Forty miles before sunrise and I’m starting to fade. The white lines are starting to blur in my headlights. I rub my eyes to try to buy a few miles.
Thirty miles before sunrise and I’m rolling down the window to get some fresh air. Yes, that’s what I need. Some fresh air. Why am I driving at this hour? I can’t even remember what I’m running from. I shake my head and adjust my seat to try to buy a few more miles.
Twenty miles before sunrise and I don’t think I’m going to make it. Wherever it is I’m trying to make it to. What the!!!!! I slam on my brakes. Why would someone be standing in the middle of the road? I look around but no one is there. I’m so tired my mind is playing tricks on me. I see another person darting out from my peripheral vision. These hallucinations are driving me crazy. What if they aren’t hallucinations?
Ten miles before sunrise and I turn the radio up. Need a song to wake me up. A song I can sing along with. I hit scan and the first song comes on. I like that old time rock n roll, that kind of music just soothes the soul. Good song but not in the mood for an oldie. The scan stops next on sports radio station. No thanks, I love sports but that is not going to keep me awake. Next stop is another oldie. U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Well, Bono, neither have I. Neither have I. Next stop is Jason Aldean’s They Don’t Know. Oh yeah, I can do this one.
All they see is tractors, barbwire and tall green grass
They don’t see the years spent working, busting their ass
How they pray for rain
They don’t know a thing
About what it takes
Livin’ this way
They ain’t seen the blood sweat and tears it took to live their dreams
When everything’s on the line
Ain’t just another field, just another farm
No, it’s the ground we grew up on
They think it’s a middle of nowhere place where we take it slow
Aw but they don’t know
No, they don’t know
Sunrise. Look at the beauty of this sunrise. How can anyone say God doesn’t exist when they see how he paints the world each morning? Yeah I know, I have questioned God’s existence many times. Every time things don’t go my way actually. However, in this moment, when I feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the way He lights up the world, giving the world a way out of the darkness, I know He exists. I can’t help but say out loud “God, I believe in you!”
Ten miles after sunrise and I am thinking I should turn this car around. Face my demons for once instead of running away. I am just so tired. My brain is foggy.
Twenty miles past sunrise and I wake up with the car flipping over and over. What the heck? I must’ve fallen asleep. I come to a stop upside down in a ditch. I can’t get out and I know no one is around. I picked the most desolate place to drive, to escape my life. I smell the gasoline and I see the fire start. I know I’m going to die.
I see two men a short distance away. One dressed in red, the other in white. They look like they are in a heated argument. Don’t they see me? Help!!!, I start to scream. I see the man in white look my way. I know him from somewhere, but my head is spinning. He says one last thing to the man in red and walks my way.
He reaches for my hand and I grab his.
The radio plays Broken Things by Matthew West.
If grace was a kingdom
I stopped at the gate
Thinking I don’t deserve to pass through after all the mistakes that I’ve made
Oh but I heard a whisper
As Heaven bent down
Said, “Child, don’t you know that the first will be last and the last get a crown”
Now I’m just a beggar in the presence of a King
I wish I could bring so much more
But if it’s true You use broken things
Then here I am Lord, I’m all Yours
The pages of history they tell me it’s true
That it’s never the perfect; it’s always the ones with the scars that You use
It’s the rebels and the prodigals; it’s the humble and the weak
All the misfit heroes You chose
Tell me there’s hope for sinners like me
Now I’m just a beggar in the presence of a King
I wish I could bring so much more
But if it’s true You use broken things
Then here I am Lord, I’m all Yours
Grace is a kingdom
With gates open wide
There’s a seat at the table just waiting for you
So, come on inside
Broken Things by Matthew West –
Mercy Meets My Pain by Seventh Day Slumber –
Every Mile Mattered by Nichole Nordeman –
You Still Love Me by James Fortune –
I Wouldn’t Love Me by James Fortune (feat Kierra Sheard) –
He was rolling down the mountain at a break neck speed. He could not believe how fast he was going. He tried to slow down, but he couldn’t figure out how. Once a pebble gets rolling, there is only one thing to stop him. He saw them in the distance but they were getting closer and closer the faster he went. There was no way to avoid the big, bad boulders so he just closed his eyes and
SMACK !!!
“Hey pebble, what do you think you are doing??!!” shouted the boulders. “Can’t you see how close to the edge we are? We have been balancing on this ledge for a very long time. We don’t need a little pebble like you messing our situation up.”
The pebble shook with fear. He had never seen boulders that big before. “I-I-I’m ssssorry. I didn’t mean to hit you but I was going so fast I couldn’t stop. Thank you for stopping me though. Do you think I could stay here?”
The boulders answered with a stern “NO!! We don’t need you here. You are not one of us and would mess our lives up with all your little talk.”
The pebble didn’t like their answer but went on his way. He tried to take it slower but with each downward slope and each breath of wind that blew he didn’t have much choice. He was so small he went wherever the wind blew him. Most days he didn’t mind, every day was an adventure. He never knew where he would end up. Other days, he just wanted to stop and fit in somewhere. He wanted someone to like him, for him to be a part of something bigger than him.
A big gust of wind started to blow and off the pebble went again. He was going so fast he would hit the ground then bounce up in the air. He felt like he was flying. “This must be how the birds feel,” he thought to himself.
Oh crap, more boulders ahead, the pebble screamed inside. “Look out boulders, I am coming right at you. I can’t stop!!!” yelled the pebble.
Once again the pebble was met with disdain. “Get out of here pebble. We are way too powerful for you. Do you NOT realize that we can squash you if we wanted to. You are to tiny to live here. Be on your way before we change our minds and decide to hurt you.”
The pebble didn’t waste any time scurrying from that place. He thought, What is wrong with all these boulders?Don’t they realize I don’t mean to smash into them. I’m just trying to find my way. Like I could ever hurt them anyway.
It was then he heard a small voice in the wind.” Go pebble go. Go where the wind takes you. You are more powerful than you know. Everything that is and has happened to you is for a reason. I didn’t mean you any harm when you crashed into those boulders. I was using you to try to change their hearts. To learn to be more accepting. To love something other than their own pile of boulders. It is not too late for them for you have planted a seed everywhere I have sent you. The choice is theirs. You tried. Keep trying and going forward. Do not be afraid.”
The pebble looked around but did not see anyone. Strange, he thought. At that time another gust of wind picked him up and took him on his way.
Not again, seriously, the pebble thought unbelieving. Why can’t I crash into a pile of grass or a stream of water. Why another pile of boulders? He braced himself for impact.
SMACK!!!!
This time the boulders didn’t yell at him. “Help us,” said the boulders. “We are about to fall off the edge.”
“How can I help you? I am just a small pebble,” the pebble asked. He was thinking this had to be some kind of trick.
“We are about to fall off the edge and we have been asking for someone like you. See this small hole in between us? We need you to jump in there and seal it so we can be strong. With you securing that hole, we don’t have to worry about falling off the ledge.”
Wow, thought the pebble. They really need me. “You can count on me,” he bravely said. “I have been wanting a place to settle down. A place that will accept me for who I am.”
He then jumped right into the hole and secured the boulders together.
“Thank you,” he humbly said. To the boulders and to that small voice he heard.
It was then they heard this rumbling coming down the mountain. All these boulders were falling all around them but , miraculously, none of the falling boulders hit them. The pebble recognized them as the same boulders who yelled at him and told him they didn’t want him.
“Thank you,” said the boulders he was with now. ” Without you, we would’ve had the same fate as those boulders. You saved us pebble.”
These words started coming to me and I could hear plain as day Chris Stapleton and Miranda Lambert singing them. I am sure it needs to be tightened up a little and maybe a few words changed here or there.
Maybe if I could get a 100k shares and a 100k retweets this will get to them and maybe, just maybe….
My God, My Music, My Life 