First Peter Chapter Two

   1    WHEREFORE laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

2    As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

3    If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

4    To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

5    Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
    acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

6    Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious:
    and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

7    Unto you therefore which believe he is precious:  but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the
    builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

8    And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient:
    whereunto also they were appointed.

9    But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;  that ye should shew
    forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

10    Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God:  which had not obtained mercy, but 
    now have obtained mercy.

11    Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the souls;

12    Having our conversation honest among the Gentiles:  that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may 
    by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13    Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake:  whether it be to the king, as supreme;

14    Or to governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them
    that do well.

15    For so the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

16    As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

17    Honour all men.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honour the king.

18    Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear;  not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

19    For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

20    For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?  but if, when ye do well,
    and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

21    For even hereunto were ye called:  because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should
    follow his steps:

22    Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

23    Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again;  when he suffered, he threatened not;  but committed himself
    to him that judgeth righteously:

24    Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
    righteousness:  by whose stripes ye were healed.

25    For ye were as sheep going astray;  but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

    First Peter Chapter Two - KJV

"LIVE IN GRACE -- WALK IN LOVE - A 365 - DAY JOURNEY" written by Bob Goff (author of Love Does)

295.  THINK ABOUT ALL THE THINGS YOU ALREADY TRUST IN YOUR LIFE.  THEN ASK WHY YOU DON'T TRUST GOD MORE.

        Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways
        submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.   Proverbs 3:5-6


Since my kids aren't making mischief from home anymore, I'm always working on finding some reasons to hang out with them.
My son Adam recently took up skydiving, so I decided to get my skydiving license without telling him.  I had this daydream
of him free-falling through the air and then I float down next to him. "Oh, hey, Adam.  What are you doing here?"  I would 
scream into the wind.

    One weekend I drove Adam to the drop zone like I did each weekend.  He got out of the car, grabbed a parachute, and
got in the plane.  This time I got out of the car, grabbed a parachute, put it on, and got in the plane next to him.

    "Dad?!"  Adam said, shaking his head at me.

    "How hard could it be?"  I shot back at him.

    Sometimes on a weekend we'll still grab some lunch, catch up on life, and then jump out of a plane together.  It's fantastic.

    The craziest part about the whole skydiving thing is that when you're falling through the air at around 125 miles per
hour, you pull a cord connected to a tiny, metal pin that deploys the parachute.  Your whole life depends on one piece of
metal that is less than an inch long.  When it's pulled, the parachute either goes off or it doesn't.  

    The truth is, I sometimes trust God less than I trust that pin.  I don't believe He's going to catch me at the perfect
moment.  I'm afraid He won't be there when I need Him to be.  I think He'll let me plummet if I make a mistake.  Or I believe
He'll withhold His grace if I mess up one more time.

    Sometimes God leads us into difficult circumstances so we'll realize our absolute need for Him. 

                                In what difficult circumstance are you
                                         finding it difficult to trust God?  

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 - 𝐈❜𝐦 𝐎𝐧 𝐌𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐲 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 - 𝟐 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟗

The Proclaimers - I'm on My Way

I'm on my way
 From misery to happiness today
 I'm on my way
 From misery to happiness today

I'm on my way to what I want from this world
 And years from now you'll make it to the next world
 And everything that you receive up yonder
 Is what you gave to me the day I wandered

I took a right
 I took a right turning yesterday
 I took a right
 I took a right turning yesterday

I took the road that brought me to your home town
 I took the bus to streets that I could walk down
 I walked the streets to find the one I'd looked for
 I climbed the stair that led me to your front door

And now that I don't want
 For anything
 I'd have Al Jolson sing
 "I'm sitting on top of the world"

I'll do my best
 I'll do my best to do the best I can
 I'll do my best
 I'll do my best to do the best I can

To keep my feet from jumping from the ground dear
 To keep my heart from jumping through my mouth dear
 To keep the past, the past and not the present
 To try and learn when you teach me a lesson

And now that I don't want
 For anything
 I'd have Al Jolson sing
 "I'm sitting on top of the world"

I'm on my way
 From misery to happiness today
 I'm on my way
 From misery to happiness today

I'm on my way to what I want from this world
 And years from now you'll make it to the next world
 And everything that you receive up yonder
 Is what you gave to me the day I wandered

I'm on my way to what I want from this world
 And years from now you'll make it to the next world
 And everything that you receive up yonder
 Is what you gave to me the day I wandered

I'm on my way
 I'm on my way
 I'm on my way

Yellowcard - Calvary Drive

 Yellowcard - Calvary Drive

I just wanna pick you up and drive
Go anywhere tonight
Like we’re back home again
Barely making rent
I just wanna take your hand in mine
Leave everything behind
Half drunk on confidence
Smoking stolen Parliaments
That you took off the balcony
Of your parents house on Calvary Drive

I knew it couldn’t last
Cause nothing lasts forever
And I hate looking back
Cause we’re not back together
All that I can see
Our story on repeat
I know it’s in the past
But I can’t get past the part where you leave

Someone said your name to me today
I had to look away before my sorry eyes tell stories I can’t hide
I just wanna keep some part of you
A little bit of truth
Streetlights in Riverside
Keep me up at night
And I still miss that balcony
At your parents house on Calvary Drive
(At your parents house on Calvary Drive)

I knew it couldn’t last
Cause nothing lasts forever
And I hate looking back
Cause we’re not back together
All that I can see
Our story on repeat
I know it’s in the past
But I can’t get past the part where you leave

I knew it couldn’t last
Cause nothing lasts forever
And I hate looking back
Cause we’re not back together
All that I can see
Our story on repeat
I know it’s in the past
But I can’t get past the part where you leave

I knew it couldn’t last
I knew it couldn’t last

All that I can see
Our story on repeat
I know it’s in the past
But I can’t get past the part where you leave

First Peter Chapter One

  1    PETER, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, 
    and Bithynia,

2    Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
    and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:  Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

3    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath
    begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4    To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

5    Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6    Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold 
    temptation:  

7    That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
    might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

8    Whom having not seen, ye love;  in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
    unspeakable and full of glory:

9    Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

10    Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that 
    should come unto you:

11    Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified
    beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

12    Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now
    reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven;
    which things the angels desire to look into.

13    Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto
    you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

14    As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

15    But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

16    Because it is written, Be ye holy;  for I am holy.

17    And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time
    of your sojourning here in fear;

18    Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain
    conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

19    But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

20    Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

21    Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory;  that your faith
    and hope might be in God.

22    Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
    see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

23    Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

24    For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.  The grass withereth, and the flower
    thereof falleth away:

25    But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.  And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

    First Peter Chapter One - KJV

Linkin Park - What I've Done [Live in São Paulo]

Linkin Park - What I've Done

In this farewell
There's no blood, there's no alibi
'Cause I've drawn regret
From the truth of a thousand lies
So let mercy come and wash away

What I've done
I'll face myself
To cross out what I've become
Erase myself
And let go of what I've done

Put to rest what you thought of me
While I clean this slate
With the hands of uncertainty
So let mercy come and wash away

What I've done
I'll face myself
To cross out what I've become
Erase myself
And let go of what I've done

For what I've done
I start again
And whatever pain may come
Today this ends
I'm forgiving

What I've done
I'll face myself
To cross out what I've become
Erase myself
And let go of what I've done

(Na-na na na)
(Na-na na na)
(Na-na na na)
What I've done
(Na-na na na)
(Na-na na na)
(Na-na na na)
Forgiving what I've done
(Na-na na na)
(Na-na na na)
(Na-na na na)
(Na-na na na) 

Bullet For My Valentine - Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do) Live in Wacken 2019

Bullet For My Valentine - Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do) 

The night is starting here we go!
(I check out everything)
This is our time to lose control!
(What do you want from me)

You line them up we'll put them down
This is so frustrating
To watch you sleazing all around
Yet you keep on smiling

What can I do to make you see
(you're guilty)
What can I do to make you feel
you're  wanted
What can I do to make you see
(you're  guilty)
I'm suffocating under words of sorrow

Her skin reflects behind the blur
I'm intoxicated
Where am I from? Why am I here?
(you're  so predictable)
Fingers running through my hair
But it's all just fiction!
She stripped down from her underwear
So beautiful

What can I do to make you see
(you're  guilty)
What can I do to make you feel
you're  wanted
What can I do to make you see
(you're  guilty)
I'm suffocating under words of sorrow

Go!

(her body's dying on the floor)
But I keep on staring...
(my world is over, let me go)

Her skin reflects behind the blur
I'm intoxicated
Where am I from? Why am I here?
(your so predictable)
Fingers running through my hair
I'm a new addiction
She stripped down from her underwear
(so beautiful)

What can I do to make you see
(you're  guilty)
What can I do to make you feel
you're  wanted
What can I do to make you see
(you're guilty)
I'm suffocating under words of sorrow
(words of sorrow)

Bullet For My Valentine - The Poison (Live at Alexandra Palace 2008)

 Bullet For My Valentine - The Poison

Now is your time to die!
We've gathered here to say goodbye
No more you'll cry!
No reason left for you to fight
Feel pain no more!
Emotions never felt before
Where do we go?! (we go!)
She'll never know!
Holding on to you to keep from falling
Your eyes are closing now, another chapter's ending
Hard times, we always saw!
There's nothing left of you no more
Fear has no place! (no place!)
Cover her face!
Holding on to you to keep from falling
Your eyes are closing now, another chapter's ending
This is our last goodbye (goodbye!)
This is our time tonight
Holding on to you...!
Cover up her face...!
Holding on to you to keep from falling!
Holding on to you to keep from falling
Your eyes are closing now, another chapter's ending
This is our last goodbye (goodbye!)
This is our time tonight (goodbye...!)
This is our last goodbye...!

Amy Shark - C'MON ft. Travis Barker

Amy Shark - C'MON ft. Travis Barker 

Baby, I think it's amazing what you're doing out there
Guess I'm just a little jealous I don't have it all
And I was talking to your sister just the other day
She's the only one who ever asks if I'm okay

Lately I've been losing, letting people down a lot
Cutting all the corners, standing on shoulders
Drowning everyone so I can get to the top
All of these things I would like to stop

C'mon
Help me up one more time
C'mon
Give me that nice strong steady arm
'Cause what if I fall and you don't see?
I don't wanna be responsible for me

And I got all these people running around now and lifting me up
One shot and watch the birds all fly away
And I know you'd be good at anything you put your mind to
And I'm sorry for everything you had to see

Ooh, lately I've been losing, letting people down a lot
Cutting all the corners, standing on shoulders
Drowning everyone so I can get to the top
All of these things I would like to stop

C'mon
Help me up one more time
C'mon
Give me that nice strong steady arm
'Cause what if I fall and you don't see?
I don't wanna be responsible for me

(Help me up one more time, c'mon)
(Help me up one more time)

Just another band aid, ripping it off
Totally in love with all that you are and
Found another problem 'cause that's what I do
Just want everything to be perfect, don't you?

C'mon
Help me up one more time
C'mon
Give me that nice strong steady arm
'Cause what if I fall and you don't see?

C'mon
Help me up one more time
C'mon
Give me that nice strong steady arm
What if I fall and you don't see?
I don't wanna be responsible for me
(Help me up one more time, c'mon)
I don't wanna be responsible for me
(Help me up one more time, c'mon)
(Help me up one more time, c'mon)

Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot -- Live at LBC

 Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot

This shining city built of gold
A far cry from innocence
There's more than meets the eye around here
Look to the waters of the deep
A city of evil

There sat a seven headed beast
Ten horns raised from his head
Symbolic woman sits on his throne
But hatred strips her and leaves her naked
The beast and the harlot

She's a dwelling place for demons
She's a cage for every unclean spirit
Every filthy bird and makes us drink
The poisoned wine to fornicate with our kings
Fallen now is Babylon the Great

The city dressed in jewels and gold
Fine linen, myrrh and pearls
Her plagues will come all at once
As her mourners watch her burn
Destroyed in an hour

Merchants and captains of the world
Sailors navigators too
Will weep and mourn this loss
With her sins piled to the sky
The beast and the harlot

She's a dwelling place for demons
She's a cage for every unclean spirit
Every filthy bird and makes us drink
The poisoned wine to fornicate with our kings
Fallen now is Babylon the Great

The day has come for all us sinners
If you're not a servant, you'll be struck to the ground
Flee the burning, greedy city
Looking back on her to see there's nothing around

I don't believe in fairy tales and no one wants to go to hell
We've made the wrong decision and it's easy to see
Now if you wanna serve above or be a king below with us
You're welcome to the city where your future is set forever

She's a dwelling place for demons
She's a cage for every unclean spirit
Every filthy bird and makes us drink
The poisoned wine to fornicate with our kings
Fallen now is Babylon the Great

She's a dwelling place for demons
She's a cage for every unclean spirit
Every filthy bird and makes us drink
The poisoned wine to fornicate with our kings
Fallen now is Babylon the Great

The Proclaimers - But It Is

The Proclaimers - But It Is 

We say that’s not who we are
But it is
Injustice rising, de-civilising
We say that’s not who we are
But it is
Our collective conscience
Is proven nonsense
Every minute of the day

I’ve watched these years of decline
Now I’m an old man
I’d like to say things would get better
I don’t think that I can

We say that’s not who we are
But it is
When did we decide to aid a genocide?
We say that’s not who we are
But it is
Causing hunger, following warmongers
To the deepest pits of hell

We talk of barbarism
Like we left it in the past
While we elect malignant scoundrels
Each one as bad as the last

We lecture others on morality
While wi’ the devil we sup
We say we face down terror
Just hold a mirror up

We say that’s not who we are
But it is
Injustice rising, de-civilising
We say that’s not who we are
But it is
Our collective conscience
Is proven nonsense
Every minute of the day

Nonsense every minute of the day

Holier Than Thou - HOW GOD'S HOLINESS HELPS US TRUST HIM written by Jackie Hill Perry (Author of Gay Girl, Good God)

Holier Than Thou - HOW GOD'S HOLINESS HELPS US TRUST HIM written by Jackie Hill Perry (Author of Gay Girl, Good God)

Chapter Seven p. 151-168

                        Holy How? : Behold, We Become


AS WE'VE EXPLORED, OUR becoming like Christ is called sanctification, or as many say, "transformation."  To put
this in front of you again:  "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into
the same image from one degree of glory to another:  (2 Cor. 3:18, emphasis added).  Switching languages for a second
exposes the fullness of the word and how it is used in another place.  What do I mean?  That in the original language,
transformation is the same as transfiguration.  It is probable that in Paul's mind, he is connecting the transfiguration
of Christ with the transformation of Christians.  The metamorphosis that Jesus underwent before the three disciples was
different from us in the sense of His transfiguring was His glory being unveiled.  When His face "shone like the sun"
and His clothes became "white as light,"  it was the inner glory of Christ's nature shining through the embodied flesh that
concealed it (Matt. 17:2).  As one commentary puts it, it is

        not that he showed his Divine nature, or laid aside his human body;  his bodily nature remained
        in its entirety, but permeating it was an effulgence which indicated the Godhead.  Perhaps it might
        be said, as an old writer puts it, that the Transfiguration was less a new miracle than the temporary
        cessation of an habitual miracle;  for the veiling of his glory was the real marvel, the Divine restraint
        which prohibited the illumination of his sacred humanity.  [Joseph S. Exell, general ed., The Pulpit
        Commentary, Matthew 17 (2019 Kindle edition).]

    What the disciples beheld was the inner essence of God, the source of all divine light coming out, transforming
the visual appearance of Jesus.  Just as, but different from, Moses who after being with God, the appearance of Moses'
face was changed, shining with a visible light.  The difference is that the glory on Moses' face was a reflected glory.
With Jesus, the transfiguration displayed His inherent glory.  [R. C. Sproul, Sermon:  "Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-12)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzSSdijKz_l&t+1033s
So it is with any Christian who beholds the glory of the Lord;  they are only able to reflect what they have actually
seen.  Deeper than that, they are only able to be holy, a visible and discernible state of being, if they have been gifted
with a holy nature.  We can only be what we really are, and if born anew, we have an inner glory shining forth from
the Spirit of the living God who is the agent of our very own transfiguration.  Bright enough for the world to see.  Real
enough to prove that to be a Christian is to be authentic and thus display the holiness becoming of a new creature.

    It's important to state that although the Spirit is the one that causes us to see, regenerating our nature, converting
our souls, empowering us to walk as "children of light" (Eph. 5:8), there is yet and still an obligation on our part to
participate with the Spirit in the process of sanctification.  That is to say that our growing in holiness is not passive in
any way.  Philippians 2:12-13 speaks to the paradox that sanctification can be when it says, "Therefore, my beloved,
as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."  Once
we are raised from the dead, it would be silly to assume that we can and should do nothing to grow in living as God does
just as it would be foolish to think that a planted seed can grow without the soil being watered.  Beholding the Lord is
fundamentally active.  The sun in all of its radiance, shines above us on most days, but it will only be seen by those who
decide to turn their faces up and look.

    But where do we look?  What can show us such glory that we might be changed by it?  Where we look is simple,
accessible, and not hidden from us.  It is the Holy Scriptures that put forth a constant picture of God, as He is to be
seen and understood.  Inspired by the Holy Ghost, preserved by Him, and interpreted with His illuminative help too,
it is there, in the pages scattered with narratives, songs, poems, and letters, that we can behold Christ.  He is the glory
in all of the above.  The sacrificial system, the scapegoat, the blood-red doorpost, the tabernacle, and the holy place.  He
is the rejected brother with His Father's robe.  He is the one with slingshot in hand, the savior of a timid people.  He is the
morning manna and evening light.  He is Isaac and the ram, Jacob's ladder, and David's King.  He is the serpent lifted up
and the God brought low.  He is the law's source and fulfillment.  He is the psalmist's delight and the epistle's explanation.
Someone might say that I've just take the familiar stories of Scripture and make them be other that what they are, but truly,
I'm only bearing witness to the Gospel of Luke where it says, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted
to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27).

    Where does Jesus go when trying to show His disciples the glory of who He is?  How does He help them behold all He has
fulfilled from them?  Scripture.  We cannot behold Him as clearly in any other place than in the Word He has given to us, and as
it's read and believed, we are transformed.  As Piper would put it:

        This is how God designed the Scriptures to work for human transformation and for the glory of God: 
        the Scriptures reveal God's glory.  this glory, God willing, is seen by those who read the Bible.  This
        seeing gives rise, by God's grace, to savoring God above all things--treasuring him, hoping in him, 
        feeling him as our greatest reward, tasting him as our all satisfying good.  And this savoring transforms 
        our lives.  [John Piper, Reading the Bible Supernaturally (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 141.]

    By saying that we behold God in God's Word and are thus transformed by what we see, I am not implying that just seeing
is enough.  There is and has always been a kind of deception among the religious that the mere reading of God's Word is 
sufficient in and of itself to make its readers into godly people.  That in the morning, when we open our leather-bound Bible 
or swipe left and right to access an app, we are changed simply by reading.  God knows I wish it were as simple as that, but
haven't we known (or been) those who can quote the Bible with ease while still managing to live like an embodied demon?  Even
they--demons, that is--know what is biblically true about God.  During Jesus' earthly ministry, demons were quicker to acknowledge
the validity of who Jesus was before humans did.  Before begging to possess pigs, they called Him "Son of the Most High God"
(Mark 5:7).  The demon that made his home in a man visiting the synagogue said to Jesus, " I know who you are--the Holy One of God!" (Luke 4:34).  James sarcastically commended the fruitless "faith" of the recipients of his letter when he wrote, "You believe that God is one;  you do well.  Even the demons believe--and shudder!"  (James 2:19).  Which says to me that a demon may very well hear Deuteronomy 6:4 quoted from his favorite pulpit, which says, "Hear, O Israel:  The LORD our God, the LORD is one," and with demonic fervor say "Amen." 

    How we interact with what Scripture tells us distinguishes us from demons only if and when we believe what it is that we see.  Demons have shown themselves to know the right facts about Jesus,  they rebel against what they know, revealing that their knowledge of God is superficial in that it may cause them to acknowledge Him but it doesn't lead them to glorify Him.  Just as it was with the religious leaders in Jesus' day.  They knew more than most and lived worse than them too.  You'd think that being an "expert of the law" would lead to a particular holiness, birthed from all of that knowledge, but it only worked to teach them how to look holy without actually being so.  They were "whitewashed tombs,"  a dead version of purity and light, with hearts similar to that of a cemetery, full of "dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity"  (Matt. 23:27 NLT).


                            Beholding and Believing

    When exposing their ignorance and hypocrisy, Jesus often reminded the Pharisees of their titles to show the inconsistency of
knowing so much and living so unrighteous.  They dedicated their lives to the study of God's Word, searching them as if they'd find
eternal life in the very words themselves when, in fact, if they only believed what they knew, they'd know that eternal life was found 
in Christ and Christ alone.  To them, Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;
and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40, emphasis added). 
And why after searching the Scriptures did they refuse to come to this Jesus who Scripture bore witness to?  It's because they
didn't believe what they read.  "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me;  for he wrote of me.  But if you do not believe his
writings, how will you believe my words?"  (John 5:46-47, emphasis added).  Beholding Christ, they did not become like Him
because they did not see nor believe what was already written about Him.

    There is an incredible connection between beholding and believing and how these things precede becoming.  Remember
when we talked about the folks who worship idols and how they look like whatever they look to?  How they therefore become 
just as lifeless as the gods they love?  Did you notice how the psalmist describes the reason for this transformation?  He says, "Those who make them become like them;  so do all who trust in them"  (Ps. 115:8, emphasis added).  It is not as though they are simply putting their eyes toward the idols, like a man does an attractive face or a child does an unclaimed piece of candy.  No. Their eyes are a metaphor for where they've placed their faith.  They look because they believe.  Lovers of idols do so because they trust that the created thing can provide, satisfy, help, protect, and so on.  And even if such faith if futile, it is still faith, one that transforms see-ers into the image they believe most.  Their misplaced faith informs their way of life because what we believe governs how we behave.

    After feeding 5,000 people a good helping of bread and fish, Jesus told the returning crowd that He was the true food.  That what they ate, though satisfying for now, would not last beyond the moment.  Similar to the manna their ancestors knew would rot before they woke, just in time for another meal from heaven.  This bread, just like theirs, would be gone before the next morning.  Against the backdrop of their once-fed, now-empty stomachs, a parable of their sometimes-full, easily emptied souls, Jesus says that He is the bread of life.  If the average listener were anything like the average Bible reader, Jesus' testimony about Himself would become nothing more than a good verse to quote, an encouraging caption to have, or a wonderful tattoo to live with, but what He said about Himself wasn't intended to just be heard or seen but to be believed because it's in the believing where the words are experienced.

    Jesus tells them who He is and continues to describe what happens when His words about Himself are treated as true:  "I am the bread of life;  whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst:  (John 6:35).  "Whoever comes" is the same as "whoever believes."  To paraphrase the Lord's words, He is saying, "Whoever believes in Me will never hunger and never thirst because they have come to Me and I have filled them."  

    Jesus doesn't want them or us to just have an intellectual relationship with the words themselves, but rather, that by believing, we'd bear fruit that's consistent with knowing the person who holds the title.  Consider your most besetting sins and how they reveal the parts of you that are hungry or thirsty.  There is a world of passions within us, waging war against our souls by tempting the eyes of our hearts to look to (trust in) everything else as a means to quench its thirst and quiet its growl.  We are a needy folk, and this is nothing to be ashamed of because needlessness belongs to God and God alone.  And if God has no needs, then God is completely sufficient in and of Himself, which is to say that He has endless resources that He will never need another to restore or preserve.  If this is what it means for God to be bread--that He is truly able to satisfy in such a way that our hunger is replaced with fullness, our thirst quenched, too--then it is not enough to tell you to "stop sinning."  Instead, I will say, "Behold Christ, He is the bread of life.  Go to Him and be filled."

                        Believing and Becoming

    How does believing that Jesus is the bread of life make the believing one holy?  Continuing with the metaphor of food, bread
in particular is not a light thing to eat (if it's made rightly, of course).  It's heavy, dense, glutenous, and easy to stretch.  Give a family
bread and you have given them a food that will fill the belly quick.  Once it's consumed, the stomach left with no room in it, the body
is satisfied to the point that it can see another piece of bread, or meal, or money, or sexual temptation, or opportunity for the ego,
and not confuse the want with need.  To be satisfied is to be full.  To be full is to mean that there is no more room for anything else.
So then, holiness begins to characterize those who trust Christ to fill them with Himself because all their needs, in body, mind, and
soul, are met in God, which sets them free from depending on anything else in heaven and earth to do the same.

    The psalmist Asaph knew this to be true, which is why he said to God, "Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Ps. 73:25-26).  It is not as if the psalmist had no other desires.  He, like us, was an image-bearer, and the very image He was privileged to bear was that of God, who also has the capacity to feel.  Being able to feel at all finds its origin in God Himself.  So our affections are not foreign, nor are they fundamentally evil.  They make us humans with the power to love and be loved, weep with those who weep, enjoy our lovers and our friends.  But sin's mishandling of them is what drives us to do inhumane things.  When sin is intertwined with our affections, it causes conflict, lust, envy, jealousy, sexual immorality, drunkenness, sorcery, fits of anger (Gal. 5:19-21).  We sin because we feel like it, and we sin because we love it.  No wonder we resist the call to holiness like a bad dream because we have too many desires competing for our whole heart.  

    What are we to do with such sins, or desires to sin?  We must dethrone them first, by way of repentance, coming to terms with their incompetence and the impossibility of them being a worthwhile love, a heavy bread.  When the Spirit regenerates our hungry soul, He doesn't leave it empty like the tomb Jesus left to itself.  Instead, we are given a new heart, as we now know, and with it comes an affection for God that sits enthroned above all others.  Thomas Chalmers famously put it this way when he wrote, "We have already affirmed how impossible it were for the heart, by any innate elasticity of its own, to cast the world away from it;  and thus reduce itself to a wilderness.  The heart is not so constituted;  and the only way to dispossess it of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one."  [Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection (Wheaton, IL:  Crossway, 2020)]  Our love of sin is rooted in our unbelief in God and our weak affections toward Him.  By weak, I am referencing C.S. Lewis when he said, "It would seem that  Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us."  [C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (New York:  HarperCollins, 1949, 26.)]  When God is believed to be bread, savior, sustainer, provider, comforter, Lord, King, and everything else He has revealed himself to be, the heart will say, "There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you."  Because it has found the person that has everything the heart needs. Desiring God above all things is the soil from which holiness is grown.  We are already empowered to flee sin through the Spirit, and we will want to and choose to put to death what is earthly in us when we believe God is infinitely better than everything we are tempted to leave Him for.

    Beholding God's glory in God's Word and believing all that it shows you transforms you into "that same image."  This language of imaging God began in Genesis when the Godhead proclaimed, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness"  (Gen. 1:26).  This theme is also present throughout the Epistles, in relation to looking like Christ, being holy as He is.  Romans 8:29 says, "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son..." (emphasis added).  The "old self"  as Paul calls it in Colossians 3, refers to the person and behaviors that shaped who we were before the Spirit made us new.  Prior to our regeneration, we were as evil as the night is long, but with being made alive, we are told and miraculously able to disrobe ourselves of that ancient way of life.  Instead we are clothed by the  "new self" which is "being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Col. 3:10, emphasis added).  Beholding Christ motivates us to holiness by our observing the moral purity and transcendent beauty of Jesus, but through this vision, we are also taught the way of Jesus.

        But that is not the way you learned Christ!--assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in
        him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt
        through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after
        the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.   (Eph. 4:20-24, emphasis added)

    I would hope that we know what God looks like by now.  If we don't, the world and the flesh will give us deficient ways to image Him, telling us that we can look like God and Satan at the same time.  Worldliness is nothing less than the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1John 2:16);  this being the very pulse of whatever context we call home, we must never take our cues from a dying thing on how to live.  If we are unclear about "the truth" as told and revealed in Christ, the world will inevitably woo us back to itself.  David Wells, explaining how convincing the world can be, says, "The world is that system of values whose source is human sinfulness and whose expression is cultural.  It is that collective life which validates our personal sin.  It is everything in society that makes sinful attitudes and practices look normal.  [David Wells, God the Evangelist:  How the Holy Spirit Works to 
Bring Men and Women to Faith (Grand Rapids:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1987), 115.]  But sin will never be normal.  It is and will always be offensive to God.  If we behold the world and its ways more than Christ, be not surprised when you look more like it than you do Jesus.

    Looking to Christ, we know what God is like.  Who and how He is--this is the end goal of our "becoming."  Remember God, good in every way.  Set apart from everything that there is, being in a class all by Himself, enthroned on high, He sits where the angels sing His praises.  Let us recall and think on His holiness yet again:  He is totally free to be who He is and He can never be who He is not.  Nothing in heaven or on earth controls the sovereign God.  This freedom is expressed in His creating us, in love.  God didn't create because anything outside of Himself told Him to or convinced Him that He should.  It wasn't out of need that He made the world, as if God was dependent on what He's made to be whole.  No.  He created the world and all that's in it because it pleased him to bring into being creatures that would share in the love He has always had for His Son through the love-bond of the Spirit.  "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world"  (John 17:24, emphasis added).  And "I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them:  (John 17:26, emphasis added).   God is self-giving in that way, to make us so that we may know Him.  God's love for us in Christ, as poured out by the Spirit (Rom. 5:5), has brought us into fellowship with Him and the Son;  from there, we have come to behold the beauty of His holiness, and by beholding it, we become as lovely as He is.

    Looking to Christ, we too are set apart from the world and the things it delights in.  To God we belong, giving Him our bodies as a living sacrifice, our mouths as His ambassadors, our feet to bring His good news.  Believing God to be the all-satisfying bread of life that He is, He fills us and frees us from being enslaved to everything and everybody.  Being satisfied in God makes us totally "independent of our environment"  since we are no longer needy of people or circumstances to make us happy or whole.  [When I speak of being independent of environment, I do not mean we do not need external things like food or water or the community of faith;  rather, I draw from  R. A. Torrey in his book The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit (2013).  On page 56, when exploring the filling of the Holy Spirit, Torrey says once a person receives the Spirit, He then fills us with a well of water that is forever springing up, "satisfying us from within" regardless of circumstances like " health or sickness, prosperity or adversity."  Thus, we are "independent of our environment," no longer needy of it to make us happy.  In other words, the Spirit of God satisfies to such a degree that we aren't dependent on our circumstance to do so.]  As "people who are free"  we are liberated to love as generously as God does, not repaying evil for evil but turning our cheek, while pursuing moral purity with all that we have.  Clothed in the newness of Christ, we "put to death therefore what is earthly....sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry"  (Col. 3:5).  And put on, as God's chosen ones, "holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another..."  (Col. 3:12-13a).  This heaven-empowered love toward God and our neighbors may set us at odds with the world around us, but even then, as God's peace is, ours is too--settled and safe.  It is the world that Christ has overcome, and through Christ, we will overcome it too.  Of the saints, He says, "The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne"  (Rev. 3:21).  And there, finally, after we have breathed our last, we will see why our dying is gain.  Opening those eyes that were once blind, now seeing, He will finally appear, and do you know what well happen next?  "We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is"  (1 John 3:2, emphasis added).

    Beholding, we become;  holy.  
    


    

    















         

Collective Soul - There's a Way

Collective Soul - There's a Way

There's a way to carry on
To push me out then place me back where I belong
There's a way to make anew
To resurrect the wishes that I wish for you

I'm going on and on
I'm going' for the norm

There's a way 
To say what you say
There's a way 
To say what you say

There's a way to recognize
All the pride that wraps around for my disguise
There's a way to talk me through
To open up the silence that belongs to you

I'm diggin' on and on
I'm diggin' for the norm

There's a way 
To say what you say
There's a way 
To say what you say

Find some words that you can steal or borrow
Don't give it away
Save 'em up cause there's always tomorrow
Come on, come on

I'm going on and on
I'm diggin' for the norm

There's a way 
To say what you say
There's a way 
To say what you say
There's a way 
To say what you say
There's a way 
To say what you say.

Manchester Orchestra - I Can Barely Breathe

Manchester Orchestra - I Can Barely Breathe

When the dark flood came
We wrapped ourselves inside a dirty blanket
Citing different opinions
On whether we should move

When the houses came
They ate up everyone like they were fishes
Saying, "Come on, come on
It's the end of the world"

And then I saw your face
You're turnin' skin into a dirty secret
I watched the beauties, watched the fire
And the fire burn the beauty in their eyes

When I took the blame
We laid in ruins tryin' to quote your phrase
We're yelling, "Someone's got the answers
But I'd rather think there's nothing to be found"

If you knew I was dying would it change you?
If you knew I was dying would it change?
If you knew I was dying would it change you?
If you knew I was dying would it change anything?

So when you see me falling backwards
Down the wall that says, I'm still alive
Don't be cautious when I'm cautiously
Approachin' on the other side

Ya everybody has their reasons
That's the reason we're all gonna die
Because if seein' is believin'
Then believe that we have lost our eyes

'Cause when I fly solo I fly so high
'Cause when I fly solo I fly so high
'Cause when I fly solo I fly so high
'Cause when I fly solo I fly so high
I fly so high, don't touch me now

We all deserve
We all deserve something

The Goo Goo Dolls - Give a Little Bit (Supertramp cover) Live in Buffalo, NY 7-4-2004

The Goo Goo Dolls - Give a Little Bit 

Oh, yeah
Alright
Here we go again
Hey hey, whoa no, da na, hey hey, yeah
Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
Give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my love to you
There's so much that we need to share
So send a smile and show you care
(Alright)
I'll give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my life for you
So give a little bit
Give a little bit of your time to me
See the man with the lonely eyes
Oh, take his hand, you'll be surprised
Oh, take it
Ah, yeah
Come along
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
I'll give a little bit of my life for you
Now's the time that we need to share
So find yourself, we're on our way back home
Oh, going home
Don't you need, don't you need to feel at home
Oh yeah, we gotta sing
Oh yeah, you gotta get a feeling
Oh, yeah, come along too
Whoo!
You can come along too, yeah
Come-a, come-a, come-a, come along
Cha, cha, cha oh, yeah
Oh, yeah, come along too
Yeah, come along too, yeah
Sing Betty Lou
Come along too
What a long ride
Come a long way
Oh, sing it tonight
Oh, yeah

Stuart Mackey - How to Stop Hating Yourself for Them

 Link Here - Stop Hating Who You Had to Become to Survive | Healing, Self-Compassion & Recovery 

I've spent a lot of time looking back at older versions of myself and thinking,
Why did I do that?
Why did I stay? 
Why did I react like that? 
Why didn't I know better?

But that's the strange thing about hindsight we judge who we were with information we only learned because we survived being them.

Of Monsters and Men - The End (acoustic in Paradise Valley)

 Of Monsters and Men - The End

Waking up just before the morning news
someone said the world is ending
something’s kinda falling from the sky
but that’s alright with me, such is gravity
everything around here must come down eventually

Come on darling, come on back to me somehow

Something shiny sticking from the mud
I guess it’s kinda funny how the world revolves around a dying sun
but it’s alright to be stuck in gravity
mamma put the kettle on, made coffee and then said

Come on darling, why’s your mind so far from me now
come on darling, come on back to me somehow

Sorry eyes, don’t be sad
turn around, don’t look down
Sorry eyes, sing it back
where’s your head, you better turn around
Sorry eyes, don’t be sad
it’s alright in the end
Sorry I…

Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine (Live from Outline at Knockdown Center, New York)

Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine  

instrumental 

James Chapter Five

 1    Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2    Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3    Your gold and silver is cankered;  and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh
    as it were fire.  Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

4    Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud,
    crieth:  and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

5    Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton;  ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

6    Ye have condemned and killed the just;  and he doth not resist you.

7    Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.  Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious
    fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8    Be ye also patient;  stablish your hearts:  for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

9    Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned:  behold, the judge standeth before the door.

10    Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering
    affliction, and of patience.

11    Behold, we count them happy which endure.  Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end
    of the Lord;  that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12    But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath:
    but let your yea be yea;  and your nay, nay;  lest ye fall into condemnation.

13    Is any among you afflicted?  let him pray.  Is any merry?  let him sing psalms.

14    Is any sick among you?  let him call for the elders of the church;  and let them pray over him, annointing him
    with oil in the name of the Lord:

15    And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;  and if he have committed sins,
    they shall be forgiven him.

16    Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.  The effectual fervent prayer 
    of a righteous man availeth much.

17    Elias was man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain:  and it rained
    not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

18    And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

19    Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him:

20    Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death,
    and shall hide a multitude of sins.

    James Chapter Five - KJV

Weezer - We Might As Well Be Strangers -- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Weezer - We Might As Well Be Strangers 

(lyrics from transcript)
-♪ Happy birthday, thanks for the Valium ♪ ♪ And thank you for the stack of dirty magazines ♪

♪ We lounged around, debated Nietzsche ♪ ♪ I was too obtuse to get how much I need you ♪

♪ Parasitic fishes, down in the sea, now we're history ♪

♪ We might as well be strangers, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Something came along and changed us, uh-huh ♪

♪ I was Nancy, you were vicious, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Now I'm not sure I even miss us, uh-huh ♪

♪ If I sang you a song ♪ ♪ Would you still sing along? ♪

♪ We might as well be strangers, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Something came along and changed us, uh-huh ♪

-♪ Every night's your birthday, got shows back-to-back ♪ ♪ Excuse to celebrate ♪ ♪ A brighter, lighter, a louder stack ♪

♪ Hand on the burner, cracking the skull ♪ ♪ Is it still hedonism if you're feeling miserable? ♪

♪ Don't want your songs to become the clues ♪ ♪ To why we lost you ♪

-♪ We might as well be strangers, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Something came along and changed us, uh-huh ♪

♪ I was Nancy, you were vicious, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Now I'm not sure I even miss us, uh-huh ♪

♪ If I sang you a song ♪ ♪ Would you still sing along? ♪

♪ We might as well be strangers, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Something came along and changed us, uh-huh ♪
s
[ Guitar solo ]

♪♪

-♪ You tried to phone me up ♪ ♪ I tried to write you once ♪

♪ But there was nothing to say ♪ ♪ So I threw the page away ♪

♪ We might as well be strangers, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Something came along and changed us, uh-huh ♪

-♪ I was Nancy, you were vicious, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Now I'm not sure I even miss us, uh-huh ♪

-♪ If I sang you a song ♪ ♪ Would you still sing along? ♪ ♪ Whoa-oh ♪

♪ We might as well be strangers, uh-huh ♪ ♪ Something came along and changed us, uh-huh ♪

TURNSTILE - MYSTERY

TURNSTILE - MYSTERY 

There's a gun to my head
Are you gonna get it right?
And I believe in holding on to life
But I'm afraid to


And it's been so long
Is all the mystery gone?
And it's been so long
All the mystery
All the mystery


There's a clock in my head
Is it wrong, is it right?
I know you're scared of running out of time
But I'm afraid too


And it's been so long
Is all the mystery gone?
And it's been so long
All the mystery


And it's been so long
Is all the mystery gone?
And it's been so long
All the mystery

The Revivalists - It Was A Sin (Live at Tipitina's)

The Revivalists - It Was A Sin

I believe it was a sin 
Oh to do you in the way I did
I stole the gold and drank the gin 
Then I ran off with your kin
If I can you know I will and if the stars align 
I still get loaded on the things that I can't change
And I'm out here tonight so if you want to start a fight 
We'll get loaded on the things that I can't change

I believe it was a sin do you in the way I did you in
I couldn't stop it coming from afar
I lost the keys to the getaway car
And every now and then I'm in this place
It's hell living when I need your face
Don't hide don't hide don't hide from me

I believe it was a sin 
Oh to do you in the way I did
I took out more than I put in
I got fat while you stayed thin
But I came here tonight if you want to start a fight
We can get loaded on the things that I can't change
Yeah I'm out here all night so if you want to start a fight
We can get loaded on the things that I can't change

I believe it was a sin 
To do you in the way I did you in
I couldn't stop it coming from afar 
And lost the keys to the getaway car
Every now and then I'm in this place 
It's hell living when I need your face
Don't hide don't hide don't hide from me

Don't hide don't hide don't hide don't hide from me
Don't hide don't hide don't hide don't hide from me
Don't hide don't hide don't hide don't hide from me
Don't hide don't hide don't hide from me

I believe it was a sin 
To do you in the way I did you in
I couldn't stop it coming from afar 
And lost the keys to the getaway car
Every now and then I'm in this place
It's hell living when I need your face
Don't hide don't hide don't hide from me
Don't hide don't hide your face
Don't hide
Don't hide 
Don't hide

Yann Tiersen - Palestine (live from Ushant)

Yann Tiersen - Palestine 

 ‘Palestine’ from Dust Lane (2010), performed on the Buchla Music Easel. 

"Peace, love & hope from Ushant island” - Yann Tiersen.

Yann Tiersen - A Midsummer Evening (live on KEXP)

Yann Tiersen - A Midsummer Evening 

I remember it was cold, as a winter morning
From all their edges on the islands, it was there, shining
From the north we saw, all the birds coming
Under a blood red sky, a midsummer evening

(My love)
Across the waters of the midland, everything was burning
(My love)
Together in the sand, we were watching
(My love)
Without a word to say, some of us were crying
(My love)
But as we saw the moon, we were all singing

Love, my love, we will keep our love
Be living here, in the middle of, the middle of the sea

Lord Huron - Ends of the Earth

Lord Huron - Ends of the Earth 

 
Oh, there's a river that winds on forever
I'm gonna see where it leads
Oh, there's a mountain that no man has mounted
I'm gonna stand on the peak

Out there's a land that time don't command
Wanna be the first to arrive
No time for ponderin' why I'm a-wanderin'
Not while we're both still alive

To the ends of the earth would you follow me?
There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see
To the ends of the earth would you follow me?
If you won't I must say my goodbyes to thee

Oh, there's an island where all things are silent
I'm gonna whistle a tune
Oh, there's a desert that size can't be measured
I'm gonna count all the dunes

Out there's a world that calls for me, girl
Headin' out into the unknown
Wayfarin' strangers and all kinds of danger
Please don't say I'm going alone

To the ends of the earth would you follow me?
There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see
To the ends of the earth would you follow me?
If you won't I must say my goodbyes to thee

I was a-ready to die for you, baby
Doesn't mean I'm ready to stay
What good is livin' a life you've been given
If all you do is stand in one place

I'm on a river that winds on forever
Follow 'til I get where I'm goin'
Maybe I'm headin' to die but I'm still gonna try
I guess I'm goin' alone