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“One More Song for You” by The Imperials

02 Mar

“One More Song for You” by The Imperials

As long as there is time
And one breath left in me
There will always be one more song for You
And as long as there is room
For one more voice in praise
And a need for a word of love and truth
To help my brother through
There’ll be one more song for You

You were there
With Your songs of laughter
Words of hope for my fears
But what are songs
When no one else will sing them
What are words when no one hears
There were times life became a question
And when I asked, no one knew
‘Til I found the answer in You

So as long as there is time
And one breath left in me
There will always be one more song for You
And as long as there is room
For one more voice in praise
And a need for a word of love and truth
To help my brother through
There’ll be one more song for You

Written by Michael and Stormie Omaritan

Dear God, I was listening to a YouTube video this morning about the new movie about Elvis called EPiC (Elvis Presley in Concert). They were talking about the gospel music influence on Elvis’s music, and they listed a bunch of gospel quartets. One of the groups they mentioned was The Imperials. Now, The Imperials that would have influenced Elvis would have been a much older more traditional sound than the Imperials from the 70s and 80, but for whatever reason, this was the song that came to mind when I thought of the Imperials.

As I thought about this song and sang it in my head, I was thinking about this series on prayer and how worship is one of the key aspects of prayer. It’s interesting that I tend to do my acclaiming of your awesomeness and majesty through song more than through actual prayer. But either way, there are times when my prayer is just pure worship. Actually, what we could probably use are more Christians songs of Christian lament before you. Songs of disorientation, like I talked about a couple of days ago. I can flip through the hymnal or listen to Christian radio and not really hear, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We aren’t really supposed to say that in church without claiming the victory on the other side.

Father, as long as there is time and one breath left in me, there will always be one more song, one more acclamation, and one more prayer of worship for you. As long as there is room for one more voice of praise, I’ll lend my voice to it. You are my God. I put my trust and hope in you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 2, 2026 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Amazing Enough?

30 Jun

“With no one else around, his choice would always be gospel, losing and finding himself in the old spirituals. He was happiest when he was singing his way back to spiritual safety. But he didn’t stay long enough. Self-loathing was waiting back up at the house, where Elvis was seen shooting at his TV screens, the Bible open beside him at St. Paul’s great ode to love, Corinthians 13. Elvis clearly didn’t believe God’s grace was amazing enough.”

Bono, Rolling Stone Magazine, 2004

Dear God, a man wrote a good editorial about Elvis in the Dallas Morning News, and he used the quote above from Bono in a piece that Bono wrote for Rolling Stone Magazine in 2004. It’s that last sentence that gets me: “Elvis clearly didn’t believe that God’s grace was amazing enough.”

One of the things that convinces me that you are real is our deep longing for you in times of trouble. C.S. Lewis addressed it in The Problem of Pain. Humans, throughout history, have sought you out. You are there. You are watching. You care. You love. You forgive. The words “amazing grace” are a sweet, sweet sound that saved a wretch like me. All of my faults, sins, vices, arrogance, selfishness, self-righteousness, etc. are allotted for in your amazing grace. I was once lost, but I’m so grateful you found me. But I had an advantage in being found. You first found my father, and then my father showed me where you were.

I love how Bono paints a picture of Elvis being drawn back to “spiritual safety.” You are a bedrock when all else is shifting sand. Our temptation is to get off of our foundation and start expanding our dwellings beyond you. I do it as much as Elvis did–he just had more opportunity than I do. But when I’ve built something outside of the foundation you’ve laid for me, the crumbling will one day come. I’ve learned this time and time again. What nonbelievers don’t understand is that there is so much peace in seeking you and building only on the foundation that you laid. They see it as limiting, but it is our path to becoming as close to you as possible.

Father, I heard a song based on the prayer of St. Francis this morning that I want to close with. “It is in giving that I receive. It is in pardoning that I am pardoned. And it is in dying that I am born to eternal life. Make me an instrument of your peace. I want to know what it’s like to follow you. When people look at me I want them to see the light of the world inside.” (“A Simple Prayer”) And I’ll add, help me to fully understand just how amazing your grace is.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 30, 2018 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories, Uncategorized

 

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