Acoustic, folk, contemporary Christian, praise and worship
My log cabin in Virginia is a great place for music. My family and friends, my faith, the beauty of the mountains, and the sounds of the different instruments inspire me.
Story behind the song
While trying to read my Bible and have a quiet time, I kept getting the image and saying of an eye drops commercial running through my mind. Haven't even seen one of those commercials in ages so I figured it was a senior short-circuit thing. But then I kept getting nudged that it was a spiritual analogy and I should write it down. .
It might have made sense if it turned out being an uplifting and perfectly biblical song about redemption being like a magic white drop that gets the red out. Boy, did I have another thing coming!!! I had it backwards as usual . . . Calvary's drops are miraculous all right, but they are not clear, nor are they white, they are BLOOD RED. The gospel of Jesus Christ does not need to have any more red taken out, but rather put back in . . .
This is a rough draft of the song idea.
Lyrics
(Verse 1) Today's news is so disturbing,
full of lies and famine and war.
Pride and politics, greed and disease,
nothing new and nothing more.
So we put aside the paper,
maybe change the channel too.
We want to hear something happy & bright,
and take a break from the truth.
Chorus 1: But there's no way to get around it,
It's not always a pretty place.
There are people in darkness, and people in fear.
There's not always a smiling face.
There'll never be a socially acceptable way-
to save the human race.
(Verse 2) The gospel is disturbing too,
full of lies and betrayal and death.
Sometimes we look for a button that will
skip over the guilt and the mess.
Well, we'd rather not talk about Calvary,
Just focus on peace and love.
Let's not dwell on sin or suffering;
No one wants to hear about blood.
Chorus 2: But there's no way to get around it,
It wasn't a pretty place.
Every drop of blood, every single tear,
It wasn't a pretty face.
We don't need some slick commercial
to get the red out of grace.
- - - (Instrumental) - - -
Chorus 2: Well, there's no way to get around it,
It wasn't a pretty place.
Every drop of blood, every single tear,
No it wasn't a pretty face.
There's no one and nothing in this whole wide world
That can get the red out of grace.
Bridge: He really bled and He really died.
It was ugly as sin, on that hillside.
Take a look at His blood-stained face.
Will you take a look at His tear-stained face.
Just take a look at His love-stained face: You can't get the red out of grace.
Red is the color of grace. Yeah, red is the color of grace.