March 09, 2007

I Believe It, I Believe It!

Today I was taking a walk at break. I was listening to my son's MP3 player. I was listening to one of my all time favorite songs, "Creed" by Rich Mullins. There is something special about listening to that song while enjoying the beauty of the Lord's creation.

At the risk of sounding maudlin, I want that song to be played at my funeral, because it states what my life is all about better than anthing else I know.

Here are the lyrics...

I believe in God the Father almighty
Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ
His only begotten Son, our Lord
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the virgin Mary
Suffered under Pontius Pilate
He was crucified and dead and buried

CHORUS:
And I believe what I believe
Is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not
The invention of any man

I believe that He who suffered
Was crucified, buried, and dead
He descended into hell and
On the third day, rose again
He ascended into Heaven where
He sits at God's mighty right hand
I believe that He's returning to
Judge the quick and the dead
Of the sons of men

CHORUS

I believe it, I believe it
I believe it
I believe it, I believe it

I believe in God the Father almighty
Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son,
Our Lord
I believe in the Holy Spirit
One Holy Church, the communion of Saints
The forgiveness of sin
I believe in the resurrection
I believe in a life that never ends

CHORUS

I believe it, I believe
I believe it, I believe
I believe it, I believe it

5 comments:

Tom said...

Also one of my favorite songs, Mike! In fact we are currently looking at early creeds in the church and the Ap[ostle's creed is one we are studying!

Sharp said...

Easily one of my favorite songs of all time. Rich was pretty eccentric but God used him mightily at times.

Mike Wilhelm said...

I have read that he took a vow of poverty. I understand that he assigned all of his income to a Christian organization that paid him a small salary and that his main ministry was to a Navajo Indian tribe. To that extent, I guess Jesus Himself was "eccentric". What else do you know that was eccentric?

Sharp said...

From my understanding, he was a bit of an absent-minded professor crossed with a old-time prophet. He didn't bathe or change clothes regularly, for one thing. That would be okay in Jesus' time but nowadays it can be pretty unbearable! He would go for days without sleeping - writing songs, arguing theology and music - then crash for another. He had a raging temper and struggled openly with it until his death. Most of the rest is stuff Catholics wouldn't be fazed by but would alarm many Baptists - drinking, swearing, etc. Maybe that's why he converted!

Mike Wilhelm said...

Very interesting, Johnny. I had heard a little of that. Mitch McVicker tells this story, "Mitch: Right. Well, I actually don’t have a memory of the day of the wreck or the two weeks afterward, so I’m not sure really what happened. But I know that we were driving from Chicago, Illinois, to Wichita, Kansas, and somewhere in Illinois, I think at about 10 o’clock, the Jeep overturned and Rich was killed and I was pretty messed up. The weird thing is I do have one memory from the day of the wreck. Actually we stopped to get gas, on the drive, I think probably about an hour and a half before, I’m told, before the accident, and it’s funny because this was my last memory of Rich. But we stopped to get coffee, and we stopped to get gas, and we got coffee, and it was one of these coffee machines where you push the button, and coffee comes out until the cup is full, and it stops. Well, Rich got his cup of coffee, and he pushed the button and he walked away, and the coffee machine kept running (laughter), there was coffee all over the floor. And I was just laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing, and he walked up to pay for it, and the guy behind the counter, he goes, "Are you Rich Mullins?" (laughs) So he knew who he was, and he goes "Oh well, ummm, you’ve made a mess of my floor." (laughs)

http://www.mitchmcvicker.com/mail/ktof.html