Worship Leader Probs

If you read my blog with any regularity, today’s entry may surprise you. I am going old school today. I am taking a mask off and letting you inside the world of BT! 🙂

As a person of faith, I love words…..meaningful words. Words with purpose and power. Words combined with music can be an incredibly powerful tool.

As a musician, I am always intrigued by song lyrics. It takes a true artist to write a song that can move the heart and also take the mind to a very special place. Here’s the part that may be surprising. One of the artists that takes me to this special place in my heart and mind is the late Dan Fogelberg. He passed away in December 2007 after a battle with cancer. While he was here he was able to set poetry to music in songs like “Leader Of The Band,” “Same Old Lang Syne,” “Run For The Roses” and the subject of today’s blog, “Longer,” among many others.

I am a romantic at heart. I also believe that the sanctity of marriage is under attack in our culture. So, naturally, anything that moves my heart towards my wife and reminds me to cherish her everyday is very special to me. The song “Longer” does just that. Poetry set to music.

Are some of the lyrics cheesy? You bet. Are some of them sappy? Absolutely. But, read these lyrics – take a moment and think about them – and tell me that you don’t want to run to wherever your spouse is and give them a big, sloppy kiss:

Longer than there’ve been fishes in the ocean
Higher than any bird ever flew
Longer than there’ve been stars up in the heavens
I’ve been in love with you

Stronger than any mountain cathedral
Truer than any tree ever grew
Deeper than any forest primeval
I am in love with you

I’ll bring fires in the winters
You’ll send showers in the springs
We’ll fly through the falls and summers
With love on our wings

Seriously, I know it is a very, very old song but those lyrics will stand the test of time. Then, on the last verse:

Through the years as the fire starts to mellow
Burning lines in the book of our lives
Though the binding cracks
And the pages start to yellow
I’ll be in love with you
I’ll be in love with you

Not exactly the kind of thing you hear on the radio today, huh? Check out that word picture: “Though the binding cracks and the pages start to yellow, I’ll be in love with you.” Amazing. Makes me want to drop everything and go steal away with my wife on a long walk. That is never a bad thing and I hope it encourages you to do the same thing with your spouse.

I’ll leave you with a very old video of Dan singing “Longer.”