I want to be honest with you. I think that we are missing out in our lives. I'm not completely sure how we got here. Well... I have an idea. But, that's just another conversation to have. What matters to me right now is whether we are really missing out on the very best thing: Cause that's what I think heaven is: the very best thing to think about and dream about and live for.... I know you might disagree. Down here, on this planet, you might feel just fine. and just right... It's just that I know many people, like me, who don't feel just fine and just right. Things are just out of sorts down here on earth. Please, don't get me wrong. I love a good peach, a child, a sunset, a mountain climb, a good cup of coffee... But it's just that, I think there's more. And I'm not alone in this, though right now, it's just me: singing to you, playing for you, talking to you. I don't know how to talk to you about heaven, At least not very well. But if I'm being honest I think it's the most important thing to talk about. And if I'm right about heaven as a real place and not just an idea As a forever place just made for us with all of the interesting things this earth has to offer and none of the bad stuff, the broken stuff, the disappearing stuff, the empty stuff... And if at heaven's very heartbeat our super-creative, super-generous Maker waits for us, to love us, and the people that he has prepared heaven, beautiful forever heaven, for, then, I think it might be worth talking about and maybe even... living for. So... we may have to talk about the bad the hard the painful stuff, before we get to the good. I hope you don't mind... because here we go...

A dollar bet he pulled out his gun Another teen on the run The game they play it is shoot-to-kill Life ain't more than a dollar bill CHORUS: In hell's backyard I got it in for you I wear a bullet scar and I live the blues We don't go too far with the hangman's card The way things are here in hell's backyard In hell's backyard I can't get free Got my fallen stars and my misery I don't dare to dream. I don't ever sleep I stay up all night. In the dog-howl deep You know the streets sell fear you can cut with a knife There's a contract out on everybody's life... CHORUS In the street-light-block there's a death-wish dance Snow and snake-eye roll with a roulette chance I hear spinnin' tires till the dead man falls When the ball drops down and the curtain calls... CHORUS

Man cried he is a fly in the ointment You can hear the teeth breakin' off the gears Grindin' down to the bone... he is barely there Like an ant in the amber and no place to go And no way to get there well you gotta know There's a hollow man on the moebius strip and he can't come down CHORUS He can't come down. He can't come down. He goes round and round and round And he can't come down. It feels like walkin' on eggs through the day to day She gets out of the car as her feet touch down Woman overboard, and the waves hit town Like a matchbox in the wake of a whirlin' sea Overwhelmed on the borders of eternity There's a hollow girl out on the moebius strip and she can't come down... CHORUS We feel as empty as a pocket at the end of the day Like romance and friends, here and gone We spin out like hot tires and then pass on Like a four wheel drive up to its handles in the sand The pain of the unfulfilled, the disease of every man We're the hollow ones on the moebius strip and we can't come down... CHORUS

The devil nailed his hands X3. He crucified the man The soldier pierced his side X3. His mother Mary cried His blood was on the ground X3. They took his body down Devil had his way X3. Dancin' on his grave Three days in the tomb X3. The cold stone was his room God rolled the stone away X3. What more can I say? Freedom from the grave X3. Jesus came to save This one thing I know X3. He died to save my soul He died to set us free X3. And He rose in victory What am I to do X3. And tell me what are you? Put your trust in him X3. And the devil cannot win Devil gets his dues X3. Now he sings the blues

On the table, the glasses are empty No wait, there's no table Just empty glasses No wait, there're no glasses Just empty hands No wait, there're no hands Just empty hearts Waiting... to... be... filled And I am thirsty And you are thirsty And we are thirsty Waiting... to... be filled The land is dust The bones are dust The dreams are dust Waiting... to... be filled All that is thirsty All that is empty You who are thirsty You who are empty Your dreams, your bones, your land your glasses, your hearts, your hands Let it pour... over you Let it pour... over you Over you Waiting to be filled Over you Waiting to be filled Let it pour Living water flows Let it pour Living water flows Living water flows Living water flows

Here... At our fingertips words Like no one We just stare We just stare The crowd is everywhere Standing there Bread of Heaven X3 He has stepped right in His meal from nowhere feeds us all Mystery Mystery Bread of Heaven X7 Right here in the air Words like no one ever said We just stare We just stare Bread of HeavenX8 He has stepped right in As anyone can see Mystery Mystery As anyone can see

What makes this heart to move To beat with love What takes this stone to breathe With life and praise to shout Like birds to sing, like trees their leaves… applaud Like birds to sing, like trees their leaves… applaud What life what sound The baby's cry To swallow air and then return The water and the blood Where names are whispered… revering Where names are whispered… revering CHORUS: We drink unending praise The shining cup, the endless days We drink unending praise The shining cup, the endless days What lights the light this night To valley shine A way to guide us home What moon… what star, what place to comfort find To rest this weary traveler To rest this weary traveler… CHORUS What message bring What angels sing When sweet delivery make The endless news to friendless share As good a sound… as ever was As good a sound… as ever was… CHORUS You and I and He Who gives us new identity And in a word His story tells The end of all our tears where love never fails Forever life, the Holy Grail Forever life, the Holy Grail… CHORUS

We all have hurt We all feel pain We all want to dream again Intention or accident Damage or dark intent We yearn for something heaven sent CHORUS Heaven is what we lost Heaven is our better dream Heaven is the albatross Flying over everything It shines when all is dim It's never given up It gives and gives again The brightest day the shining cup We live on streets or home We stay shut-in or roam. Return to sleep when day is done We make, we prove, we do Then done and sadly moves the setting sun... CHORUS We find or then we lose We give and take or choose To learn from our own mistake I see a place for us Where life is more than dust And I have come to trust... the sweetest thing... CHORUS I see a place for us Where life is more than dust And I have come to trust... the sweetest thing

The places I have been they were never my home And my home? My home? My home is a place I've never been Cause this? This? Is not my home. Is not my home. And I'm just passin' through to... My one true home Is where You are True home is where You are. Where I wanna be. Where we... lie right down. Where we... rest our tired feet Where we eat what's just that good, like our best memory that smells just right. We stay up all night... and day and talk and play where we stay With the ones we love With the One we love who loved us first. My one true home Is where You are

In your dream, I found myself beyond the ocean You had your angel elevate my body and I was Higher than the atmosphere And the elements seemed so inconsequential Looking down from way up there And everything so tragically small Their tiny hands hold thin air Their little feet on thin ice Blue tears silent falling… Silent falling Down there Silent falling Down here In your dream, you took me out of here You had your angel tell me stories Things I would not know Until he told me Wind was touching everything And dead things started dancing Flesh on bones and soul in flesh And we were not afraid Glad tears silent falling… Silent falling Down there Silent falling Down here In your dream, I dream of waking up I find the world is changed And little things are beautiful Tenderness is everywhere In everyone a grand relief The sun is laughing beautiful And no one is afraid The Angel's tears are silent falling… Silent falling Down there Silent falling Down here

New day... God will bring New day... for everything New day... and saints will sing... for joy Yeah, all around! Joy. Heaven's sound New day... God will bring New day... everything New day... saints will sing... for joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy JOY... can't contain it JOY... can't restrain it JOY... can't explain it... JOY! New day... God will bring New day... new thing New day... saints will sing... for joy Bees can't wait Trees can't wait Seas can't wait The breeze can't wait Sky above and the earth below The desert land and the fallen snow The birds that fly and the things that crawl The plant that dies, the leaves that fall The city life and the underground The refugee, the lost and found The climate change, the atmosphere The everything that we hold dear Earth can't wait. Its birth can't wait Church can't wait. The search can't wait You can't wait I can't wait... I can't wait... I can't wait... For heaven New day... God will bring New day... with a whole new everything New day... saints will sing... for joy, for joy... (Heaven's sound is all around)

He who sits upon the throne, at the very center of all that is, is listening. He listens to the very heart of things. His angels serve him, even reflect his holy intent, but they are not, and could never be him. And he has this amazing capacity to let us all know, all of us, how much he appreciates what we do for him. This immediate and holy affirmation only spurs us on to more. No earthly melody has ever been so rich. I know we would speak of music and art as touching the heavenly but I am so sorry, this is what the greatest of our artisans only could allude to. Metaphors are good. It's what we had. But this! This is the referent. And it is everyone, and it is alive! Authors wrote of their books as having a life of their own. Musicians had told the same. The colors of Van Gogh… brilliant. The fugues of Bach… exquisite. The words of Donne… heart-pounding. I thought I knew life, then, but here… we live. And what we sing, or say, what we create… continues to grow and engender our living intent. For one reason, He who listens and affirms, breathes on us and what we do. Golems and Frankenstein monsters are tragic. Pygmalions and gholas are curiosities. Yet they are just symbols and images. They are imaginary. But like the red clay of Adam and Eve, the Maker's breath gives our holy inventions life. Sitting at the center, He who listens to the heart of things now stands. And all that is, grows silent. Silence pervades. Peace is not an idea. It is palpable and present and beautiful. Peace waits. Settling deep down upon us all, peace like a quiet river waits. Then, as if every dawn that ever was took their cue from this, He opens his mouth and ever so gradual, sings a song of ageless mercy. Each note like wind, rain, and flower slowly rise and fall and surround us all. Chill to wake, warm to comfort, and note to sound to word tells the story of the dreams of God. If rocks could weep, to this tale, they would drench the earth and break the hearts of angels. Tender love, to make the world, and worlds past knowing, care that created arms to embrace, and memory to echo the moments of embracing. He who is love, never knew to not love to the very essence, and yet to face the unloving and still to love. O dear heart! To swim in the ocean of love that knows no limitation and yet to swim alone! Pity not him who, full in love, lives beyond the need. No! We all say "No!" We all sing "No!" We shout we whisper we reverberate, God is God, and He is not in need. "Look" we marvel. He weeps for the unloving! And we, all, join the great mourning: the memory, the prophecy, the moment. And now we hear the still, small, Spirit whispering "love is more." And like a tidal wave we are bowed down to prostrate, hearing the blessed reverberation "love is more."