Do you remember back before we grew so weary In a world that we could change so full of opportunity Somewhere along the way we lost that vision But now I wonder if you’d dare to dream again with me... To set a spark inside your heart Now spreading through you like a wildfire Tell me right now what would it take for you to burn If today is all we have let's make it count for something Let's send the world a message they'll remember when we're gone There'll be time enough for silence when we're dead and buried So while we've air left in our lungs let's live this life out loud These days the world seems to be so confusing It's hard to know which road to take or what's worth fighting for It's time to stand up for what we believe in Let's take this chance to lay it all on the line one more time... To set a spark inside your heart Now spreading through you like a wildfire Tell me right now what would it take for you to burn If today is all we have let's make it count for something Let's send the world a message they'll remember when we're gone There'll be time enough for silence when we're dead and buried So while we've air left in our lungs let's live this life out loud

Don’t settle for less Than you know you were made to be Don’t limit yourself to this Because it’s all that they can see Dream big It’s not too late to try Aim high Lift your gaze toward the sky You know you are a princess You’re a child of the King Never let them tell you that you’re worthless Or that you have no gift to bring You are who you are Who you were made to be And that, my dear, is royalty Don’t fear for your life Even if all the world’s against you Don’t give up the fight When the battle rages on and on Stand firm Though it seems like your hands are tied Stay strong The truth is on your side You know you are a princess You’re a child of the King Never let them tell you that you’re worthless Or that you have no gift to bring You are who you are Who you were made to be And that, my dear, is royalty One day the struggle will end You will have the victory Every wrong will be made right And all the world will see Princess Now that the day is done Find your rest In the mercy of the Faithful One Whoa! We’re the children of the King Whoa! And the reason that we sing Is we know who we are Who we were made to be And that, my dear, is royalty

The way I look at you has Changed forever The way I think of you has Changed forever My eyes have lost their clarity And everything I see Is changed forever

When I was fourteen years old I met her for the first time and she turned my world upside down You know in the beginning, I didn't care for her much to be honest She was strange unfamiliar and a little frightening But we gave it time and soon enough she got underneath my skin It's funny how that happens It’s funny how I was afraid: afraid to tell my family and my friends about her I mean, I wasn't sure they'd approve They were old fashioned and set in their ways But she was radical, and differential, unlike anything I'd ever experienced Girls like her and boys like me weren’t meant to be together So I kept her to myself and our secret was safe When I was sixteen years old I gave my heart to another And whatever I may have been I was never one for playing games So I told her we were through and figured that would be the end of it It seemed easy enough to let her go Easy, in that she never truly left But stayed, lurking, Prowling around the flimsy door of a relationship that, before too long, gave way to welcome her with open arms It's funny how that happens It’s funny how it wasn’t me I swear, it wasn't me, but the one I loved who encouraged me to let her join us And I can see how that might seem like a pathetic excuse, but it's the oldest one in the book And it's the best I've got So when seasons changed and my lover finally left me She was already there, waiting, patiently, to claim all of me for her own And I was only too willing to let her When I was eighteen years old I found a new love unlike any I had ever known I felt a new feeling words could not describe I met new friends who became like family And I came to realise As though for the first time That she was no good for me So I determined to leave her for good And I’m sure I meant it at the time Oh God, I swear I meant it but I just wasn’t strong enough I wasn't strong enough And she wouldn't. Stay. Gone. It's funny how that happens It’s funny how she made me believe Believe that she was the only one who had my best interests at heart and it was the rest of the world I couldn't trust Convinced me I’d be free if only I’d surrender to her lust So I took her back again and her desire was for me I locked those gilded bars behind us then she threw away the keys And we spiraled down, down, down together into depravity And she carved her name Into my neurons Gently at first, but she did it over and over again And by the time we’d had our thousandth rendezvous I got to the point Where to go a day without her would be to make myself suffer Where I couldn’t fall asleep at night without her Where I knew only one cure for all of life’s ills And she was it And if she couldn’t cure it Well at least she could make it bearable And if everyone else is doing the same thing Well then that must mean it’s normal And I’m not really an addict And I can keep hurting myself again and again and pretending that it’s good for me Well I don’t know about you but that suits me just fine When I was twenty years old the light started breaking through And not long after twenty one I could truly say I knew a peace so deep, so wide a joy that surely must be true Yet even in this newfound grace She still retained her place It's funny how that happens It’s funny how I wrote, Oh, how I wrote I knew that weight had passed yet still she dragged me down, so What of the freedom that I claimed and this new purpose I had found What good were these to call my own With every day a battle ending, eventually, in surrender Well I'm not sure But now I'm twenty four and counting and still she haunts me And I've got brothers and sisters who bear her scars too And we keep on ripping them open before they have the chance to heal But I want to believe that they can still heal We need to believe that they can still heal And if nothing else, to believe in this: You see, I've got a friend who's quite the surgeon He says he knows how to mend people who are broken Knows how to comfort us And stitch up our self inflicted wounds So I entrust myself to his knife Hoping against hope that, by his hand, mortified I may yet walk in newness of life.

I lay on the floor Staring up at the ceiling I don't care what time it is Or where I should be I've been trying to figure out Where I went wrong See I started so well But I got lost along the way... And now I'm paralyzed This fear is gripping me I can barely breathe Someone rescue me I've been anxious before But never like this I’m losing control I need someone to listen Oh God, what have you done With the peace in my heart I made all of these plans Now they’re falling apart And now I'm paralyzed This fear is gripping me I can barely breathe Someone rescue me I can't do this on my own Please don't let me suffer alone I need help… (Give me hope Give me strength Give me courage to face Another day like this Oh God I'm a mess And I just can't see past The mistakes I keep making Again And again So caught up in my fear And my failure and doubting Your grace Is enough To erase what I've done and To call me your son) I need help I'm paralyzed This fear is gripping me I can barely breathe Someone rescue me I can't do this on my own And I'm not ready to come home

Sunday morning dawns With no trace of the love he knew at first His doubts, they took their toll But the wounds from friends, they hurt the worst He's got a wife and child And they look him to lead But if they could see inside Would they see more than empty deeds It takes courage to fake it But who is he fooling Their hearts would break If ever they knew That the hope he claims to know Was buried long ago Sitting alone in a room In a house that feels like hell Her friends don't know her pain But her mind's a prison cell The pills don't work so well And her prayers bring no reply And it's all that she can do Just to sit and wonder why She’s held onto hope for As long as she can At the end of her rope She can’t keep from thinking In life she has no peace Maybe in death she’ll find release As we journey through this life We struggle and we're torn The sorrows of the night Steal the hope of joy in the morn And it seems as though we try Just to fail and fail again Till the words spill like a flood Out from the desperate writer’s pen “God, if you're there What the hell are you doing We're hurting, we're breaking Are you even listening” The only answer that means anything Is “where you are I've been Your burdens I have borne Your bruises I have worn” Oh, we’re all such fragile jars And we’re falling apart at the seams And we break, and we fade And we’re all missing a piece We all lead fragile lives And we all fail every day But we’re made with a purpose And nothing can take that away And I believe, despite all that we see I believe we were destined to be So much more than what we know So far beyond the status quo So hold on to whatever will keep you afloat To whatever will keep you from giving up hope For though you may be far from home I promise you you’re not alone We’re all such fragile jars And we’re falling apart at the seams And we break, and we fade And we’re all missing a piece We all lead fragile lives And we all fail every day But we’re made with a purpose And nothing can take that away

I spent eleven hours traveling down that lonesome highway With no one for company save the open road and the devil on my shoulder Well, by nightfall he was starting to seem a little larger than life And so as if to drown out the lies he kept whispering into my ear I screamed a desperate prayer into the the darkness and kept my eyes locked on the horizon Straining to see the first light appear Well the minutes feel like hours when you've got a serpent riding shotgun And he was a crafty one Flicking that forked tongue between fangs dripping with malice Hissing, spitting venom with a fury I had never seen before And I stood my ground as best I could But for all that I could do He wouldn't run from my resistance and it shook me to the core And every toxic whisper became harder to ignore than the last And by the turn of midnight we were past the point of no return but home was still a long way off And I wasn't sure if I could make it through All I knew is I’d do anything to escape, to be free of this nightmare to be anywhere but here I could feel my passenger wrestling me for control of the wheel and I couldn't tell if my grip was slipping or if I was content just to go with him To put an end to this madness To stray from the path and be destroyed And yet, in doing so, to be remembered for what I could have been Instead of the monster I fear I am I can make it look like an accident Hold on I know it seems dark right now but I swear there's hope just beyond that horizon And any moment now you'll see its faint glimmer start to appear And it might not seem like much, but believe me, it'll make all the difference And it'll keep getting brighter and brighter, I promise you, the closer you get I know you can't see it right now I know you can't see it but just trust me You've got to hold on and stay the course Don't listen to the lies Don't veer to the left or to the right You know who you are You know where you’re going And I know you can make it through Because I'll be right here with you Just hold on Hold on And slowly that promised dawn spread across the sky Painting bright hope across a canvas of despair And in the new day’s light the terrors of that night began to fade into the shadow of a memory I spent eleven hours traveling down that lonesome highway But in the end I made it home So what say you, my accuser There's a line in the sand It says “your words mean nothing here” Oh, what now, my deceiver For all your lies, I still stand And truth has freed me from my fear And one day soon, you will see From within that trampled skull The victory of the oppressed But as for you You will taste our hell

I've been looking for a way to Show you what you mean to me But I'm all out of ideas And I don't know what to do But I have spent a lot of time Wondering what to make of all the things That all seem so irrelevant Since the day that I met you Oh I was stumbling through the darkness Hadn't seen the light in days Till you broke the clouds that trapped me And you took away my fear Now that I know that you are for me There's no shadow of a doubt Can shake the comfort that you give me Every time that you are near And I can't tell you why the roads I've walked all faded into nothing And I can't tell you where the next steps that I take will lead me to And I can't tell you what's the meaning of it is although I'm searching All I know is this is home And I belong with you It’s difficult to make sense Of the state that I am in I just want to make you happy But I stumble and I fall And I have struggled to believe That in my failures you still love me If I don't care enough to stop this Can I pretend to care at all But every time I get to thinking Like I've thrown it all away Like I've given up my last chance And you’ve given up on me You tell me this does not define you So take heart and carry on You're a royal, not a failure This is who you were made to be And I can't tell you why the roads I've walked all faded into nothing And I can't tell you where the next steps that I take will lead me to And I can't tell you what's the meaning of it all although I'm searching All I know is this is home And I belong with you When hope was gone You gave me strength to carry on From lost to found And now I stand on solid ground You gave me a reason To get back up onto my feet, and Now I know that this is home And I belong with you And I can't tell you why the roads I've walked all faded into nothing And I can't tell you where the next steps that I take will lead me to And I can't tell you what's the meaning of it all although I'm searching All I know is this is home And I belong with you

I've heard it said that if you want to build a tower you should first sit down and figure out the cost Well, maybe it's my impulsive nature Or maybe it's this impulsive culture Or maybe it's something common to all of us - Like the fingerprint of our maker was distorted by our collective failure to make the mark So now the soil of our hearts can do little more than allow it's eager trusted seed to perish - But I've never been much good at budgeting And I am brilliant at running into things unprepared So I've inherited a foundation laid down by a skilled master builder And what a privilege that is But I've done my best to shirk that project since the day that it began And even on my best days I’m still not giving all I can And lately I've been sleeping on the job So I think it's safe to say that right about now my workmanship could perhaps best be described as a fire hazard And when I look at what I’ve done with what you’ve given me My God, it should sicken me It should frighten me It should compel me to change But the truth is I’m comfortable with where I’m at And if I don’t have to think about it too much, well, sign me up for that And I’ll keep reaching one hand out to the sun but with the other keep planting seeds of doubt and allowing the weeds that sprout to grow and strangle me God, as you knit me together in my mother’s womb Were you writing today in your book And was that chapter titled “Joel fucks up”? Or was that just assumed knowledge by that point Because for me it is And honestly I don’t know anymore And so like arrogant clay interrogating the potter that shaped it I know I’ve no right to ask why you made me like this But really why did you make me like this? Why the hell would you make anyone like this? I don’t understand! I don’t understand! God I’ve tried and I’ve tried and I still don’t understand! God! If I were you I would have made a better vessel See, I thought you crafted me to bear your image But this spitting image has mingled with the crowd of mockers spitting on Your Image Long enough that I’m not sure if I can still see you there or if that’s my own face looking back at me reflected in the residue of my contempt And I’ve been carrying around death inside my body but there is nothing holy about the bones within this fleshy whitewashed tomb So if by chance a sign of life is seen well, that must really be a miracle because it’s surely not from me and I have done nothing whatsoever to merit it But my God, your ability to work in spite of me well, it sure does comfort me and so I’ve learned to abuse your grace in order to justify my apathy God - If I were you I would have built a better temple Because this house of praise is starting to look more like a robber’s den and the thieves you drove out have started to creep back in again and they’re setting up their tables - They’re setting up their tables in the courtyard where Your worship should have been And the proud edifice displayed to the world serves only to mask depravity untold carried out in the place you called - Holy. For there is not one sacred chamber in its heart that has not been defiled that has not been filled with desire for those things which have no place within its walls There is no unclean thing that has not been offered on its altar whose blood has not been allowed to mingle with your sacrifices and whose meat has not been divided among the priests of whichever idol now usurps your place God, they have set up abominations in your sanctuary and I have worshipped them willingly And I’m afraid that before long all my stones will be thrown down and I will become a ruined heap God - If I were you I would have adopted a better son Because I have dealt shamefully with your daughters - And oh, I’ve tried - I swear I’ve tried to be strong, like Timothy but the spirit of Amnon keeps writhing within me So I remind myself to treat my sister with purity all the while imagining all the twisted things she could do to me And if my father won’t take his just vengeance then send me a brother to put me out of my misery Because I have the audacity to look down on the misdeeds of another (that only grace and circumstance prevent me from sharing in) And then to shut my eyes so tightly to my own sin that I stumble blindly into it again and again promising each time will be the last, and turning away Only to come full circle by the end of the day But it’s easier to cope if then You’re the one blamed not the bastard too fearful to enter life maimed God - If I were you I would have made a better vessel I would have built a better temple I would have adopted a better son But you chose me and you must have had a reason So crush the rejoicing from my bones press them until repentance flows anew from wounds once dry and clotted Break my heart and shatter my spirit and reconstruct the pieces into something that pleases you Mould this clay into an honourable work Purge these weathered walls of any evil that still lurks God, discipline the one you love that I might make your mercies known

Make me a captive, Lord And I will be free Force me to render my sword And conqueror I'll be I sink in life’s alarms When by myself I stand Imprison me in your arms And strong shall be my hand My heart is weak and poor Until its master find Its pattern is unsure This unruly heart of mine It cannot freely move Till you have wrought its chain Enslave it with your matchless love And deathless it shall reign For you, oh Lord, are mine And I am, Lord, yours And as I fall before you My royalty restored Deceived by fallen thrones This world for me a snare But of everlasting kingdom You call me heir My will is not my own Till Thou hast made it Thine If it would reach the monarch’s throne It must its crown resign It only stands unbent Amid the clashing strife When on its Lord it has lent And found in Thee its life