City on Our Knees , livre ebook

CITY ON OUR KNEES
City on Our Kness Copyright 2010 by Bethany House Publishers
Art direction by Paul Higdon. Design by Lookout Design, Inc.
Manuscript prepared by Todd Hafer and Rick Killian.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
E-book edition created 2011
Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONALVERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations identified CEV are from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright American Bible Society 1995. Used by permission. Scripture quotations identified ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture marked GWT is taken from God s Word . 1995 by God s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Scripture quotations identified MSG are from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture quotations identified NCV are from The Holy Bible, New Century Version. Copyright 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas 75039. Used by permission. Scripture quotations indentified NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations identified NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-4412-1351-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
City is about a MOMENT
A moment that we all come TOGETHER
And our DIFFERENCES FALL by the wayside
And LOVE fills in the cracks
And we turn our attention on what UNITES us.
That s what I envisioned when I wrote this song.
CITY IS ABOUT A MOMENT, AND THAT MOMENT COULD BE NOW.
CONTENTS
City on Our Knees : Divided We Stand
The City of God: A City on Its Knees
S ECTION O NE
IF WE GOTTA START SOMETIME, WHY NOT NOW? Step Across the Line
TobyMac Blog: Does Crossing the Line Mean Crossing the Globe?
The Bittersweet Story of Alexandra
Mysterious Ways
One Sunday Afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama
Keeping a Promise
Loose Change That Loosens Chains
Love From the Blind Side
Allyson Felix: A Runner Takes a Stand
A Pastor Undone
The Way of the Celt
Becoming a Living Martyr
S ECTION T WO
TWO WORLDS COLLIDE : Out of the Comfort Zone . . . and Into the Light
TobyMac Blog: The Beautiful Collide
Of Poverty and Politics
What Love Looks Like
Through New Eyes
Chasing Little Miracles
From Comfort to Compassion: One Teen s Story
Facing the Storms
Joined by Prayer
Searching for Nadia
Awakening
Give Me Souls, O God, or I Die!
S ECTION T HREE
WE ARE ONE CHOICE FROM TOGETHER : We Are Family
TobyMac Blog: A Family of Humanity
The Disarming Power of Peace
Charles Spurgeon s Five Hundred Children
Prayer and Lightning
Prayers That Changed the Fate of Nations
A One-Way Ticket
From Small Beginnings
The Clapham Conspiracy
An Appointment With God
A Miracle on Fulton Street
The White Rose
S ECTION F OUR
THROUGH THE FOG THERE IS HOPE IN THE DISTANCE : Hope Is Just a Prayer Away
TobyMac Blog: Jaded or Joyful?
Into the Jaws of Hell
When the End Is the Beginning
New Hope Academy: A City on Our Knees Goes to School
Prayer and Faith Alone
Jean Driscoll: The Chairwoman of Defying the Odds
A Word of Hope
If I Can Do Nothing Else, I Will Pray
Hope Rises From the Rubble in Haiti
CITY ON OUR KNEES : DIVIDED WE STAND
It s all love tonight When we step across the line We can sail across the sea To a city with one King A city on our knees
WHEN YOU LOOK AROUND THE WORLD TODAY, the division is overwhelming. We are divided along so many lines. Rich/poor, black/white, liberal/conservative, male/female-the list could go on and on. Sadly, within the church you will see the same thing. Baptism, spiritual gifts, and style of worship are just a few of the things we are divided over.
There are elements of society that seek to separate, divide, and demean people, and these forces are at work continually. You can see these forces during a divorce, through cyberbullying, or even in the national health care debate. The bottom line is we are divided. We live in such a self-focused society, continually encouraged to stand up for ourselves and look out for number one, when actually we need to think of others, see their perspective, and look out for those who may not be able to look out for themselves. Sometimes instead of trying to be understood, we need to try to understand.
That s one reason that, throughout my career, God has continued to put certain songs on my heart. Songs like One World, Diverse City, Colored People, and Walls express my hope of seeing humanity putting aside differences and loving well-of seeing people realize that we are better together. We can accomplish so much more in life when we spend our time and energy working with one another, striving for a common good.
One of my secrets to staying sharpened spiritually is walking with inspiring people. People who are in hotter pursuit of holiness than I am. It s built-in accountability or peer pressure turned upside down. They make me want to love God and others more passionately.
I have been very fortunate to see great things happening where I live, in Franklin, Tennessee. God has been doing something very special here. One example is the church I attend, Strong Tower Bible Church ( www.strongtowerbiblechurch.com ). It is a multiracial church pastored by my close friend Chris Williamson, who has written the book One But Not the Same . The congregation is truly a Diverse City, and each week Pastor Chris leads us onward as we learn to walk together in oneness while celebrating our differences.
Then there is New Hope Academy ( www.nhafranklin.org ), another community in Franklin that you will hear more about later on. It brings together the poor and the affluent, realizing that both will remain impoverished and underprivileged unless they come together and tear down the walls that constrain us.
In Franklin we also have one of the answers to the national health crisis. Dr. Tim Henschel from Vanderbilt Children s Hospital felt called to provide pediatric care to children who could not afford it, so he worked with the community to open Mercy Children s Clinic ( www.mercytn.org ). Today it is a thriving clinic that has seen over 9,500 children.
Other examples include The Red Road ( www.theredroad.org ), a much needed ministry to Native Americans, and Hard Bargain Mount Hope Redevelopment ( www.hardbargain.org ), which builds, repairs, and restores homes for those who otherwise could not afford it.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. In this day and age when it always seems like somebody is against somebody else, people can lay their differences down, come together, and search for the answers.
The answers don t always come easily, but one thing I do know is this: If we hope to find Truth, we will find it when we come together and fall on our knees.
This brings me to City on Our Knees. Of the dozens and dozens of songs I ve written over the years, this one is uniquely special to me. It says all I have wanted to say in a song in a passionate, artistic way. It sums up what my career, my life, have been about: People rising above their differences and coming together in God s love. People letting down their guard and stepping across the lines that separate us. We become one people, worshiping one God. It s a vision of a dream moment for me. I ve been asked Why should we come together? In response I always describe a life of diversity in one word- rich . Life is fuller when we are together. When I have embraced people who grew up differently than I did, who don t look like me, or who don t have the same financial resources I have, my life has been enriched. You ll see this truth time and time again in the pages of this book.
It s no accident that one of the sections in this book is We Are Family. One line in City on Our Knees says, We are one choice from together / We re family. I m a husband and a father, and that word, family , means a lot to me. I have my own little Diverse City. My Jamaican-born wife, Amanda, and I have five Jamerican children running around the house. Members of a family sometimes have their differences, but in a strong family, people are secure in each other s love, even in the middle of conflict. That s what holds everything together. That is the foundation. And that is the image of unity and love I wanted to portray in City on Our Knees.
Given how personal City on Our Knees is to me, you might be surprised that it came to me while I was writing a song for another band. During a writing session in my studio with two friends I write with often, Cary Barlowe and Jamie Moore, I felt something special starting to take shape, but I told myself, No, this isn t a TobyMac song. I kept fighting what was happening.
But sometimes a song is bigger than you are. So I took a break from writing for the other band, made some coffee, gr