Did You See Jesus
It was Father’s Day about 20 years ago and I was reflecting on the impact I was having on my kids. As is customary on this significant holiday for church, I was tending to the usual cuts and bruises from that morning’s sermon beat down at a church I was visiting. You’ve heard it before. It’s a Ted Talks motivational speech but with a side of guilt. It was splashing water on the glazed over faces of Dads putting in 70 hour work weeks who just awoke on their day off to find themselves in the middle of a sermon about how to “be more”. It covered all the tenants of fatherhood; how to be a better husband, a child psychologist, a financial wizard, a home improvement handy man, and most of all, a spiritual bulwark - all in all, how to be a better Jesus to your family.
It was overwhelming to me. The irony was that it prompted me to want to just go sit in a boat on the river somewhere and have a beer. My escape vise of choice though is writing songs. And so I did. I wrote it for my kids.
There‘s nothing like asking an honest question to evoke an honest answer. If Jesus is only as real as my success as seen by my kids, would he then shine brightest in their successes as well and perhaps become muted and dull to them in their failures, when they need him most? We tend to be more willing to celebrate God’s glory in the midst of ours. It’s hard to think that God’s providential will for us just might include failure. There’s nothing like humility that brings things in closer to the heart. After all, it is in the heart where He is magnified.
I’m not sure how this works, but with the ones closest to us, the defining moments that seem to have the deepest impact on their lives are not when the lights are red hot on the stage of life, or when our activities seem spiritually articulate, but rather when the stars go dim, dreams are dashed, and conversations come back home with all their grit, doubt, and vulnerability bankrupting us from all other options but to trust God. Its witnessing faith in real time; not freeze dried and shrink wrapped in scripted sound bites for church pageantry. It’s simply children learning from their earthly father how to be a child to their heavenly Father. From other’s perspective, often times Jesus comes into focus when we are blurred.
I
Did You See Jesus
[Vrs 1] I hope you won’t be reading this for a long time to come Hopefully we’ll have more days for memories in the sun But there‘ll come a time when that sunset‘s up ahead And as your father I don’t want to leave words unsaid
[Vrs 2] If my life were put into a Bible story Would my faith inspire you to see All things beautiful God has for you Of everything I taught you what shined through?
Looking back on everything done I only have one question;
[Chorus] Did you see Jesus? In my joy and in my tears When I turned to face my fears Did you see Him? When I stumbled, when I stood again Did you see Jesus?
[Vrs 3]
We had some starry dreams that never came to be I’d try to rope them down a little closer to our feet And in time I’d learn that all those little things Would shine much brighter than anything I’d dreamed
And like a midnight rain Pouring God’s grace When the morning came Did it leave a trace?
[Bridge] All I ever wanted All I ever wanted Was Jesus for you
All I ever wanted All I ever wanted Was Jesus for you Did you see Him in me?
[To Chorus]
(Words & Music by Daniel Applegate, Copyright c 2004 Plan Z Music Publishing (ASCAP)