Compass
COMPASS
Caught in that moment forever with you forever
Between might have been and what will be
Don’t know where I stand
Lost myself to see
In the end it’s you I found
And now I’m wondering
Where this plane will land
CHORUS:
My crazy life has shattered
But in the broken glass
I found a compass
Pointing me straight to you
-So many hear the music
But don’t dare to dance the dance
I hear you calling my name
And I gotta take this chance
-Now I’m wondering
How long this flight will last
Could have walked on forever and,
To catch another train
Could have left my heart to rest
But I had no choice but to ask your name
CHORUS:
My crazy life has shattered
But in the broken glass
I found a compass
Pointing me straight to you
-I’m seeing faces
But they don’t have a place
I’m hearing voices
Besides you, no one has a name
I’m taking chances
That I don’t get to choose
Because inside me there is a compass
Pointing me straight to you
-My body is aching
Begging me to stop
No, my heart is louder
And he won’t let me halt
Until the arrow is sleeping
Cause its led me to you
CHORUS:
My crazy life has shattered
But in the broken glass
I found a compass
Pointing me straight to you
Compass is a song about purpose, purpose that isn’t the popular or universal purpose of paying the bills, securing a retirement, making a name for yourself, finding a successful man or a beautiful wife, or just getting through tomorrow. This is a purpose peculiar to you, the purpose you were born for whether that purpose is place you were meant to change forever, or a field of thought or study or industry you were meant to revolutionize, or even a person whose heart and mind you would redirect for all of their days to come. Your purpose cannot be bought, it cannot be sold, it can very rarely even be inherited.
Purpose can be found in the silence when we are searching for it, but also in the chaos of tragedy when we are not searching but something bold inside ourselves rises up all on its own and surprises us as much as it does everyone else. So often purpose does not arise until the need arises, or the moment arrives that something heroic and unique which has been on reserve must also arise for the sake of others. Why? Because purpose is never for ourselves alone, purpose doesn’t rise up because “we” need it, because we need the fame or fortune it may provide as a side effect of doing what you were made for, it rises up when the time has come to serve others with our God Given act and form of service.
Kings serve by leading the People in the Creator’s Laws, Priests serve by separating the clean from the unclean and going to the Creator on behalf of the People, Prophets serve by going to the People on behalf of the Creator, Teachers serve the mind, Pastors serve the Heart, Evangelists serve the Soul, Apostles serve the vision, and Judges serve the helpless the victims and the falsely accused, and fathers serve by protection and mothers serve by nurturing, but all of the Kingdom Serve in one Sacred Service or another to the Children of the King.
No one has ever been set free to so they can use their freedom to serve only themselves.
“He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Exodus 3:12
Compass was as you can imagine, first written about a girl, the same girl from “Bluer Skies” in fact. That meeting was the first time in my life that I had felt the calling to a person to really love them (even if I failed miserably at it), instead of just to end my loneliness or to fit in because everyone else had a girlfriend. This was the first time I had ever known a person as a Calling, in the way that husbands are called to their wives to and wives are called to their husband’s to serve each other, as pastor’s are “called” to their congregations as if they are truly “in love” with the people and just want to be with them and love them and take care of them, as parent’s are “called” to their children the Creator decided would be born to them and assigned the parents to serve by raising them. As time passed and I grew and matured (somewhat) I began to sense this call in other areas, the Calling to serve the broken, the oppressed, the misunderstood, then the calling to serve the Christian and later Messianic Community and to serve Marriages and eventually the Calling to serve my daughters and someone else I believe will be part of my future if it is the Will of the Creator and she finds that same call in her heart.
How I serve is mostly through writing, as we all have that one “weapon of choice” for our battles and the battles of others that works effectively on the battlefield (time and geography) we were born into. Had I been born in the Middle Ages to a poor family, the chance of me being able to read would be slim to none, and the ability of the written word to reach into the hearts of people was very limited, but I was born in 1980 despite my wish to have seen a more honorable time. Since I was born on the verge of Generation X, I have access to a computer, and internet, and the printed word (Danke Herr Gutenberg) and these words can possibly reach millions who may dismiss them, or more importantly, 10 who take them to heart. The sobering truth about all of this is that I am responsible and held to account for not only every word that I write, but also every single word that I fail to write. We are all responsible for our words, but for those who compass points them to the printing press, we are doubly accountable. How many innocent people fall during the moments when we set down our swords, like the Israelite fathers and husbands and sons when the arms of Moses grew tired in the battle?
I first felt the call to write in a small dose when I wrote a paper on the Reformation for my Advanced English Class in High School for which I received possibly the first ever kind commentary on an assignment in school for a writing project (thank you Mrs. Wilhite). This was the first moment when I saw the blank page as an opportunity to bring something epic and life changing to life that had been buried in the sands of time and under the weight of our superficial fixations the culture keeps shoveling into our minds every day “the cares of life” as Yeshua called them. We lose so much to “the cares of life” but the nature of reading requires we stop shoveling for a moment to focus on the written page, so what better means of bringing the truth out of the shadows than reaching the inquiry mind of the reader while he is a captive audience, held by chains of curiosity? That paper in High School was a revelation that teaching can be often best accomplished not through speaking but through writing, a pen in the human hand is equal in beauty and power and inspiration to the melody and harmony of the human voice.
The paper was an ember, then a book came into my life that altered the course of my future dreams, like a lost sailor who suddenly discovers a map in the Captain’s Cabin. The book was “Wild at Heart’ by John Eldredge. The book sent into my life to help me focus my lens on a purpose and a mission awaiting me on the distant shores of life after the military, and though I wandered to various ports such as classroom teaching and songwriting, the written page would always be my home. The book itself was about the purpose of men, to protect and to provide yes, but more than paying the bills at a job you despite to ensure the well-being of a family that often doesn’t appreciate you, the purpose of men to do battle, to go to war against everything that is robbing their families of the life they were intended for. Some war against pornography, some against drugs, some against poverty, some against fatherlessness, some against injustice, but we were all born for a battle. This idea lit a long dead part of me on fire and it has been burning on ever since.
The truths that change lives always resonate from the deep well of Scripture, the living Words, the original Truth, not just black and white letters on the pages of a family Bible, but the Living Words that echo in our hearts that we find in the pages of all other literature and film and song, the ones that don’t let us sleep at night, these are the Living Words retold in other form. The words of Solomon’s Ecclesiastes will bring with them a long philosophical insomnia I assure you.
I understand that your weapon of warfare maybe isn’t the pen, your command center for a missile strike isn’t the keyboard, but you have your voice and your YouTube Channel, you have your beautiful smile and your audience and your random strangers on the street, you have your financial resources, you have your athletic talent and with that influence, and you have your courage and leadership. Whatever you have is both yours to enjoy and yours to answer for, use it well.
Caught in that moment forever with you forever
Between might have been and what will be
Don’t know where I stand
Lost myself to see
In the end it’s you I found
And now I’m wondering
Where this plane will land
CHORUS:
My crazy life has shattered
But in the broken glass
I found a compass
Pointing me straight to you
-So many hear the music
But don’t dare to dance the dance
I hear you calling my name
And I gotta take this chance
-Now I’m wondering
How long this flight will last
Could have walked on forever and,
To catch another train
Could have left my heart to rest
But I had no choice but to ask your name
CHORUS:
My crazy life has shattered
But in the broken glass
I found a compass
Pointing me straight to you
-I’m seeing faces
But they don’t have a place
I’m hearing voices
Besides you, no one has a name
I’m taking chances
That I don’t get to choose
Because inside me there is a compass
Pointing me straight to you
-My body is aching
Begging me to stop
No, my heart is louder
And he won’t let me halt
Until the arrow is sleeping
Cause its led me to you
CHORUS:
My crazy life has shattered
But in the broken glass
I found a compass
Pointing me straight to you
Compass is a song about purpose, purpose that isn’t the popular or universal purpose of paying the bills, securing a retirement, making a name for yourself, finding a successful man or a beautiful wife, or just getting through tomorrow. This is a purpose peculiar to you, the purpose you were born for whether that purpose is place you were meant to change forever, or a field of thought or study or industry you were meant to revolutionize, or even a person whose heart and mind you would redirect for all of their days to come. Your purpose cannot be bought, it cannot be sold, it can very rarely even be inherited.
Purpose can be found in the silence when we are searching for it, but also in the chaos of tragedy when we are not searching but something bold inside ourselves rises up all on its own and surprises us as much as it does everyone else. So often purpose does not arise until the need arises, or the moment arrives that something heroic and unique which has been on reserve must also arise for the sake of others. Why? Because purpose is never for ourselves alone, purpose doesn’t rise up because “we” need it, because we need the fame or fortune it may provide as a side effect of doing what you were made for, it rises up when the time has come to serve others with our God Given act and form of service.
Kings serve by leading the People in the Creator’s Laws, Priests serve by separating the clean from the unclean and going to the Creator on behalf of the People, Prophets serve by going to the People on behalf of the Creator, Teachers serve the mind, Pastors serve the Heart, Evangelists serve the Soul, Apostles serve the vision, and Judges serve the helpless the victims and the falsely accused, and fathers serve by protection and mothers serve by nurturing, but all of the Kingdom Serve in one Sacred Service or another to the Children of the King.
No one has ever been set free to so they can use their freedom to serve only themselves.
“He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Exodus 3:12
Compass was as you can imagine, first written about a girl, the same girl from “Bluer Skies” in fact. That meeting was the first time in my life that I had felt the calling to a person to really love them (even if I failed miserably at it), instead of just to end my loneliness or to fit in because everyone else had a girlfriend. This was the first time I had ever known a person as a Calling, in the way that husbands are called to their wives to and wives are called to their husband’s to serve each other, as pastor’s are “called” to their congregations as if they are truly “in love” with the people and just want to be with them and love them and take care of them, as parent’s are “called” to their children the Creator decided would be born to them and assigned the parents to serve by raising them. As time passed and I grew and matured (somewhat) I began to sense this call in other areas, the Calling to serve the broken, the oppressed, the misunderstood, then the calling to serve the Christian and later Messianic Community and to serve Marriages and eventually the Calling to serve my daughters and someone else I believe will be part of my future if it is the Will of the Creator and she finds that same call in her heart.
How I serve is mostly through writing, as we all have that one “weapon of choice” for our battles and the battles of others that works effectively on the battlefield (time and geography) we were born into. Had I been born in the Middle Ages to a poor family, the chance of me being able to read would be slim to none, and the ability of the written word to reach into the hearts of people was very limited, but I was born in 1980 despite my wish to have seen a more honorable time. Since I was born on the verge of Generation X, I have access to a computer, and internet, and the printed word (Danke Herr Gutenberg) and these words can possibly reach millions who may dismiss them, or more importantly, 10 who take them to heart. The sobering truth about all of this is that I am responsible and held to account for not only every word that I write, but also every single word that I fail to write. We are all responsible for our words, but for those who compass points them to the printing press, we are doubly accountable. How many innocent people fall during the moments when we set down our swords, like the Israelite fathers and husbands and sons when the arms of Moses grew tired in the battle?
I first felt the call to write in a small dose when I wrote a paper on the Reformation for my Advanced English Class in High School for which I received possibly the first ever kind commentary on an assignment in school for a writing project (thank you Mrs. Wilhite). This was the first moment when I saw the blank page as an opportunity to bring something epic and life changing to life that had been buried in the sands of time and under the weight of our superficial fixations the culture keeps shoveling into our minds every day “the cares of life” as Yeshua called them. We lose so much to “the cares of life” but the nature of reading requires we stop shoveling for a moment to focus on the written page, so what better means of bringing the truth out of the shadows than reaching the inquiry mind of the reader while he is a captive audience, held by chains of curiosity? That paper in High School was a revelation that teaching can be often best accomplished not through speaking but through writing, a pen in the human hand is equal in beauty and power and inspiration to the melody and harmony of the human voice.
The paper was an ember, then a book came into my life that altered the course of my future dreams, like a lost sailor who suddenly discovers a map in the Captain’s Cabin. The book was “Wild at Heart’ by John Eldredge. The book sent into my life to help me focus my lens on a purpose and a mission awaiting me on the distant shores of life after the military, and though I wandered to various ports such as classroom teaching and songwriting, the written page would always be my home. The book itself was about the purpose of men, to protect and to provide yes, but more than paying the bills at a job you despite to ensure the well-being of a family that often doesn’t appreciate you, the purpose of men to do battle, to go to war against everything that is robbing their families of the life they were intended for. Some war against pornography, some against drugs, some against poverty, some against fatherlessness, some against injustice, but we were all born for a battle. This idea lit a long dead part of me on fire and it has been burning on ever since.
The truths that change lives always resonate from the deep well of Scripture, the living Words, the original Truth, not just black and white letters on the pages of a family Bible, but the Living Words that echo in our hearts that we find in the pages of all other literature and film and song, the ones that don’t let us sleep at night, these are the Living Words retold in other form. The words of Solomon’s Ecclesiastes will bring with them a long philosophical insomnia I assure you.
I understand that your weapon of warfare maybe isn’t the pen, your command center for a missile strike isn’t the keyboard, but you have your voice and your YouTube Channel, you have your beautiful smile and your audience and your random strangers on the street, you have your financial resources, you have your athletic talent and with that influence, and you have your courage and leadership. Whatever you have is both yours to enjoy and yours to answer for, use it well.
God of Direction
We need your Direction, your Instruction,
As it is said in the Ancient Tongue
Your Spirit (Ruach) and Your Torah (Book of Truth)
We have worn a path to the Tree of Knowledge
We have lost The Way to the Tree of Life
We need a still small Voice in the Day
We need a loud Cry in the Night
We need a Compass because our Spiritual Senses are all Dulled
We need a Map for this Brave New World
We need a Lamp for our Feet before we Fall
“Your ears will hear a word behind you saying: “This is the way, walk in it. When you turn to the right,
or when you turn to the left.”
Isaiah 30:21
Resource: Dan Allender Website (Help For My Life)https://theallendercenter.org/
Comments
Post a Comment