My Firm Foundation

You want to know why I'm out here?
Why I'm taking this risk
Putting my reputation
My name
On the line?

It's not because I'm brave
And there's no way in Hell
That it's because I'm so wise
Or strong

I've been told
That everyone I ever trust
Will fail me
Including myself
But that wasn't quite right
It was understated
Because out of everyone I've trusted
Out of every named I've staked my fortunes on
The greatest failure is me
No one ever betrayed me
Like my very own self

You want to know
Where I get my knowledge?
How I can discern these things?

It's not my own intellect
It's not my education
Have you seen that mess out there?
The hundreds of philosophies?
The wonders and miseries of history?
The billions bits of trivia?
I don't care how smart you are
I don't care how educated you are
There's still so much you don't know
So much you can't account for
I don't care how good your aim is
You can't hit that bullseye

You want to know
Where I get my hope?
How I can care about these things
And not go hang myself?
How I can look at death
Without fearing
The vast unknown?

It's not positive thinking
It's not some politician
Some hero who's here today and gone tomorrow
It's not some twelve-step plan
It's not some national plan
Sure a few of those might be okay
But what they leave behind
It spoils
Withers
Burns
I can give my life
To an earthly cause
But if I give it my soul
Then I'm just screwed

You really shouldn't have asked
You know the answer
It's the same as the answer
To the question your rolling eyes ask
"Why don't you ever shut up
About that Jesus?"

He is my Rock
My Firm Foundation

If I am ever bold
It's because I'm under orders
From the Maker of mountains
It's because I'm not fighting
With my own strength
If I look brave
It's because I've been praying for hours
Shaking and trembling and weeping
And the I Am has answered

If I have any wisdom
If my thoughts on a thing
Are within even a thousand miles
Of the thing as it really is
It's because I'm not wandering in the dark
For metaphysics I start with Genesis
For ethics I start with the Sermon on the Mount
For history I start with the Empty Tomb
To know the heart of all meaning
To answer the ultimate "why"
I look in Exodus
To the I Am

If I have any hope
It's because my ransom is paid
It's because my King
Has already squared off with death
And He let everyone know
Who won that war
It's because my inheritance
Will never decay
Will never be lost
Will never be stolen
It's because there is nothing they can do to me
That will not vanish in the coming dawn
It's because my fate is in the hands
Of the I Am

He is my Rock
My Firm Foundation