Eric Church - Like Jesus Does

I have come to believe that by and large the human family all has the same secrets, which are both very telling and very important to tell. They are telling in the sense that they tell what is perhaps the central paradox of our condition—that what we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else.

- Frederick Buechner, Telling Secrets

The intersection of that hunger and that fear is where we find the gift of Grace.  For many, the fear overpowers the hunger, and they never reach out for that saving gift.  The fear wins, because in a very central way you have to simply give up to be receptive to the gift.  It's not something that you do, it's something that you're given.

But she carries me, when my sins make me heavy ...

Yes, there's a Country Music song for that.  Mostly these days only Country Music has a song for that, and today's is a great one.  Eric Church is a newish Country singer/songwriter who worked his ways from dive bars to a record deal on the strength of the songwriting he started when he was 13.  He has an old Nashville sound which is a big on an anachronism in this day of "New Nashville" (Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts) - and is very likely the core of his fan appeal.  He has a bit of the I'm more country than you which some find a little much, but his is an honest working man's Country music, filled with Country themes.

Like Grace.

She forgives me when I can't ...

We're surrounded by Grace, if we'll just open our eyes.  Songs like this tell us some of the places to look.  If we dare.

Faith is stepping out into the unknown with nothing to guide us but a hand just beyond our grasp.

- Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat

Like Jesus Does (Songwriters: Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell)

I'm a long gone Waylon song on vinyl,
I'm a backroad sinner at a tent revival,
She believes in me like she believes her bible,
And loves me like Jesus does.

I'm a lead foot leaning on a suped up Chevy,
I'm a good ol' boy, drinking whiskey and rye on the levee,
But she carries me, when my sins make me heavy,
And she loves me like Jesus does.

All the crazy in my dreams,
Both my broken wings,
Every single piece of everything I am,
Yeah, she knows the man I ain't,
She forgives me when I can't,
That devil man, he don't stand a chance,
Cause she loves me like Jesus does.

Always thought she'd give up on me one day,
Wash her hands of me, leave me staring down some runway,
But, I thank God each night, and twice on Sunday,
That she loves me like Jesus does.

All the crazy in my dreams,
And both my broken wings,
Every single piece of who I am,
Yeah, she knows the man I ain't,
She forgives me when I can't,
And the devil man, no, he don't have a prayer.
Cause she loves me like Jesus does

Yeah, she knows the man I ain't,
She forgives me when I can't,
That devil man, he don't stand a chance,
Cause she loves me like Jesus does.

I'm a long gone Waylon song on vinyl