SOME SONGS BY
CERTAIN VICTORY:

• All Away
• Bear Each Other
• Brand New Thing
• Certain Victory
• Down That Hole
• An Explanation of Benefits
• I Want You
• If Leprosy Consumes Me
• If You Don't Understand
• Manacles and Dreams
• The Morning Train
• Oh, Well (A Meditation)
• Redeem Me
• See Forevermore
• Somerset
• Stand
• Take Me There
• Ten Thousand Aganist Me
• Three Hills
• Who You Are
• You Make Me Aright

  Back to "Music"

  ---

  
  Visit us at MySpace.com!

  
  Primum Mobile Magazine

  This site features wonderful Evangelism techniques and resources:
  

  All Scripture quotations taken
  from the NASB.

by Paul Lytle

Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

A muggy morning waiting
For the Amtrak train;
For a friend who had known me
When lost and maimed.

He was the one beside me
When I prayed that prayer,
He challenged me to imagine
And returned every year.

He said, "I'll leave by the morning train,"
Then the day began to wane.
Another week he hung around,
'Til the next one came down.
Texas evening are made for carefree walks
And solemn front poach talks.

He listened to my tale
With a grin of gold.
Asked me questions and
Encouraged my soul.

He said I had done well,
Since last year.
It was so long ago,
But felt so near.

He said, "I'll leave by the morning train,"
Then the day began to wane.
Another week he hung around,
'Til the next one came down.
Texas evening are made for carefree walks
And solemn front poach talks.

"Friends are made for steeling,"
He frowned and said.
We prayed at the table
And then broke bread.

He pointed to my troubles,
To warn me away.
Exhorted me to walk
And also to stay.

He said, "I'll leave by the morning train,"
Then the day began to wane.
Another week he hung around,
'Til the next one came down.
Texas evening are made for carefree walks
And solemn front poach talks.

Said he'd, "I'll leave by the morning train,"
But now I'm lost in my refrain.
Doesn't make a difference now,
'Cept every action turns around.
Think I'll take a walk to gather grain,
Just to toss it out again.

*          *          *

Heavenly Father, I thank You for the friends I have. Let me be an inspiration for them, as they are for me. Let us grow with each other and challenge each other to live for You. Amen.

I was reading The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, and I noticed something that made me feel uncomfortable. For those who do not know the work, it is an allegory about a man named Christian who is on a journey to salvation and, ultimately, heaven. He is constantly beset by people who are trying to stop him. These character's have names that define their function, such as Hypocrisy or Obstinate.

There is also a character named Evangelist. He is the one who reveals the path to Christian and tells him what he must do (witnesses to him).

That's great, but that's also where I thought Evangelist's role would stop. It does not. He appears twice more. In his next appearance, he compliments Christian's journey and encourages him to go on. In his next appearance, he warns Christian of dangers that are coming, and instructs him on how to defeat them.

That's where things got uncomfortable. Christians have that first part down pretty well, I think. We are always sending out foreign missions and going into the inner city to witness to people. But if we are always witnessing and bringing people to Christ, then why do we seem so weak in this world?

I think the answer is because we are not performing those other two duties. When we have a foreign mission, we build a church, convert some people, and then leave immediately with no one left behind to help those people grow. Many of our churches, even, are so concentrated on bringing people to Christ that we forget the people who are in Christ and wondering what to do next.

The result is that we have a bunch of people who are still drinking milk rather than moving on to steak. We have Christians everywhere, but they are still without direction. To paraphrase Proverbs, we should be "sharpening" each other. We should be encouraging and warning. We need to be telling each other what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong. The Bard gives us this advice: "The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, / Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel." This is exactly what we need to be doing.

That's what this song is about. The character who comes to visit me is fictional. Basically, I imaged someone who helped lead me to Christ, but does not stop there. He truly fulfills John Bunyan's vision of the Evangelist. He comes visit me every year to work with me. He presses me to grow in Christ. I think that's something we all need.

It was, after all, in this very effort that Christ came to us. Not just to save, but to instruct, to warn, and empower. The Cross has washed away our sins, yes, but it has also given us freedom to not sin again.

-Paul