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You are holy, God
You're something else
Set apart from this old world
You are holy, God
Above it all
Unstained by this old world
You are holy
You are holy
In this life, the good times come and the good times go
But you have never changed, O Lord
In this life, we'll know both joy and sorrow
But you will never change, O Lord
You will never change, O Lord
You are faithful, God
Despite ourselves
You are steadfast with your love
You are faithful, God
Even when we fail
You cover us with your love
You are faithful
You are faithful
In this life, the good times come and the good times go
But you have never changed, O Lord
In this life, we'll know both joy and sorrow
But you will never change, O Lord
You will never change, O Lord
You are holy, above it all
You are faithful through it all
You are holy, above it all
You are faithful through it all, oh
In this life, the good times come and the good times go
But you have never changed, O Lord
In this life, we'll know both joy and sorrow
But you will never change, O Lord
You will never change, O Lord
You will never change, O Lord
Written June 19, 2023 in Liberty, MO
“In This Life” was the first song I wrote in Liberty, MO, just a few days short of two months on staff at Liberty United Methodist. It is something of a bittersweet praise song by the nature of both its subject matter and the season I was writing it in.
Starting work at Liberty United Methodist in late April 2023 was a relief; it represented a season of great difficulty coming to an end and a new season beginning. It also represented the end of certain challenges and the beginning of new ones, like all seasons do.
Nearly three years previous, I had moved down to the New Orleans, LA area for a job that, long story short, I quit (somehow both suddenly and not suddenly at all) after serving a long and difficult year on staff. When I quit, I had no backup plan, nothing lined up. I found work as a delivery man for a boutique gift basket company and spent just shy of two years working that job while searching for work as a worship leader. That search was initially focused on the New Orleans area. During that time, I experienced a couple of truly painful job interviews and a couple of short stints leading worship for different churches for a month or longer, just to not get hired once I had helped them through a particular season.
About a year into the job search, I did land a part-time worship leading gig at the United Methodsit church in Gonzales, LA, about an hour away from where we lived just outside of NOLA. That job and church was wonderful (it had its challenges, like anywhere, but working there helped me get back into my groove as a writer, band leader, and music minister), but combined with my job driving delivery around New Orleans, it meant I was working seven days a week and still not making ends meet. I was becoming more and more exhausted and still broke. Beyond broke, actually. It became apparent to my wife and I that the job search was going to have to expand beyond our immediate area.
In December of 2022, I spoke to Pastor Truman Stagg, who I had the pleasure of serving with in Gonzales, to see if I could include him on my updated resume. I didn't want to leave, things were going well there, but it was untenable for my family. Regarding my leaving, I remember Pastor Truman saying “Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope you do.” He said that church was not in a position to pay me what I was worth, and that for me to grow further in my calling, I needed to be somewhere else. He would happily recommend me to potential churches.
The next few months brought long interview processes with churches in Detriot, MI, St. Petersburg, FL, Des Moines, IA and elsewhere. It wasn't until March that I suddenly had the attention of two United Methodist churches, one in Indiana and one in Missouri, and they seemed to be in a race with each other to get me to come lead worship and interview in person. I would go to Liberty, MO first.
I never made it to the church in Indiana.
Come June 2023, I had been on staff for two months. I was living in the basement of an elderly couple from the church while my family finished up the school year down south. I had secured a douplex for us to move into in July. Life felt optimistic again. We'd never lost hope - we knew God would get us through the trying times - but knowing and feeling are very different things.
Still wounded and weary from the journey that brought this Kansas boy to Liberty, MO by way of New Orleans, LA, I was thinking about how God, in his holiness, was not connected to the pain and grief I and my family experienced in Louisiana. He was seperate from it, above it, unstained by the dirtiness of that whole mess, yet in his faithfulness, he was also guiding us through it.
Whatever trials, pain, sorrow, and grief we face in this life, God is holy; above it all, and despite even ourselves, God is faithful to love us, to provide for us, to guide us, and to walk with us through it all.
The good times come and the good times go, but God is unchanged and remains with us and will get us through.