Song of the Day: "My Surrender" by Steven Curtis Chapman

Download it here.

"My Surrender"
Words and Music by Steven Curtis Chapman and Matt Bronleewe
Protected under copyrights with Sparrow Song and Peach Hill Songs

Does it all sound the same?
Are my words getting through?
I've been trying so hard That I'm about to break

So here I am with all I have

And I'm giving it all back to You
All back to You, I surrender
Yeah, I'm giving it all back to You
All back to You, this is my surrender
Take it all

And what song can I sing
But the song that You give?
I have nothing to bring
That did not come from Your hands

So here I am with all I have

And I'm giving it all back to You
All back to You, I surrender
Yeah, I'm giving it all back to You
All back to You, this is my surrender

All my prayers and all my dreams
I'm giving it all to You
I lay it all down at Your feet, I'm Yours
So what song can I sing but this song?

I'm giving it all back to You
All back to You, I surrender
I'm giving it all back to You
All back to You, this is my surrender
Take it all, take it all, Lord, take it all, take it all

Do you ever complain about your circumstances?

I'd love to meet this boy's parents.



May we not complain.

Great commercial and question

For Whom will You Fly a Flag?

Will you fly a flag on your blog for our men and women at arms?

John Fuller got me thinking about it early this morning.

Mark Schultz touched my emotions about it.

A historical display of the front page of the June 6, 1944 Tennessean prompted me to action.

Today is the 64th anniversary of the largest coordinated invasion in the history of warfare. D-Day. Normandy. Omaha Beach. These words - and the stories behind them - became a part of our national fabric. Are they fading?

A tradition began during World War I and became more powerful during World War II. A families with a soldier (or soldiers) deployed displayed a Service Flag in their window. The blue star in the center of the flag proclaimed that the family was praying for the safety, wisdom, and return of their soldier. Some flags bore many stars--one for every son deployed. Many weeping mothers replaced the blue stars with gold stars when news arrived that their sons had given their last full measure of devotion.

I've wondered why we don't see more of these flags with so many of our nation's sons and daughters in harm's way.

I have two challenges for you:

1. Hang a Flag

Hang a Service flag (if you're family) or an American Flag in your blog (or your window, or your front yard, or your neighborhood, or your business). Tell others in a few words about the person it honors. Please tell me about it in my comments section. (If you fly a real flag, be sure to follow the rules.)

Today, I place an American flag on my blog in honor of Jack. Jack is serving as a First Lieutenant in the US Army. He is stationed at Camp Patriot on the Kuwaiti Gulf. He has a talented and gracious wife at home with their two small boys. He's been deployed for over a year.

I found my public domain image here. I also found an official website dedicated to Service Flags.

If you've forgotten the symbolism and emotion of our American flag, read this script. I wrote this for a flag retirement ceremony for our Scout troop.

2. Write a soldier

I was convicted today that I haven't written Jack enough. He has occasional access to email, and I haven't even dropped him a brief note from time to time. Who in your life is deployed? Have you written them lately? The video below from Mark Schultz reminds us of the power of our letters.

Wireless World

I'm not a political activist by anyone's definition. I've never planted a yard sign, I have only boycotted once in my life (Levi's vs. Boy Scouts), and I don't ask my car to wear bumper stickers.

Today, however, this announcement struck a chord.

I long for the day that we use the radio spectrum for wireless internet connectivity with the same ease that we turn on a radio. Making that access clean for all audiences is important.

On May 23 FCC Chairman Kevin Martin outlined the agenda for the Commission's upcoming open meeting on June 12. Among the items to be considered for a vote will be Chairman Martin's proposal to auction unused airwaves to create a free (advertising-based), family-friendly nationwide wireless internet.

Take action if you like.

Random Quotes

"I am so afraid. Give me the strength to die well"
William Wallace
as imagined by Randall Wallace, screenwriter of "Braveheart"
(chapter 20 of DVD)


"They fought like warrior poets...and won their freedom."
Robert the Bruce
as imagined by Randall Wallace, screenwriter of "Braveheart"
(final line of the movie)


"It's not what you are underneath. It's what you do that defines you."
Rachel Dawes to Bruce Wayne (Thanks to Scott Winter for correcting me)
as imagined by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer, screenwriters of "Batman Begins"


"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."
Juma Ikangaa
Tanzanian marathon runner


Citius. Altius. Fortius.
(Swifter. Higher. Stronger.)
The Olympic Motto


"Where there is no emotion, there is no motion."
George Shehan
author of running books


"Life is not the number of breaths you take but the moments that take your breaths away."
Various places including Alex Hitchens in the movie "Hitch"
as imagined by Kevin Bisch, screenwriter



"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

"The brick walls are there for a reason: to prove to us how badly we want something."
Randy Pausch
former professor at Carnegie Mellon University and author of Last Lecture


Every champion was once a challenger.
From an online ad for The Breeder's Cup
Backer Spielvogel Bates, agency


“When the Bible says that God sticks with us, the emphasis is on this dependable personal relationship, that he is always there for us…that he ‘sticks with us’ is the reason Christians can look back over a long life crisscrossed with cruelties, unannounced tragedies, unexpected setbacks, sufferings, disappointments, depressions—look back across all that and see it as a road of blessing, and make a song out of what we see. ..God sticks to his relationship. He establishes a personal relationship with us and stays with it. The central reality for Christians is the personal, unalterable, persevering commitment God makes to us. Perseverance is not the result of our determination, it is the result of God’s faithfulness. We survive in the way of faith not because we have extraordinary stamina but because God is righteous, because God sticks with us. Christian discipleship is a process of paying more and more attention to God’s righteousness and less and less attention to our own.”
Eugene Peterson
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction


"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
Steve Prefontaine
Rock Star runner and Olympian