Way back machine this morning as I was listening to some vintage vinyl and one of the Christian bands of my younger days. Unfortunately this is the problem with Christianity in so many ways now. It is encapsulated in this song for the 1981 release by the christian band Petra.
Telling someone isn’t actually doing something. Tell her, tell her, tell her….I don’t know maybe, SHOW her!? Be the hand and love of Jesus that can vanquish the loneliness and desperation. Be Jesus to the needy, telling isn’t going all the way. Did Jesus only preach? No, he went to the house of the reviled tax collector, he sat with the woman at the well, he performed miracles. The present day miracles you can perform are to actually invest a part of yourselves. Not just words.
Maybe if you got involved and invested in another life THAT would make the real difference and make the telling actually bear fruit.
Find the audio for the song here.
FOR ANNIE
Words and Music by Bob Hartman
No one ever noticed Annie weeping
People all around, but she was all alone
Mama’s got her meetings, Daddy’s got his job
and no one’s got the time so Annie’s on her ownNo one ever knew her desperation
People couldn’t hear her cry out silently
Locked inside the bathroom she grabs a jar of pills
The medicine that cures becomes the poison that kills[Chorus]
And it’s too late for Annie, she’s gone away for good
There’s so much we could tell her and now we wish we could
But it’s too late, it’s too late for AnnieSadness fills the hearts of Annie’s family
Daddy tries to comfort Mama uselessly
They hoped she knew they loved her, but they really didn’t know
They just want to know why did their baby go[2nd Chorus]
And it’s too late for Annie, she’s gone away for good
There’s so much we could tell her and now we wish we could
We would tell her Jesus loves her, tell her Jesus cares
Tell her He can free her and her burdens bear
But it’s too late, it’s too late for AnnieIf only we had known her situation,
We’d have tried to stop this useless tragedy
Annie’s lost forever, never to be found
But there are lots of others like her all around[3rd Chorus]
And it’s not too late for Annie, she could be next to you
Don’t miss the chance to tell her before her life is through
We gotta tell her Jesus loves her, tell her Jesus cares
Tell her He can free her and her burdens bear
Tell her Jesus loves her, tell her Jesus cares
Tell her He can free her and her burdens bear
You’ve got to tell her Jesus loves her, tell her Jesus cares
Tell her He can free her and her burdens bear
It’s not too late
It seems it is always “If only we knew” more often than not we can sense when someone is off or desperate. Enough hiding behind “I never Knew”.
The Place to be Real 