TheGentleMan - I See God lyrics

So Caesar is counting heads. A pregnant woman needs a bed but chale, space no dey, the people who got there first say they might as well stay. A heavenly host of angels is singing praise songs outside Probably loud enough to drown out the pregnant woman's cries. I zone out of the scene. I'm too wrapped up in my midlife crisis considering my business, I may have to raise prices Once again, people will complain but how else is a man to gain? From my reverie, I am roused by a man lowering himself in the seat next to me He is unremarkable; I am certain I will remember nothing about him the second after he leaves. I don't like strangers, so I try keeping my eyes downcast though I'm no longer reading. My ruse fails and he addresses me: "Excuse me, sir, what are you reading?" Tediously, wordlessly, righteously, I let him see the cover of my book. Slowly, his face softens, and he smiles and nods: "Ah, so you are reading about God." Of course I am reading about God; it is Christmas and this is one of those duties I must fulfill so the one about whom I'm reading will send me His good will. But before I can return my gaze to the page, he speaks once more: "Excuse me, sir, but if you don't mind, Could you tell me a bit about what your God is like?" I close my book and fold my hands up. This is one question I know how to answer. I prepare my speech and intend to blow this stranger away with the tales of a formidable Maker: I see God in the rolling thunder, the crashing of the waves and them pulling under everything that cannot withstand the fearful power of the ocean's command. I see God in the stride of a cheetah, in fearsome things in every flap of a dragon's wings, breathing fire, the kind with which all known heat cannot compete setting skies ablaze with brilliance that could leave the sun amazed With a voice that shakes tectonic plates and sends mountains crashing into rivers a voice so powerful it gives me shivers and crumples me so I fall to my knees and scares me worse than my worst enemies. I see God as an icy God a block so cold proximity burns a rock so old it doesn't age the God that sent Egypt the plague. ...A God that by nature pushes people away. He looks at me for a while and then says... "Your God sounds like a terrorist. A God without rhyme A God without reason A God that only knows the harshest season A God of power but not of love A God as a vulture, but never a dove The God of the flood, but not of the rainbow That's the God that most of us claim to know. But imagine this God you claim to see as flesh like you and me. What would that look like?" He takes my book, reopens it and resumes: "When the angels appeared to the shepherds, the night of the virgin birth, to be told that God incarnate had finally arrived here on earth yet the ground had not split open and they hadn't suddenly dropped dead Don't you wonder what went through the shepherds' heads? When they knew they could finally see God, But did they consider... "What if he looked naked? And quiet? With the facial features of an Israelite With baby skin not made of iron covered in blood and prone to crying The one who made us in His image taking our image and making it His defying your notion of a superhero and speaking to people just like this? A lamb to complement my argument for the lion the one who forgave and healed and saved and became a shoulder to cry on Can you see God as a gentle God born in the era of King Herod A God of high humility and kindness with authority? Imagine a shepherd shocked to the point of delight to discover a God that can actually be liked and recognized as a familiar face so unremarkable that he could take anyone's place? How many Christmases have you read these pa**ages and not seen the simplicity of the God you've described so explicitly? Your vision should have gone through a paradigm shift and so to you, this Christmas, this is my gift: to catalyze the process of you seeing with fresher eyes. I am aware I have spoken a lot But now, can you see God?" I look at the Stranger closely, recognizing him for the first time. "Yes," I reply. "Right now, I see God."