Megan's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Redemption"

I've very stubborn. I like being right, I like to do things my way. I have a hard time putting aside my pride and letting someone else lead, letting someone else be right. I tend to break away from that, and still choose to go my way. Not the most attractive of qualities, but I'm just hard headed.

We're way gone, be gone, looking for our own way

Sometimes I get lucky, and taking my own way leads me to new adventures, leads me closer to God or to others. Sometimes my own way ends up being the perfect choice for me.

And sometimes it ends up being a horrible and lonely choice. Others don't follow because they don't understand my reason for choosing that path. They think I'm wrong and have chosen instead the seemingly "right" way. Instead of choosing a path that would lead me closer to others and to God, I have chosen to go in the wrong direction.

Couldn't find a common ending

I hate that second scenario. I pray that someday, and someday soon, I can swallow my pride. I pray that instead of choosing the way that seems right to me, I can instead focus on what path is right for others. The path that will lead me closer to my friends, to my family, to my God.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Jars of Clay's "Redemption"

It was hidden in the landscape
Of loss and love and fire and rain

The part of these words that truly spoke to me was more a "revisit" of something that already spoke to me. I heard a friend of mine giving a talk one time to a group of Confirmandi and she said, "People always say they 'Found Jesus', but I have news for you guys...Jesus isn't hiding. He isn't some hidden treasure; He is always there." That was really powerful because it told me that I don't have to find Him, I just have to see Him, to accept Him.
The other part was that I would miss something that was hidden. I am very aware of details around me but sometimes I miss the most obvious things and I often feel like a lot of things are tricks. I guess thats a form of paranoia, but I'm not certain. I never feel that something can be easy and correct at the same time. If something comes easily, I must not be doing it right. So I think I would most often avoid the road that looks easy to get to Jesus. The one that says, "Just come, Erinnicole, it's this way." My prayer is to see the hidden.

Chris' prayer: Jars of Clay's "Redemption"

Like any story retold
Couldn't find a common ending
We're way gone, be gone, looking for our own way

These lines seem to mirror, for me, the divisions we have among different denominations of Christianity. Across cyberspace you will find all kinds of mud slung at and about Catholicism, taking my denomination for instance. This has ceased to surprise me. What will never cease to surprise me is who is sometimes doing the mudslinging- other Christians.

It would seem to me that Christianity in general has enough mud slung at it. We have enough enemies. Why do we feel the need to fight with each other, calling each other names and damning each other to hell?

Why do we spend all of our time looking for our own way instead of seeking out redemption?


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Megan's prayer: Audio Adrenaline's "Get Down"

Being sick is not fun. Especially when it’s throwing up sick. Or when you have such an intense pain in your stomach that it hurts to both stand up and lay down. Even the joy of missing school to stay at home sick has been lost because now it is just a hassle to try to make up everything that is missed. Being sick is just not fun.

But when you are surrounded by people who care, suddenly being sick isn’t quite as bad. Whether it’s someone who sits with you all day, or brings you soup or Sprite, or even just an extra phone call or text message, it is nice to feel that extra love. Almost makes being sick enjoyable.

God is always there for us. He is there during our happy times and during our “alright” times. Most importantly he is there for us when we most need him. When we need his strength, his comfort.

In your weakness, he is stronger.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Audio Adrenaline's "Get Down"

I get down and he lifts me up

There are so many things connected with getting up. Rising above, overcoming (virtually the same thing), a literal falling and getting back up, persevering, etc. I am extremely uncoordinated, so I am really used to the idea of falling and getting back up. More-or-less, I am like toodlers, in the way that when they fall, they either look around in a confused manner or just get up and keep going like nothing happened. I never stay down for long simply because I have things to do. In the same way, when I get down emotionally, I know that I have more things to live for than whatever is upsetting me. God has given me the grace and the helping hand to get back up and rise again. And we all know that Jesus is quite an expert on rising!

Marie's Prayer: Audio Adrenaline's "Get Down"

You cant live your life to please yourself

Living life to please myself is something I struggle with. I don't go down the path of others and try to please others by acting like someone I'm not, but in the same way I act to make me, and only me happy. I need to think more of how things I say and do can affect other people. I need to realize that what I do needs to be to please God and not myself because it is only important what God wants of me.

Chris' prayer: Audio Adrenaline's "Get Down"

A couple of days ago, in honor of our first six months together, or perhaps just because she is wacky, my girlfriend baked me a cake. Not just any cake, mind you (that wouldn't be too wacky), but a yin yang cake. Half of the cake was white cake with white icing, the other half of the cake was chocolate cake with chocolate icing. The second layer of the cake was reversed exactly, so that each piece contained the same amount of white cake, white icing, chocolate cake, and chocolate icing. She even took the time out to cut the circle in the middle of each half of the yin yang and reverse them, so as to be completely accurate.

This song reminds me of that dessert.

Part of the song is a menagerie of paradoxes. To win, you've got to come in last place. To live your life, you've got to lose it. The other part of the song is a cluster of carefully balanced lines. In your weakness, He is stronger. In your darkness, He shines through. I get down; He lifts me up. All of it is great advice for a successful relationship with Jesus, and bearing an amazing resemblance to the cake sitting on my counter: perfectly balanced, with both parts working together, complimenting each other, and delicious!


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Chris' prayer: Plus One's "Soul Tattoo"

I've thought, on and off for the past few years, about getting a tattoo. I've looked up tattoos on the internet, and thought about what I would like to ink myself with. Once or twice, I've even mocked something up, either on the computer or on a sheet of paper, before throwing it away unfinished. I can't always decide what I want to be emblazoned on my body permanently, or when I'm fairly confident about that, I can't figure out how I want to represent that thing or idea in a way that is beautiful enough to feel comfortable with its permanence.

Despite, or perhaps because of, that indecision, I love today's song. I love that, long before I was born, my God tattooed me. I love that His love is so true, so real, so permanent, so unchanging, so inescapable, so unconditional, that He chose to ink my very being with signs of that love. He has written on heart proof of that love so that, no matter what I may go through on this earth, I know of that love. It is a very real part of me, just as anyone who has been tattooed with earthly ink will tell you their tattoos are a part of who they are.

Etched on my soul
Your love is so true

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Marie's Prayer: Plus One's "Soul Tattoo"

'Cause you're the answer
To the questions

There are too many questions! Sometimes I get wrapped up in all the what-ifs and I find that I'm not listening for the answers. I have to realize that praying, like talking, is a two-sided thing. I can't ask a question and expect immediate gratification. If I do this I find myself walking circuital and not straight for an answer. I need to leave time for God to do what is right for me and not just let myself keep asking and asking like a child asking the same question so fervently that the parent has no time to answer because at that second another question is being asked.

Megan's prayer: Plus One's "Soul Tattoo"

It took awhile for me to actually believe this, but I finally know in my heart that God loves us no matter what. Today’s song served as a reminded to me:

I'd be some kind of fool
To think I could lose your love

It is so wonderful to have this type of constant in my life. No matter what I do – God is there. Even if I make a horrible mistake, God is still there with me, loving me. Even when I believe that I am unlovable, God shows me just how wrong I am. His love is something I can’t run away from, even if I wanted to.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Plus One's "Soul Tattoo"

Etched on my soul
Your love is so true
Stamped forever
Here in my soul

the ideas of having God as a tattoo on my soul is really powerful. I mean, the permanence of tattoos and the meaning behind them is something fantastic. Tattoos are so out of the realm of the "norm" to relate God to. I just love knowing that God will always be with me; and the things He has done for me will always be. Even when we go through hard times and I forget that it is there, it still is. And a grand majority of people don't just get a tattoo on a whim, and even when they do, it almost always has a meaning. Tattoos are a permanent dedication to something and a public statement telling the world "this means something to me".

my dad is a really great guy and very original. and he loves playing jokes on people; weird jokes. he went to a video game convention and came home with a bandage on his arm and said "i got a tattoo". my dad is known to go through really elaborate steps to make us believe a prank, so I didn't believe him and for days, my sister and I would check his arm to see if it was still there. Turns out - it's real. I can relate it to my relationship with God because there are still times when I am waiting for my dad's tattoo to wash off, times when I am not sure how real or strong it is - like times when I can't tell how real or strong my relationship with God is. And sometimes, I even forget that it is there because I am so used to it. But then, there is that really cool excitement when my dad shows it to a friend who hasn't seen it yet (it's relatively new) or someone notices it. My prayer is for me to be able to show off my relationship with God with the same enthusiasm that my father shows off his tattoo.
[for those of you wondering, it is a pinball]

Megan's prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "We Cry Out"

…to be whole again…

I’m not sure where this idea originally came from, but I remember learning that there is a hole in our hearts that only God can fill. I simply love this idea. It is one area in our lives in which we are all on a level playing field. Money won’t buy us something to fill this hole. Our looks and our achievements aren’t the solution to filling the hole. The answer is God. He is waiting for us, waiting to fill that hole in our hearts. He wants to help us to be whole again.

Lord, help me to be whole again.

Marie's Prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "We Cry Out"

We cry out for your grace and love again
We cry out

When I am praying at night before I go to sleep, I cry out. Not just for me and the things I feel are unjust in my life, but for everyone I know who are worse off than I. As some of you may know I am not very graceful...but I ask God every night for His grace so I can go one more day. I cry out for Gods love because there's this weird feeling in me that I don't have it. I am ashamed to admit that I doubt even though I know I shouldn't. I feel like I need to fit in somewhere and I sometimes feel like I don't belong anywhere. Like I'm putting on an act in front of everyone, even myself, telling people I'm fine or even when I tell them I'm not fine I feel like I'm making a big show of my suffering. I hate feeling like I'm too focused on me and I don't say anything. I let myself fall back into that place of complacency. That is when I cry out to God like I do now. To help me, no matter what.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "We Cry Out"

I was trying to truly listen to this song with an open heart and really focus on the words today. Each day, I try to do this, but today it seemed especially important. The message that I found was nothing earth-shattering - quite the contrary. As I logged on to get the song 'o the day, I was thinking to myself, I have a tendency of relating my faith life to how God works in my life through my struggles. Which I have noticed many people tend to do - which is great because it is only praising the triumphs of our Lord, of course!! But I have so many blessings that were merely bestowed upon me because God loves me, not as a result of something hard I needed to overcome.

from dark to light

I think I too often focus on the dark and how to escape it...and even though I typically do that through God, I should pray for the sight to see the light! Not with my typical viewpoint of light to dark...it isn't that God gives me good things, and then sends a hardship. It is that He gives me both but when the struggles get to be too much, He pulls me back into the light to remind me it is there - because I so often forget. My prayer is one that I am reiterating from a retreat a few weeks ago, that God may introduce me to the darkness, so I learn how to rejoice in the light! He has given so much and there is so much for me to return. I cry out of this darkness and INTO the Light.

Chris' prayer: Cheer Up Charlie's "We Cry Out"

There are many times in my life where I find myself complacent. I don't like how something is going or how something ended up, but I'm too apathetic to bother changing it. Instead, I tell myself that I'll get to it later, or that it will change itself eventually. I'm actually pretty good at convincing myself that it will.

The problem is, of course, it rarely does. Things change only when they are forced to change, myself included. I can only stop this cycle of complacency and apathy, whether it be at work, in my social circle, or in my prayer life, when I am forced to change.

Fortunately, today God reminds me that I am always able to find a way to change in Him. He is there waiting for me, urging me, and, at times, forcing me to cry out to Him. He is waiting to help me grow, to become a more loving and gracious person. I just feel like I need that push in my life right now.

There’s no changing tide
That will shake our lives
So in Him we’ll find a way

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Megan's prayer: Chris Tomlin's "King of Glory"

Love is a great thing. Really, I love it. And I am fortunate to be surrounded by it constantly. I feel the love that others have for me, and I know of the love I have for others. I feel God’s love pouring down on me. I am even aware of the love that I, and others, have for inanimate objects. It’s true, I "love" pizza.

And yet, with all of this love surrounding me, sometimes I think I forget to share it. I’m just so happy with the love that I am feeling, I forget to show others how much I love them, how much God loves them. It’s not like the love is going to run out, it will only keep growing; yet sometimes I just want to be selfish and keep it to myself.

Today’s song suggests a different approach:

Tell everyone
How great the love

Obviously, this makes the most sense. I should be shouting out on the streets how much I am loved, and sharing with others how much God loves them. It is something to rejoice in, to share with everyone.

Chris' prayer: Chris Tomlin's "King of Glory"

Sometimes when I'm asked to pray in front of others, I get nervous. When asked for volunteers to lead spontaneous prayer, I often shy away. I can do great with a piece of paper, a pen, and some time, but I often feel like the prayers that I make up on the spot aren't "good enough." Or, at least they aren't to the quality that I've heard of some of my friends, family, and mentors. My prayer-leading abilities pale in comparison to theirs, or so I sometimes think.

God is here today to tell me, through this song, that that is simply not true. A magnificent prayer sung by Tomlin, this song contains two three-syllable words. Every word in this song is one that most are able to read before second grade. This song, this prayer, contains no magical or difficult words, no overly scholarly poetic phrases...just words. The power in those words lies with the One we are singing about. He is what makes these words, and everything He touches, strong and mighty.

My words, no matter how small or elementary, are plenty good enough.


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Erinnicole's Prayer: Chris Tomlin's "King of Glory"

The Lord, strong and mighty

The word "mighty" is one that I have heard at least once a week since I was born. It is really abundant in the Bible and in any description of the Lord. But it never meant anything to me, that is to say I have never stopped to consider what the word "mighty" truly means. How much power it actually holds - or that fact that it is almost never used to describe any human thing, because it holds so much weight that we cannot comprehend. a few things pop into mind, some are exaggerations from the media and some are things that could be "mighty" in an Earthly way. But none are MIGHTY in the truest sense of the word.

Last weekend, there was a REAP retreat for members of the REAP team (as opposed to us giving one). It was presented by Oddwalk Ministries (I recommend checking them out, they are very talented) and it was basically just a day of fun and light prayer. A lot of praising God for all that He has blessed us with. But at the end, they closed with what was to be the Gospel the next day, which was Jesus being baptized by John. They projected the words up onto the screen and instructed us to hold onto a word. "ONLY one word, not a phrase or sentence....just one word that speaks to you."
When we began the prayer, nothing jumped out at me, but i stared a the screen and prayed for an open heart. The word 'Mighty' sprung out from the first few lines of the passage and stuck with me. Toward the end, the word 'voice' became evident too. I could very easily tell that I had chosen the word 'voice' and God had chosen for me the word 'mighty'. So that is the one I stuck with. But I didn't know why. Next instruction was to illustrate it, so I pictured a broken heart (my heart) so broken that only a hand as mighty as God's could fix it, and He did.
Here again, in this song, I am reminded that many people can be strong, many people can be incredible, or amazing, but solely God is 100% Mighty, and only He can take on all of the triumphs and trials of the world - He is Mighty to save.

Megan's prayer: MercyMe "Word of God Speak"

With the freezing temperatures outside, one of my favorite things to do is snuggle with a blanket and just relax. I don’t need the TV or movies or a book to keep me occupied; I just enjoy the stillness, and the chance to just “be.”

Tonight I am giving myself that opportunity. I am going to bed relatively early for a Friday night, I’m going to wrap up in some warm blankets, and just be in God presence. It is during these times that I feel the most loved, and it is my chance to catch up with God, and just talk to him about my life. This song was the perfect way to end a wonderful day, and start, what I hope to be, an amazing night.

To be still and know
That You're in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In Your holiness

Chris' prayer: MercyMe's "Word of God Speak"

I'm finding myself in the midst of You
Beyond the music, beyond the noise

Ah, how I wish that this blog would have started with this song! For these, these are the lyrics which represent what this entire project is for me: the opportunity to find myself in the presence of God, and hopefully to do so in a way that extends beyond the scope of this project, to find myself in His presence whether I'm listening to the music He gives me, the noise of the world, or the sound of my own voice. I pray that the Word of God may speak to me at all times.


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