I miss him...

I've been thinking about Rich Mullins a lot lately. I've been listening to a lot of his music and it moves me as much now as it did the first time I heard it almost 20 years ago. I saw him in concert more times than I can remember, and every time I left a little different than when I arrived. He was completely unimpressed by the music industry and how "famous" he was. He was more comfortable teaching Navajo children on a reservation how to sing Jesus loves me than he ever was on stage. It's hard to pick a favorite song because they're all great in their own way...but the one that stands out to me a little more than the rest is sort of an obscure track from his Pictures in the Sky album called "Be With You"

Everybody each and all
We're gonna die eventually
It's no more or less our faults
Than it is our destiny
So now Lord I come to you
Asking only for Your grace
You know what I've put myself through
All those empty dreams I chased

And when my body lies in the ruins
Of the lies that nearly ruined me
Will You pick up the pieces
That were pure and true
And breathe life into them
And set them free?

And when You start this world over
Again from scratch
Will You make me anew
Out of the stuff that lasts?
Stuff that's purer than gold is
And clearer than glass could ever be
Can I be with You? Can I be with You?

And everybody all and each
From the day that we are born
We have to learn to walk beneath
Those mercies by which we're drawn
And now we wrestle in the dark
With these angels that we can't see
We will move on although with scars
Oh Lord, move inside of me

And when my body lies in the ruins
Of the lies that nearly runied me
Will You pick up the pieces
That were pure and true
And breathe Your life into them
And set them free?

And when You blast this cosmos
To kingdom come
When those jagged-edged mountains I love are gone
When the sky is crossed with the tears Of a thousand falling suns
As they crash into the sea Can I be with you? Can I be with you?