Hallelujah! Let us orchestrate in song and lift up our Prayers,
To the One who loves; the Most High; Messiah; Savior.
Mold us Lord, we are but miry clay,
Hold us in your Hands as we thirst and pray.

You, O Lord, are the Prince of Peace, the precious Potter,
There is no sweeter taste, not the purest of water.
You made us in Your image, beautiful and of worth,
With hearts as one, we will praise the name of Jesus till the ends of the earth.

Lord, You make my heart beat, You give me breath to breathe,
Because of You I am free to live,
Free to laugh, free to love, free to be.
Hold me, beautiful God, I need You.

I marvel at Your majesty Lord:
Your meekness, your mighty power,
You’re my light in the darkest hour.

My heart melts when I hear Your name Lord:
God, Savior, Healer,
Resurrected, Righteous, Redeemer.

I live because You love Lord:
Your grace, your glory,
You’re my breath of life, I adore thee.

In you I find rest O Lord:
You are Holy, You are King,
You’re my God, my everything.

Time- it never stops. It’s beautiful but fragile. The very seconds that become minutes that become the days, months, and years of our lives are but a breath. More precious than diamonds and more valuable than money, time is irrefutably the greatest element to making the most of our lives.

To desecrate time is to throw the keys to life into the deepest, darkest ocean, and never dive in to search for and rescue them. But to cherish the very seconds we live in is to cherish life, the greatest gift given to man by the God of the universe, the architect of the earth we marvel at.

Time, however, often slips away from our own fingertips. Like the hands on a clock, our lives are non-stop; relentlessly they are running in circular motion. The overwhelming stress that builds up in our lives consumes our very minds and souls, causing us to worry and fear what tomorrow will bring. As a result, we spend today thinking about tomorrow, and tomorrow about yesterday and yesterday about the day before.

Great friendships, relationships, and memories are like the photographs we take—they develop over time. From the negatives to the positives, every second we endure is one to esteem, for the clocks of time can suddenly stop in the midst of the most mysterious minute of our lives.

As seconds turn to centuries, we cannot lose sight of our purpose in life—to glorify God and bring praise to His name. The world wraps us up with heartache and stress but our beautiful God, glorious and full of grace, He wraps us up in His infinite Love. He wants us to spend time with Him learning about His love.

The moments we spend in reverence with God, the prayers, the praises, those are the precious seconds. The moments in which we are at such peace in our hearts, the stillness, the silence, those are the precious seconds. The moments in life, the laughter, the love, those are the precious seconds.

…Time is precious

At first glance, I couldn’t read the sign. “You Are Loved.” That’s what the cardboard sign read that a man held up on the side of the road as I drove away from home today. With all the political hype circulating the American media, I quickly made an assumption that it said Vote For _______. But then I read it, “You Are Loved,” and my heart began to smile.

The truth in those words, I believed, was greater than any proposal ever put forth by a Presidential nominee. To drive by nearly a thousand election signs within the last few months that read one name or the other and then to see a sign that read not a name, but rather a message, a message of hope, was rather uplifting and out-of-the-ordinary. Isn’t hope what the American public is pleading for? Isn’t that what the world is crying out for?

Love, everyone needs it. To know we are loved puts smiles to our faces; it mends broken hearts that have been previously or are presently torn apart. Love- it’s everywhere as is our God.

When I read those words on the cardboard sign, “You Are Loved,” neither one of the Presidential nominees or political parties came to mind. The only name that could have been on that sign was Jesus. His name fits perfectly—at the top, “You Are Loved,” and below the name Jesus. He is Hope and Love. He gives us life because He loves us—He sacrificed His life on the cross in place of us, to forgive us our sin. We are hopeful because of Him. He is Peace. He is Rest. He is Hope.

You Are Loved. You Are Loved…Say it once, say it twice. In fact, you could say it a million times and it would never change. We are loved by a God so great, a God so big, a God so powerful and majestic, and a God so beautiful and almighty. Unconditionally, God loves you.

Politics are necessary to having our present-day society move forward, but it’s only in the truth and love of Jesus that gives us hope, hope for tomorrow.

You Are Loved.

My heart is heavy, my eyes they burn,
This cold and callous world makes my stomach turn.
Cities in struggle, citizens in need,
Evil holds the hands to corporate greed.
Famine strikes the village, thirst overtakes this town,
Lacking strength they fall, with feet ever frail, face down.
Hungry and hopeless they persistently pray,
To breathe in life for one more day.
Disease is a consuming conflict in their soul
“Please, please” they cry, “heal us whole”.
They wake each morning in battle against the grain
With heavy hearts and bodies in pain,
Little they have, strength they seek, but their faith remains.
Together they watch the sparkle of the setting sun,
Lifting surrendered hands as they pray to the One.
They lift their eyes to exalt the Sovereign God
“Oh Savior, Oh glorious One, Your beauty Dwells”
You heal our hearts, You make us well.
Our bodies are weak, our minds distressed
But it’s in You, O Lord, we find our rest.

The stars, the skies, the ocean so blue
All created by a God so true.

A God who loves, a God who saves,
A God who provides, a God of grace.

His beauty shines from heaven above,
Amazing is He
His unbounded love.

The sun, the moon, the mountains so tall,
Perfectly placed by a God above all.
O Glorious God, You Reign, You Reign

He catches my fall, He softens my heart
Molds me back together when life falls apart.

He welcomes the weak, embraces the poor,
He is my remedy, He is the cure.

He heals the blind, He carries the lame
He died on the cross, to cleanse all my stains.

You are my creator, my God.
In you I find rest.

Stories- we cannot live without them. With them, we share and illustrate the beautiful and bitter sides to life. It’s our human way of painting personal experiences. Day in and day out we hear them, tell them, forget them, and then create new ones.

You hear some filled with color and imagery, and others that are simply blank and boring. Every story is unique in its own way. Perhaps it’s through the way one tells their story that draws us in. Whether it’s told through a weak whisper or in great gusto, it’s a story to be heard.

There are reality stories. Fictional stories. Short stories. Long stories. Love stories. Strange stories. Humorous stories. Daunting stories. Uplifting and inspiring stories. Dark and depressing stories. Emotional-tear-jerker-stories…the list goes on.

They inspire souls. Like magnets, they attach to the human heart. Often, profound ideas spark within us through hearing captivating stories, generating a greater thirst and zeal to become a better man, a better woman, a better son or daughter, a better friend, a better student, and most prominently, a better child of God.

The greatest story told throughout history is a love story. It’s truth—it’s reality—it’s authentic. It’s the story of Jesus, God’s son. In a world full of sin and rebellion, confusion and chaos, uncertainty and crumbling nations, a Savior from above was sent by a loving and almighty God—to save, love, and give new life to the hopeless, the hungry, the thirsty, the beggar, the rich and the poor, the widow, the sick, the greedy, the ruthless, the powerless…everyone. God’s son, Jesus, perfect, blameless, and righteous died on the cross for the sin of man in order to save them, to promise new life.

The Love story between God and His one and only son, Jesus, is above all, the greatest story.

It’s the reason we know love. It’s the reason we show love. It defines love.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but eternal life.” John 3:16