Vince Deagler

hi all, i’d like to invite you to join me in a bit of a journey.  along the way i hope we’ll learn something.  you might also get a sense of the stuff that runs through my mind…not sure if that’s a good thing.  anyway, i have recently been listening to ben harper quite a bit..i may have a hint of ocd in me.  he has a song called Amen, Omen i have put the lyrics below.

“Amen Omen”

What started as a whisper,
Slowly turned in to a scream.
Searching for an answer
Where the question is unseen.
I don’t know where you came from
And I don’t know where you’ve gone.
Old friends become old strangers
Between the darkness and the dawn

Amen omen,will I see your face again?
Amen omen,can I find the place within
To live my life without you?

I still hear you saying
“All of life is chance,
And is sweetest,is sweetest when at a glance”
But I live,
I live a hundred lifetimes in a day.
But I die a little
In every breath that I take.

Amen omen,will I see your face again?
Amen omen,can I find the place within
To live my life without you?

I listen to a whisper,
Slowly drift away.
Silence is a loudest,
Parting word you never say.
I put I put your world
Into my veins
Now a voiceless sympathy
Is all that remains.

Amen omen,will I see your face again?
Amen omen,can I find the place within
To live my life without you?

Amen omen,can i find the strength within

what do you think he is singing about?  i’d actually love to know what you think.  i’m thinking he is singing of the pain we experience when something happens and we lose a loved one.  not necessarily death, but because we have had an awful lot of death around prescott this year, my mind has gravitated in that direction.  this strikes me as a pained song, a pain i can feel.  and it revolves around a few really great questions.  will i see your face again?  can i find the place within to live my life without you?  its a song with more questions then answers which is why i think it is so pained.

here is why i bring it up.  we have had a lot of death in our church family this year.  with each death, we find ourselves with another hole in our heart the exact size and shape of the loved one we have lost.  we grapple with these exact questions.  paul wrote to the thessalonians that we do not sorrow as those who have no hope (1 thes. 4:13).  but that doesn’t mean we don’t think of these same questions…will i see your face again?  my faith says YES!  can i find the place within to live my life without you?  again, my faith says YES!  my faith says death is a transition from this broken world to the next.  my faith says when someone has submitted their life to christ’s rule this next life is the kind of life god intended us to experience all along.  the kind of life we could have had in the garden had it not been for our rebellion into sin.  the kind of life where things like brokenness, pain, and tears are no more.  a life where everything is as it should be…perfect.  my faith says the next time i am with my loved ones, it will be forever.  this doesn’t mean the idea of living our lives apart from our loved ones is easy…i had someone point that out recently in a discussion…but we can find that place within to keep living.  not because we understand every detail, not because it makes sense, but because we know the one writing the story (god), we know he loves us, we trust him, and we know there is a better day coming.  this separation is only temporary.  i listen to this song…great song by the way…i think of my grandparents, my nephew aaron, my father-in-law, my dad, countless congregants i’ve buried and i realize…yes, i will see your face again.  and yes, i have in christ found a place within to live on…to keep going…to put one foot in front of the other and take that next step, do the next right thing.  because i know their story hasn’t ended, nor has mine, nor has yours.  so, may i invite you to bring your pain, your questions, your loneliness to the god who can give you the hope you need to keep going.  i have, and it works.  if i can help you, drop me a line.  thanks for reading, blessings.  vince