunday so many years ago.  

PS - I just wrote a song the other day about Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsemane, and I'll try to post it at some point this week.  

Although the earth cried out for blood, what satisfied her hunger was

Her billows calmed on raging seas for the souls of man she craved

Sun and moon from balcony turned their head in disbelief

That precious love would taste the sting, disfigured and disdained.On Friday a thief, on Sunday a King;

He laid down in grief, but awoke with the keys of hell on that day;

First-born of the slain, the Man Jesus Christ laid

Death in his grave.

Great Song: In the Night by Andrew Peterson

I was just listening to Andrew Peterson's newest album Counting Stars in my car yesterday, and this song stopped me and pulled at something deep inside of me.  The words are just awesome.  This is the type of song that I want to write!! And it tells the Story - God's Story - in such fullness!  My favorite line in the song may be this one...


I can see the crowd of men retreating
As he stands between the woman and their stones
And if mercy in his holy heart is beating
Then in the night my hope lives on

I am so thankful that mercy beats in His holy heart.

Here is the song with the lyrics below:


Full Lyrics:

I am weary with the pain of Jacob’s wrestling
In the darkness with the Fear, in the darkness with the Fear
But he met the morning wounded with a blessing
So in the night my hope lives on

When Elisha woke surrounded by the forces
Of the enemies of God, the enemies of God
He saw the hills aflame with angels on their horses
So in the night my hope lives on

I see the slave that toils beneath the yoke unyielding
And I can hear the captive groan, hear the captive groan
For some hand to stay the whip his foe is wielding
Still in the night my hope lives on

I see the armies of the enemy approaching
And the people driven, trembling, to the shore
But a doorway through the waters now is opening
So in the night my hope lives on

Like the son who thought he’d gone beyond forgiveness,
Too ashamed to life his head–but if he could lift his head
He would see his father running from a distance
In the night my hope lives on

I can see the crowd of men retreating
As he stands between the woman and their stones
And if mercy in his holy heart is beating
Then in the night my hope lives on

I remember how they scorned the son of Mary
He was gentle as a lamb, gentle as a lamb
He was beaten, he was crucified, and buried
And in the night, my hope was gone

But the rulers of the earth could not control Him
They did not take his life–he laid it down
All the chains of death could never hope to hold him
So in the night my hope lives on

I can see the Son of Man descending
And the sword He swings is brighter than the dawn
And the gates of Hell will never stand against him
So in the night my hope lives on