Live It! Chris Padgett

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Lyrics

In a world of strangers, who will see me through?
In a time of danger, who will live the truth?
When I'm feeling broken, come and take my hand.
My God enables me to take a stand.
And I'll go, and I'll let them know.

If I'm speaking, just live it!
If I'm sinking, just live it!
If I'm silent, just live it!
I want to follow.
If I'm frightened, just live it!
When I'm broken, just live it!
When enlightened, just live it!
I want to follow you!

In a time of hunger, who will lend a meal?
In a day of anger, who will calm and heal?
In a world pretending, who will stand up tall
and testify of God's love above it all?
And I'll go, I'll let them know.

Go into all the world and live, be like Jesus.

Artist Reflection

As I travel around the country, there are similarities which I take for granted in order to communicate God's love. Most people don't want a heavy, complex, philosophical essay or theological discussion examining the Greek and Hebrew texts. They just want to know if God is present when their kids are sick, the checkbook won't balance, or life just seems daunting. Some people walk through the door having recently heard of a family member passing away, others just had the best day of their lives. Some places there is a holy fire lit within the parish, while others seem to be suffering from spiritual frostbite. How can I encourage people from such diverse individual backgrounds to really put into practice this faith we've heard about for so long? How can they "just live it" if they don't even know what they believe?

I speak about a God that is greater than their suffering, sin, and circumstances. Sometimes I will spend the evening using music to open their hearts to the love of God. Other moments are best used by giving another story of Christ's presence in my life when I too encountered great opposition or struggles. I want people to see that Jesus is interested in exactly where we are and entirely who we are.

The song "Live It" is by far the most aggressive on the Golden album. I wrote this song after 9/11. It speaks of brokenness and anger, and pretending amidst real needs and issues. The message climaxes with the importance of each person placing tangibly into their own life the living message of Christ. We are not called to cower under the pressure, crawling under a rock or placing our heads within the sand, when suffering and chaos are presented to us in graphic ways. We are enabled to "testify of God's love above it all." This is a message of God's presence within our suffering.

Why such suffering? Why this pain? Why this loss? All are important and legitimate questions, but we are given the opportunity to place these inevitable moments upon the cross of Christ, knowing that only there this madness becomes sane. Only in Jesus will we find our rest. This is the testimony of countless saints and sinners alike, who have somehow seen God bigger than their sufferings and sins.

Your life is tough. Circumstances are sinking your last shred of sanity. Suffering is surrounding you and loved ones. What can you do? Take up your cross. Living this faith is not what many of us thought it would be. Our crosses and sufferings come in exactly our sizes, and each of them calls us to do the one thing we don't want to do... take it up, carry it, and die. We are called to live the faith when our world falls apart. We must testify of His love, even if we find ourselves within a dark night. All of our hungers, feelings of being abandoned and unsatisfied, and restlessness are united into Christ�s life, knowing that we will also share in His resurrection.

-- Chris Padgett