Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black tile
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
Are those people going somewhere?
Why have I never cared?
Chorus:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the once forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide whats underneath
Theres a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
To ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work
He's buying time
Are those people going somewhere?
Why have I never cared?
Chorus
I've been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all alone
Brandon Heath
SL is not "inner city" like some places, but it's got some very rough neighborhoods. And the children within them are so precious--the lives they lead are so sad... heartbreaking really.
Brothers and sisters from different parents all over the place, drug using family members, parents in jail, run down houses (that look bad on the outside, and if they look bad on the outside, what must the inside look like?).
Their honesty and forerightness in telling stories from home of fighting with siblings... not the sort of a fighting I grew up being engaged in... maybe tumbling a little onto the floor, not so for many of them more like knock-down, drag-out and then:
"he peed in my shoes"
"well, why didn't you were a differen't pair of shoes"
"because I don't have any other shoes, we share, today it was my day to wear these". (6 and 8 were the ages for those two boys)
---
"she smacked my face against the wall because she thought I stole her CDs" (8 and 12 are the ages for the second set).
Very little parental input, very little support for schoolwork... no direction...
So this is FBC's mission field and some of the members of the church have been there so long they've forgotten that their little world isn't all there is... that pain and suffering surround us and sometimes we just need to take off the blinders....
So do me a favor and reread that chorus:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the once forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
May this be your prayer, may this be your burden.... They are dying, do you care? If you said yes in your head, then what are you doing to prove it?
2 comments:
That's some heavy burden. It is also the burden of Christ. I do some, but I could do more. I'd say thank you for pricking my conscience, but... instead I'll try to figure out where this will take me (and probably thank you on the other side!) Excellent post.
It's a hard prayer--to ask that we see the way God does, but if we were where we ought to be, completely empty of our own selfish pride... that desire to serve only our needs, if we allowed ourselves to truly be crucified with Christ so that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me... what a different face the church would present.
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