Through victory and tragedy
We can find the very best
With selfish hearts and greedy ways
We must contend with all that’s left

Our hearts search the arid places
Finding sorrow and despair
Often stumbling through the forest trees
We must contend with the tiger and bear

Yet one day we surely discover
Something worth living for
A purpose that drives and consumes us
Pushing towards something more
With passion and pride we pursue it
But pain and heartache subdue us
Until we’re not living anymore

Then our hearts align with justice
Our eyes opened to the widow and slave
We rush to bring the promise of hope
But push aside the pitied and depraved

On that day we surely discover
Something worth fighting for
A purpose that drives and consumes us
Transforms us into something more
With courage and care we undo it
But pain and heartache subdue us
Until we’re not fighting anymore

And our hearts soon fill with sorrow
For there’s no fight left to give
And our souls so burdened and weary
For there’s no life left to live

But then one day we come to learn
That we were worth dying for
It fills us with power and purpose
And over time our hearts are transformed
With passion and peace he pursued us
With glory and power subdued us
And now we’re not dying anymore

At a time long before—a decision was made
That we were worth loving for
Born in our hearts an eternity’s thought
On a tree to settle the score
With love and hope he saved us
With mercy and grace he raised us
And we are loved forevermore…

I was there in the garden early that day
To bring you and your companions to court
When the one you called “friend” had kissed your cheek
I wondered what I was really there for

I was there when they brought you before the governor
When they said you claimed to be a king
But I saw in your eyes there was something more
A strange but wonderful thing

Luke 22:47-23:34

I watched him in the garden
Greet his friend there with a kiss
Silent as he was led away
Though the soldiers had much to say
Against him

I watched him in the courtyard
Afraid they’d take him too
With fear he denied he was a friend
On his courage he could not depend
Anymore

I watched them in the temple courts
As they accused and lied and screamed
They cursed him for all the right he’d done
I watched them as they beat him
And put thorns upon his head
“Crucify Him! He says he’s his father’s son!”

I watched them as they led him
Up the long and winding road
They weeped for him along the way
Though they knew not what he’d done that day
Deserving this

I watched them as they stretched him out
Across a tree there on the ground
They took his clothes and bound him
Extending all his limbs
In pain

It was clear now that this was an innocent man
And I shouted for them to stop
But my blood ran cold when he drove the nail
Through his wrist from bottom to top
I grabbed the soldier by the arm
And wrestled the hammer free
I cursed him for condemning an innocent man
But when the soldier turned I saw…

That it was me

Luke 8:4-15

It gets tossed along the busy streets
Where every kind of bird and insect feed
Trampled underfoot and turned to dust
The hungry find their fill
Yet they remain unsatisfied

It often lands upon the gravel road
A place that’s rough where the rain hardly falls
There’s no place for the roots to grow
The child finds the sugar
It’s sweet but does not endure

Sometimes it’s forced to grow among the shadows
Of the prickly-pear or the thorns of a pretty rose
Cut off by the others growing there
It starves for attention
And silently passes away

But once in awhile it falls in a lovely place
Where life-giving water flows
And the radiance of a loving sun glows

It grows into a mighty tree
That scatters a hundred or thousand seeds
To be blown by the wind to places unknown…