Album: Building 429
Year: 2008
Title: Always
Today’s Worship Smoothie is dedicated to the pain and promise of 9/11.
There could be no worthier song I could offer to you this day, that is as beautiful and heartbreakingly honest about pain and promise, as the song Always by Christian rock band Building 429.
As I watched the music video and listened to the song, I cried. And in those tears, promise remained.
Why dedicate remembrance to pain?
In the lyrics of Always:
Even when all hope is gone
God knows our pain
His promise remains
He will be with you always
If you’ve given everything you’ve got and you’re still about to fall
Hold on
‘Cuz I believe always
Our Savior never fails
A poem emerged from within:
Without pain, we cannot truly recover love.
Love for our country, love for the people we have lost.
Children, husband, wives, and friends.
All of them gone in a whisper, but laugh, talk and sing in our memories strong, loud and alive.
Love for our innocence, where has she gone now?
Without promise, we would all be empty handed with our loss.
Pain and God’s Promise for Us Today
In that one moment, when planes collided into buildings filled with people and countless lives, you and I came face to face with a broken world.
Our hearts trembled, our minds struggled to compute, What is this I’m seeing? Is this real?
Where are you God? Why is this happening?
If today, eight years later, you too are asking these same questions in the tragedies of your own life, your family or friends, there is a promise at the end of all our confusion.
“My child, I’m before you and I’ll be long after you… And always, I will be with you.”
These are the words that Building 429’s lead singer, Jason Roy, used to describe how God would respond to these questions. They gave birth to this beautiful song Always, an anthem of pain and promise.
A sobering Friday, it is. May we extend our arms of comfort to one another in our pain and God’s promise. And with full confidence in God’s promise of always, we can step into tomorrow and into each other’s pain.
What thoughts and feelings fill you today on 9/11?
How has this song touched you, as you listened/watched the video?
Lyrics to Always - By Jason Roy (Building 429)
I was standing in the pouring rain one dark November night
Fighting off the bitter cold when she caught my eye
Her face was taut and her eyes were filled, and to my surprise
She pulled out a photograph and my heart just stopped inside
She said, "He would've been three today
I miss his smile, I miss his face"
What was I supposed to say, but
CHORUS
I believe always, always
Our Savior never fails
Even when all hope is gone
God knows our pain and his promise remains
He will be with you always
He was living in a broken world, searching for a home
His heart was barely keeping pace when I found him all alone
Remembering the way he felt when his daddy said goodbye
Fighting just to keep the tears and the anger locked inside
He's barely holding onto faith
But deliverance is on its way, cause
CHORUS
I believe always, always
Our Savior never fails
Even when all hope is gone
God knows our pain and his promise remains
He will be with you always
Friend, I don't know where you are and I don't know where you've been
Maybe you're fighting for your life or just about to throw the towel in
But if you're crying out for mercy, if there's no hope left at all
If you've given everything you've got and you're still about to fall
Well hold on, hold on, hold on, cause
I believe always, always
Our savior never fails
Even when all faith is gone
God knows our pain and his promise remains
Always, always, He will be with you always
8 Comments
I’m totally crying! What a beautiful video and a wonderful reminder of God’s promises. This is definitely a day to remember.
Thanks Bonnie, Tragedy was what brought me to see God’s incredible love for me. He is truly a Redeemer of all things. Even my broken life. I had always been chasing after things to fill my emptiness and to quench my desire to feel “alive.” But they eventually left me empty and disappointed. Now living in His love for me, I can never feel empty and alone for long. For He never leaves me. “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14
Thank you for sharing this today. I was looking earlier for a song that would express what I have been feeling and this hits the mark perfectly.
Many blessings.
What a beautiful way to honor this day. “And always, I will be with you”… a promise we can lean on! Thank you for sharing your link on the (in)courage site, I am so glad you did.
Bonnie,
I forwarded this to my sister in law – she is grieving the recent death of her husband, she has good days and bad days. Today was a good day. You helped. Thank you.
@Heather: I know. I moved beyond words. It is a beautiful video that did justice to the message.
@Mari: What a beautiful comment you left here! This is a post right there. Drop me a tweet when you post it on your blog 😉 Ex. 33:14 is on my top 5 fave verses! Really!
@Kristine: Thank you for stopping for a moment to share your words! This is no better song. LIke you said, it expresses something so difficult to put into words.
@Jennifer: Thanks, Jennifer! I’m so glad to be a part of the (in)courage community! Wonderful to have you here!
@Doug: I am so touched to know this post can touch another so dear to you, who is grieving such a big loss. Thank you.
The tumult and the shouting dies
The captains and the kings depart
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice
An humble and a contrite heart
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget
Rudyard Kipling
“Recessional” 1897
It is the second of 5 stanzas in the poem “Recessional”. My favorite of the five.
Kipling wrote the poem to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, and the Keeper of the Faith as world ruler/power. At the same time, the Spanish-American War was underway, and a shift to the USA as Christendom’s “Keeper of the Faith” was begun. It was our first action OUTSIDE the country.
Bearing responsibility as a world power requires remembering the sacrifices of all who did this before us. It is a celebration of pride. But that same pride has led to the downfall of every great power over time; hence “Lest we forget” is repeated to remember the sacrifices of our forefathers, and our current folks in power, and a warning that without being defender of the faith, that same pride leads to our doom.
The story and full poem are well told in Wiki here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recessional_(poem)
How ironic that words from 1897 to a different world power (Britain: the sun NEVER sets on the British Empire”) are so apt and relevant to us each at 9/11.
We either learn that GOD has dominion over the world, not man,….or perish as swiftly as the British Empire of 1897.
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget
@Keystone: Thank you for sharing this poem from Richard Kipling and your thoughts on that day.