First I want to thank You Lord for being who You are
For coming to the rescue of a man who’s drifted far
For calling me to be Your son and calling me to serve
Lord the way You’ve blessed my life is more than I deserve.
Keep the ones I love so dearly
Fill their emptiness while I am gone
And fill the loneliness in me.
This is my prayer
Lifted to You
Knowing You care even more than I do
This is my prayer
Lifted in Your name
Your will be done I humbly pray.
Let me be the evidence of what Your grace can do
To a generation struggling to find themselves in You
May they come to know the love of God
May their eyes be made to see
Give me the opportunity to share the truth that sets them free
And may unity in all things
Be the banner of Your church
And let revival’s fire begin to burn.
This is my prayer
Lifted to You
Knowing You care even more than I do
This is my prayer
Lifted in Your name
Your will be done I humbly pray.
As we face the last and final hours
Turn a wayward country back to You
And keep us from the evil that devours
Keep us on the path and lead us through
Keep us in Your light until Your kingdom comes
And our work is done.
This is my prayer
Lifted to You
Knowing You care so much more than I do
This is my prayer
In Jesus’ name
Your will be done I humbly pray
This is my prayer.
None of the previous words are mine, but they are my prayer for the New Year. When the Christian rock band Petra first released those words in 1990, they were honest words for a people and a country that was struggling to find its way. Thirty years later, it is only worse.
It may sound odd to you, but as a publisher of a newspaper. I don’t watch the news anymore. Hardly ever anyway. If an event comes up that leads me to want to watch, just about the only place I will go is ABC 13 in Houston. That is my choice these days because my friend Charlie Haldeman is the director of digital content there, and I trust him.
Last week, I did watch the ongoing events in downtown Nashville, but only until I started getting flashes that the “intentional” explosion was somehow a political ploy. I don’t do conspiracy theories. I don’t care that they exist, or even that some may have validity. I simply don’t care.
What I do care about is people. And, what we really need is for more of us in 2021 to care more about people. We need to care more for our next door neighbor, our fellow small business owner, the clerk at the convenience store that needs her job, the bi-vocational preacher that is trying to lead a flock while still paying his bills, and the vast masses of homeless.
In a country that seems to be so rich, we have too many poor. We have too many struggling just to stay warm or find something to eat. We have too many single parents trying to hold it together on one salary, while the kids need new shoes, new clothes, and a roof over their head. In this country of plenty, this country that so many like to call the greatest country in the world, why are there so many struggling just to get by?
