The chorus gets me every time.
Category: 2013
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What Will I Tell Her?
The aircraft shakes violently as debris breaks off into the wind. Rising smoke blurs my vision as my hands tremble to regain control. The aircraft begins to tilt downwards, and I instinctively reach for the lever to open the cockpit. However, the lever locks, and a cold chill runs up my spine.
The cold chill turns into ice, and I feel the moment slow to a freeze. My mind’s canvas unravels, and I see a young couple kneeling before an alter, receiving God’s grace. This picture blossoms into an image of a beautiful woman in a wedding dress walking down a familiar church aisle. Suddenly, tears flood the canvas, and I see a beautiful wife crying as she watches her husband go off to war. As she weeps, a young child beside her looks confused and asks where his father is going.
The canvas turns brittle and suddenly shatters into a million pieces. I hear a voice, a shouting voice, a familiar voice. I glance to the left and see my good friend flying dangerously close to me. I can barely make out his words,
“What will I tell her?!”
As tears begin to run down my bloodied face, the edges of my mouth curve into a sorrowful smile. I look into my friend’s eyes, then straight ahead, and shout,
“Tell her.. tell her I’ll be waiting!”
My friend nods, pulls up as fast as he can, and disappears into the clouds above.
They say that your life flashes before your eyes as death knocks on your front door.
They say that eternity opens before your eyes as death knocks down your front door.
However, in this moment, I prefer to open the front door, smile, and confidently say,“C’mon then, let’s go find that blissful shore.”
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O Come, All Ye Faithful
Hear this play in your mind:
O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.I used to have a wishy washy view of the hymn, “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” I visualized many finely dressed people slowly and solemnly walking to church on a snowy Christmas morning. This is a very common view of the hymn. But after my high school varsity soccer team won the state championship against our arch rival.. I finally understood the hymn.
Replay the hymn in your mind.. but visualize true triumph. Visualize a team sprinting to the middle of a field with tears of joy and shouts of victory. Visualize the bruised and beaten that has finally overcome the opponent. Visualize the heart of each individual as his hope has become a reality.
Because Christ was born to destroy the enemy and make victors of the underdogs,
And that is the true meaning of Christmas.
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The Absence of Light, Recompensed
Once upon a time..
There were many rooms devoid of darkness.
This was not due to a chandelier, light bulb, or candle however,
But because of a young woman with a smile.And as beautiful as her smile was, it was simply the forefront of her brightness.
Her true brightness came directly from her heart.
And if anyone was asked to define her with a single word,
The majority would simply say, “Joyful.”It is a such small word, but she gave it such big meaning.
And if anyone asked her why she is so joyful,
She would simply reply, “Jesus took my burdens all away.”However.. one night, while sitting outside,
She said something that completely took me off guard.“A few years ago, my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer,
And we’re not sure how much time she has left.”Speechless. That’s what I was.
To see a joyful heart in the midst of such a trial takes the firmest of breath away,
Because it is a joy that cannot be fathomed.
It is a joy only worthy of a heart which can sincerely say,“I’m so happy, and here’s the reason why;
Jesus took my burdens all away.”I’ll never forget the young woman that didn’t just light up rooms with her smile,
She lit up hearts..
My heart.
And if per chance, you ever meet her..
Your heart.
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The Day You Overcame the Mist
A chill runs up your spine and your eyes fly open. You take a step forward but gasp when your foot feels nothing and you fall down. In confusion, you quickly stand up and look in all directions. A cold and mysterious mist blurs your vision and encases you. Your breath escapes your lungs, and your sanity escapes your consciousness.
You take half a step forward in question of reality but are reassured by something: you feel an elevated step. Wait.. an elevated step? You rub your eyes and take a fearful step backward because there is nothing in front of you. To reassure your sanity, you kick the mist to clarify to yourself that there is nothing there, but once again, your foot hits an elevated step. While pondering this phenomenon, you lift your foot up onto the elevated step.
The mist floating all around you seems to whisper, “Up you go.” And so without further question, you take another brave step upward. A smile spreads across your face, and you laugh histarically. Your slow steps become an upward dash as the mist urges you farther and farther up. Time escapes your senses, and your sanity seems to be growing instead of diminishing.
Suddenly, your head pierces the top of the mist, and your eyes grow wide as you slowly walk up the final steps.
The stars were always there; they were just pleading to be found.
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The Moments Held By a Very Tall Man’s Words
Once upon a time..
There was a very tall man.
And on one, final, concluding night,
In the midst of an extremely sorrowful and tear-filled crowd,
He shook a young man’s hand and said,“I’m proud of you. You’re a man now.”
But those words held more than meaning..
They held moments.And those moments cannot be fully described,
Nor can they be fully comprehended.
To translate those moments into words would degrade the very moments themselves,
Because words cannot fully reveal a soul touching another soul.
Words cannot fully fathom the depths of a heart being changed.
Words cannot fully grasp the tears of a child breaking down his walls of failure.
Words cannot fully paint the picture of a child bravely lifting his head under adversity.
Words cannot fully understand the story of a child becoming a man.And yet, those moments.. happened.
So thank you;
Thank you for lifting me up to Christ
And for showing me what it means to be a man of God.I might never be as tall as you,
But height was never what truly defined you,
And that is what matters.
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Dear God
Dear God, Your plan’s a masterpiece,
A true work of art.
Each stroke we might not understand,
But it all plays a part.Dear God, Your timing’s perfect,
Even when our timing’s off.
The tick began with your Word,
And the tock though others scoff.Dear God, You’re the only Hero
That would save a world of hate.
The only Hero that would give it all
To accept a wretched fate.But dear God, You’re the only Savior
That would let His shade turn black,
Then accept the final stroke with grace
To bring His children back.
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The Social Revolution – Remember Me
If you so wish, you may watch the full video before reading on.
The videography of this video is excellent, and I have always been a huge fan of Devin Graham.
0:00 – 1:30 is a perfect picture of how awesome God is. His creation cannot be fathomed.However..
Never eat the frosting off of a cake, say the cake tasted amazing, and then throw the rest of the cake away.
Because, the rest of the video is not about God’s creation as much as it is about human socialization:3:07 – 4:47 says,
“Today we see a world on fire with data and information, but there is a revolution at the corner. Nothing less than the total translation of our human emotions. These urge into information: pure communication. I believe we are at the frontier. Ahead lies the internet of you: an internet of pure emotion, and genuine connection, to finally take us beyond a cave painting. This is not science fiction. Doctors can talk to people in comas. You can control a toy with your mind. This is now. A world of shared emotion, where the greatest experiences are magnified. A million. A billion times. Can you imagine love? Now can you imagine a love that is a billion times more powerful? And empathy: true feeling.
A new future. A world that we will create, where the borders of language will be gone. Imagine what we will be able to achieve.
Remember me. Remember where you were. The next generation of social media is coming.
For tomorrow is the future we all share.”
Sounds pretty cool, right?
Wrong.
Genesis 11:1-9 says,
“Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”
This Social Revolution will be opening the doorways leading to a one world government.
And if you have read the book of Revelation.. well, you will fit the pieces together.
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Seth Adam Smith – Marriage Isn’t For You
This is a post that I read off of sethadamsmith.com, and I appreciate it immensely.
Having been married only a year and a half, I’ve recently come to the conclusion that marriage isn’t for me.
Now before you start making assumptions, keep reading.
I met my wife in high school when we were 15 years old. We were friends for ten years until…until we decided no longer wanted to be just friends. 🙂 I strongly recommend that best friends fall in love. Good times will be had by all.
Nevertheless, falling in love with my best friend did not prevent me from having certain fears and anxieties about getting married. The nearer Kim and I approached the decision to marry, the more I was filled with a paralyzing fear. Was I ready? Was I making the right choice? Was Kim the right person to marry? Would she make me happy?
Then, one fateful night, I shared these thoughts and concerns with my dad.
Perhaps each of us have moments in our lives when it feels like time slows down or the air becomes still and everything around us seems to draw in, marking that moment as one we will never forget.
My dad giving his response to my concerns was such a moment for me. With a knowing smile he said, “Seth, you’re being totally selfish. So I’m going to make this really simple: marriage isn’t for you. You don’t marry to make yourself happy, you marry to make someone else happy. More than that, your marriage isn’t for yourself, you’re marrying for a family. Not just for the in-laws and all of that nonsense, but for your future children. Who do you want to help you raise them? Who do you want to influence them? Marriage isn’t for you. It’s not about you. Marriage is about the person you married.”
It was in that very moment that I knew that Kim was the right person to marry. I realized that I wanted to make her happy; to see her smile every day, to make her laugh every day. I wanted to be a part of her family, and my family wanted her to be a part of ours. And thinking back on all the times I had seen her play with my nieces, I knew that she was the one with whom I wanted to build our own family.
My father’s advice was both shocking and revelatory. It went against the grain of today’s “Walmart philosophy”, which is if it doesn’t make you happy, you can take it back and get a new one.
No, a true marriage (and true love) is never about you. It’s about the person you love—their wants, their needs, their hopes, and their dreams. Selfishness demands, “What’s in it for me?”, while Love asks, “What can I give?”
Some time ago, my wife showed me what it means to love selflessly. For many months, my heart had been hardening with a mixture of fear and resentment. Then, after the pressure had built up to where neither of us could stand it, emotions erupted. I was callous. I was selfish.
But instead of matching my selfishness, Kim did something beyond wonderful—she showed an outpouring of love. Laying aside all of the pain and aguish I had caused her, she lovingly took me in her arms and soothed my soul.
Marriage is about family.
I realized that I had forgotten my dad’s advice. While Kim’s side of the marriage had been to love me, my side of the marriage had become all about me. This awful realization brought me to tears, and I promised my wife that I would try to be better.
To all who are reading this article—married, almost married, single, or even the sworn bachelor or bachelorette—I want you to know that marriage isn’t for you. No true relationship of love is for you. Love is about the person you love.
And, paradoxically, the more you truly love that person, the more love you receive. And not just from your significant other, but from their friends and their family and thousands of others you never would have met had your love remained self-centered.
Truly, love and marriage isn’t for you. It’s for others.
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Summer Pictures (2013)
Team East 2013 
Setting Up 
Goodbyes 
Mountains 
Second Performance 
Gettysburg Battle 
“For I Was Thirsty” 
Gettysburg Battlefield 
Tree That Survived Gettysburg 
Top of the Battle of Little Round Top 
Above Devil’s Den 
Fredericksburg Cemetery 
Fredericksburg Cemetery Poem 
Angel of Marye’s Heights 
Yoyoing 
Good Morning Ladies! 
Hershey Park 
Elevator Reflection 
Smithsonian Museum 
Washington Monument 
Lincoln Memorial 
White House 
Congress 
Supreme Court 
Across the Waters 
Holocaust Memorial 
World War II Memorial 
Reece is Cool 
Ocean City, New Jersey. Boardwalk 
Feet 
Wandering 
Liberty Bell 
Freedom 
Benjamin Franklin’s Burial Place 
Sight & Sound 
Creation Museum 
First Time Swimming in the Ocean 
Statue of Liberty 
9/11 Memorial 
Cinderella on Broadway 
M&M Man 
Time Square 
Last Team Meeting 
“Don’t Cry Because It’s Over, Smile Because It Happened” – Doctor Seuss
cjmurray.blog 