He Understands - Quote

“It’s like, it doesn’t honor God to pretend like everything is OK. That’s the beauty of Jesus that so many people miss. The beauty is that he died on the cross for our sins, but also that he existed the way we exist. He understands what it’s like to lose a friend. He’s not unfamiliar with those emotions. He’s not unfamiliar with the difficulty of human life. To me that’s what makes Jesus as God beautiful. He totally understands. He went out of his way to prove to us that he understands our situation. So when he has something to say, it’s not coming from this high and lofty standpoint. It’s coming from this person who understands intricately the perils of human existence.”

- John Mark McMillan

Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss

One of my favorite songs is "How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan. This song, for me, perfectly describes the immense and overwhelming love of God. So intense at times it feels like we are a tree in a hurricane.

One line in the song says "Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss". I love the imagery of this line but some find it to be uncomfortable.

Here is what John Mark says about the line:

"The idea behind the lyric is that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth converge in a way that is both beautiful and awkwardly messy. Think about the birth of a child, or even the death of Jesus himself. These miracles are both incredibly beautiful and incredibly sloppy ("gory" may be more realistic, but “Heaven meets earth like a gory mess” didn’t seem to have the same ring)."

David Crowder changed the lyrics to "heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss" only after talking to John Mark about it directly.

You can read John Mark's thoughts about David Crowder's version of the lyrics on his blog: http://johnmarkmcmillan.blogspot.com

John Mark wrote the song following the death of a friend. The whole story is in his video below.


How He Loves : A Song Story from John Mark McMillan on Vimeo.

Full Lyrics for "How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan

Verse 1:
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

Pre-Chorus:
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Chorus:
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

Verse 2:
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way...

Verse 3:
Well, I thought about You the day Steven died,
And You met me between my breaking.
I know that I still love You, God, despite the agony.
... They want to tell me You're cruel,
But if Stephen could sing, he'd say it's not true, cause...

Darkness cannot drive out darkness - Quote

“‎Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

"Where Do We Go From Here?" as published in Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community? (1967), p. 62; many statements in this book, or slight variants of them, were also part of his address Where Do We Go From Here?" which has a section below. A common variant appearing at least as early as 1968 has "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence..." An early version of the speech as published in A Martin Luther King Treasury (1964), p. 173, has : "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate..." Source: wikiquote.org

We Got it Backwards - Quote

Just consider that you’ve gotten it backwards. No church model will produce God’s life in you. It works the other way around. Our life in God, shared together, expresses itself as the church. It is the overflow of his life in us. You can tinker with church principles forever and still miss out on what it means to live deeply in Father’s love and know how to share it with others.

- John, from Jake Colsen’s So You Don’t Want to Go To Church Anymore