Great Song

Last night my husband and I went to the Edwin McCain concert at Wolf Trap in VA. My mom, knowing I'm a huge fan of his, had gotten us the tickets for Christmas. I've long loved his music, and it was awesome to see him in concert--and hear many of my favorite songs. Edwin McCain is one of those musicians with so many great songs he can't play all of them in one concert.

There were, though, a couple songs that I either hadn't heard or maybe just hadn't paid enough attention to. One that both my husband Chris and I really like is called "White Crosses," written about the experience of people crossing the border from Mexico. It's pretty powerful.

I wanted to post the lyrics in case you might be touched by it as well. If you want to listen to the song, you can try Googling it, and it's also available on iTunes.

Well I packed all of my things into this blanket
To call this year to earn coyotes fill
Kiss my wife and kids goodbye choke back the quiver in my breath
And took my first steps into this corridor of death

If I'm lucky I will make it to a drain
With 500 of my brothers, I would share the strain
Of standing in this boxcar praying for rain
It's the only the way we will quench our thirst

[Chorus:]
In these gardens of white crosses
Growing in the California sand
In these gardens of white crosses
We are the children of poverty trying to a make a stand

If we make it past the border, we will scatter
Vanish just like smoke in autumn wind
I will run until my color will not matter
Hopin' I can find some work or possibly a friend

There are others who have made it here
They will show me how to find a job and a place to lay my head
And I cannot be concerned with dreams of my children
For there are 5 others in line for my bed

[Chorus:]
In these gardens of white crosses
Growing in the California sand
In these gardens of white crosses
We are the children of poverty trying to a make a stand

I will gladly pick your peaches or clean your hotel rooms
I will do the jobs American won't do
With cell phones to their heads and $700 dollar shoes
I will risk my life 'cause it's all I have to lose

Let the devil in the mountains promise me a ride
Found an 18 wheeler and put all of us inside
And just outside of victory, 19 of us died
None of our bodies hit the floor

And so my wife she still wonders when I'm coming home
The riches that I promised her for leaving her alone
I said I would send her all that I could save
But I ended up in California in an unknown grave

[Chorus:]
In these gardens of white crosses growing in the California sand
In these gardens of white crosses we are the children of poverty trying to a make a stand
[repeat]

New Year, New View

It's a pretty standard understanding (well, it seems to me) that ministers are often preaching to themselves. The things they have to say come as much from their own experience and where they are at any moment as they do from the experience of the congregation. Probably more so, in fact.

So I've been thinking a lot this week about last Sunday's sermon when I saw in the story of Simeon and Anna an example for us as we enter the new year--watching not for what we're doing (or have done or will do) but what God is doing.

As I look ahead at this year, I think it will be a big one for me both personally and professionally. My first full year as a wife, Chris and I both with new opportunities and challenges in our work, etc. And I have to admit that already this year (yes, in two and a half days!) I've had moments where it's stuck me just how major all these things are. And I doubt my ability to make it all work out. Which is, I think, precisely as it should be.

This year, like every year, isn't really about what I'll be up to, but what God will do in and through me. So my only resolution this year, I think, will be to work on really orienting my focus, view and expectations to what God is and will do...and I know I won't be disappointed!

Of course, like everyone else, I want to eat less, exercise more, and make sure to cherish each moments...but I think I'm going to need God's help and lead there as well!