Coming Out into the Sunshine

This morning I listened to a CD by Rich Mullins. I actually had about 15 or 20 minutes to myself to listen to his words and music and it was like I was hearing his words for the first time. My soul was overcome with joy as I sang in my heart the truths in his songs. There is a depth and richness that comes from the heart of this man who knows his God and knows himself that soothes my soul and makes it yearn for God alone.

On Sunday night at small group I asked the group to pray for Kurt, Josh and Jen, Leah and Cannon. Then I also asked for prayer for my cousin, Ron, who continues to struggle with the aftermath of a heart attack and for the fear that he might also pass away soon. And as I was talking I was overcome with emotion and the words sort of fell out, "I'm just so tired of funerals...and that there must be something God has for me to learn and I don't want to miss whatever that is." Steve, one of the men in our group, prayed and in addition to praying for what I'd asked he prayed that God would allow me to simply grieve and not feel I had to try so hard to figure everything out but trust the One who knows everything.

So this morning as I listened to Rich Mullins' voice, I thought of him singing in heaven, and I was overcome with joy and peace. If you've not listened to Rich Mullins lately, you might want to find a quiet place and let the music soothe and satiate your soul.

Here are the words to

"calling out your name"

Well the moon moved past Nebraska and
Spilled laughter on them cold Dakota Hills
And angels danced on Jacob's stairs
There is this silence in the Badlands
And over Kansas the whole universe was stilled
By the whisper of a prayer
And the single hawk bursts into light
And in the east the whole horizon is in flames

Chorus:
I feel the thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

I can feel the earth tremble beneath
The rumbling of the buffalo hooves
And the fury in the pheasant's wings
It tells me the Lord is in His temple and there is
Still faith that can make the mountains move
And a love that can make the heavens ring
Where the sacred rivers meet beneath
The shadow of the Keeper of the plains

Repeat chorus

From the place where morning gathers
You can look sometimes
Forever 'til you see
What time may never know
How the Lord takes by its corners this old world
And shakes us forward - shakes us free
To run wild with the hope
The hope that this thirst will not last long
That it will soon drown
In the song not sung in vain

Repeat chorus

I know this thirst will not last long, that it will
Soon drown in the song not sung in vain
I feel the thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And with the prairies I am calling out Your name

- Rich Mullins