Green Bay, WI Concert Transcript
August 10, 1997
Green Bay Community Church

Rich Mullins/Mark Robertson and This Train/Mitch McVicker and Band

{begin first tape}

(applause)

Thank you.  How are you guys tonight?  Well, we've got a whole lot of
music to do, so we'll get started just as quick as we can.  My thinking
about concerts is, you know, if you want to hear music that's on
records, then you should go buy the record.  (laughter)  So we'll be
doing a lot of music that you may not have heard.  We're gonna start out
with some music by a guy named Mitch McVicker.  I met Mitch a couple
years ago, actually, probably about four years ago, and we've been good
friends ever since, and I, besides being a friend of his, I'm a big fan
of his, and I think when you hear him, you will be too.  So would you
please welcome Mitch McVicker.

[His Love Is Right Here]

Mitch:  Thanks!  Well, it's nice to be in Green Bay.  This is a...this is
a 'real' town.  (laughs)  We were, we were down in, I think it was,
Naperville, Illinois, and that's just a bunch of strip malls. 
(laughter) But...these guys are gonna switch instruments, 'cause they know
how to play a whole lot of stuff.  And...I'm gonna stick with the
guitar...(laughter)...And this next song is called 'Freedom,' and it's about
walking by faith.

[Freedom]

Mitch:  Thanks!  Over there playing cello and all kinds of stringed
instruments is Eric Hauck.  Well, when I wrote this next song, I...I
thought it was stupid.  But I went ahead and I decided to play through
it a couple times anyway, and...after that I decided that instead it was
profound.  (laughter) Because, I think that's the way it is with a whole
lot of things in life.  I think, a lot of times the silliest, most
lighthearted things end up being the most meaningful.  I know that I all
too often forget that Jesus called us to come to Him like a little kid. 
Not sure what that means, but...I don't think He was talking about
immaturity, even though, that's the part that I've got down.  I think
He's just hoping for us to depend upon Him for as much as we can, and
trust that He'll provide.  So this is a song about a guy that I'd like
to be like someday.

[The Lemonade Song]

Mitch:  Thank you!  Playing percussion is Michael Aukofer.  Well, this
next song, it kind of has the same theme as the last one.  And,
ironically, it kind of has the same theme as every song I've ever
written.  Because I do get confused when I start thinking about faith
and hope and peace, and all that stuff.  It just kind of seems like it's
all the same thing.  Kind of like, it's just this one big ball of stuff.
 And we take these words, and we attach them to these ideas and truths
that we know a little bit about, but for the most part they're just way
beyond us.  So I think that what everything comes down to, and what
holds that big ball of stuff together, is love.  At least that's
what...that's what I get from reading the Bible, and listening to the
words of Jesus.  So I keep writing songs about love, I guess because a
lot of times we like to talk about the stuff that we know the least
about.  Plus I'm just in a 'rut.'  (laughter)  But I've been in a lot
worse ruts.  So maybe, I'm thinking if I stay in this one for a little
while, that I will learn about, learn a little bit of something about
loving people, and loving God, and letting Him love me.  And that might
not be until I'm eighty years old--I'm hoping at least by the time I'm
dead.  But until then I'm gonna try and stick to the simple stuff.  And
not get caught up in all the issues that sometimes we get fooled into
thinking we gotta take this real big stand on.  And we get all that
figured out, and then we realize that sometimes we've lost sight of
what's really important.  So in my attempt to keep things simple, I'm
just trying to remember that Jesus loves the 'hell' out of us...literally...

(applause)

Sometimes it's weird to think that we've got 'hell' inside of us to be
loved out.  Sometimes it's hard to look at.  But then again, sometimes
it's hard to look at the 'heaven' that's within us.  Because, it's kind
of overwhelming too, when you think about it.  But...they're both there,
and I think, I think the whole spiritual realm is a lot more 'real' than
a lot of times we take it to be.  I know, at least for me, anyway.  But
the good news is that, since both 'heaven' and 'hell' are real present,
Jesus has overcome the bad, and He's the Giver of the good.  And that
maybe, maybe someday all of us will be motivated by love, to do what we
do, by His love that's within us.  So...here's another song about love,
and it's called--it's really just kind of a statement of faith, at this
point in my life--it's called, 'Only Love Will.'

[Only Love Will]

Mitch:  Thank you!  Well, ya'll have been really nice to listen, and I
just wanted to say that if you wanted to buy any of my records or--I
keep saying 'records' but they don't make records anymore--if you want
to buy any of my tapes or cd's, I don't got any.  (laughter)  But I'm
going into the studio in a couple weeks to do my first one.  (applause) 
And what I do have now is a mailing list.  I have a 'sign-up' sheet back
by all the other tapes and cd's, and if you want to sign up on that I
can keep you up-to-date on the album, and the other stuff I'm
doing...whatever that is...we're gonna do one more song, and it's called,
'Take Hold Of Me.'

[Take Hold Of Me]

(applause)

Mitch:  Thanks.  Now here is...Rich Mullins!

[Nothing But The Blood - instrumental]

[Awesome God]

(applause)

Thank you.

[intro to Brother's Keeper]

(sings) Now there's--clink in his car--and the musician has forgotten
his lyrics...and the lover's got a lonely heart...

[rest of song]

(applause)

Thank you very much!  Well, I have a lot of trouble with lyrics, I
dunno.  It's a good thing I write 'em.

(laughter)

Don't you hate it when you go to a concert, and a guy goes, you know,
because, you know, a lot of times performers have those insecurities and
junk, and they'll say, because they're insecure they'll go, "Ah...Now I'm
going to do a little song and it goes something like this."  I always
want to go, "Look, buddy, I paid exactly ten bucks to hear that song. I
want to hear EXACTLY what it goes like!"

(laughter)

Well, this song sometimes goes different, but tonight this song goes
exactly like this: (laughter)

[first half of Boy Like Me, Man Like You]

(speaks)...tonight's version of this song does not include a pennywhistle
solo.  Because we thought the space would be nice, we thought you would
enjoy a little 'peace,' right in this section.  And I don't know how to
play it yet...

[verse, chorus]

(speaks)...and it's really awkward when you sing if you're not playing
something, (laughs) 'cuz what do you do with your arms?

(sings) And I really may just grow up, and be like You...

(speaks)...and then you have those long solos that you don't know how to
play, so you're not only not singing, but you're not playing either. 
And so then, you know, what do you do with your hands or your mouth? 
It's a big, you know, bill to foot.

(applause)

Have y'all ever seen one of these before? This is a, for those of you
who don't know, it's a lap dulcimer, and it was invented by Irish
immigrants in this country.  And a good many of them ended up, because
they couldn't get jobs in Boston, because, you know, even though people
talk about religious freedom, in Boston, they were all, you know,
Puritans, even after they didn't believe what Puritans believed anymore.
 And the Irish were all Catholic, and so they, you know they drank, and
smoked, and brawled, and had lots of kids.

(laughter)  

And of course the Puritans didn't approve of any of those behaviors,
so--they wouldn't give them jobs, so they all ended up going down to
Appalachia for jobs, and that's where they invented this little
instrument.  It's one of the only musical instruments invented in this
country, which I think is a nice thing.

(sings) ...some day...[conclusion of Boy Like Me, Man Like You]

(applause)

[instrumental on lap dulcimer accompanied by cello and drum (title 'John'?)]

(applause)

Thank you.  That song I wrote for my dad, this song I wrote for a little
girl that wasn't supposed to get born.  She...(feedback squeal)...what in
the world is that noise, please stop that... They found out that she was
gonna have multiple birth defects and so the doctor recommended she be
aborted, and said, "Well, she'll never survive the birth anyway so may
as well get rid of her now."  Then after she was born, he said, "Well,
she'll never survive the hour," and after that night he said she would
never survive the next day.  Later he said she would never survive the
month.  And sixteen months later, Madeline is still alive. (ed. note: 
Madeline died in March of '98 at the age of two years.)  She...when she
sleeps, she folds her hands like this...we all think that she's praying
for us.  So this is a song I wrote for her.

[Madeline]

[78 Eatonwood Green]

(applause)

(Rich laughs)

[Calling Out Your Name]

(applause)

[Such A Thing As Glory]

(applause)

Thank you.  Well, this next song I didn't write...(laughs to one side) I'm
really sorry about that, Jordan...I wish I would have because it's one of
my favorite songs I ever recorded, but it was written by a Scottish guy
named Dougie MacLean.  I learned it from a band back in Cincinnatti many
years ago, and I always really loved it.  And then I got the opportunity
to go to Ireland, and it made me love it even more, because it's a song
about going out to sea.  And I don't know if you've ever been to
Ireland.  I highly recommend it, 'cos it'll make you behave better,
because it's--it's a little bit like going to Heaven for a little while.
 And it makes you want to get there, to stay, for a long time.  But the
Atlantic Ocean, the North Atlantic, is very stormy and wind-tossed, and,
you know, romantic and scary, all that stuff...romance is scary, I
guess...(laughter)...I've heard rumors about romance...And the Irish have
always traditionally been afraid of the sea.  In fact, if a guy was
going to be a sailor, he wasn't allowed to learn how to swim, because
the water is so cold up there that to swim only prolongs your agony.  If
your boat goes down you just want to drown quick, is the idea.  The
Irish have always been afraid of the water, probably because of the way
the North Atlantic is, and also probably because of how bad they have
always been at building boats.  (laughter)  And the soil in the west of
Ireland is so thin that they couldn't support themselves from it, so
they had to go out to sea to go fishing and stuff.  And often they would
go out and they wouldn't come back for weeks and weeks.  And when they
finally washed up on the shore, there they'd be, all, you know,
deteriorated and stuff, and their wives would come down, and they
couldn't tell one husband from the other. (laughter)  Of course, having
been to Ireland I know a lot of Irish women have that problem even if
their husbands are alive. (laughter)  So, you know when people come back
from Ireland, they have those great big huge sweaters, you know, that
have stitches and stuff in 'em, and all these designs, and stuff?  Well,
those designs are based on--the wives began to knit for them these
sweaters.  And they would knit little charms and prayers into the
sweaters.  So then if the charms and prayers 'took,' then the men would
come back alive, and if they didn't, because fish don't eat wool, they
could tell one husband from the other.  (laughter) You like it? (laughs)
 So that's kind of what this song is about, only...(laughter)...not really...

[Ready For The Storm]

(applause)

[By The Waters Of Babylon]

(applause)

Thank you.  Well, I didn't write that song either.  'Traditional' did. 
I learned it from an album I had a long time ago by Don MacClean, called
American Pie.  (scattered applause) Guess you had it, too.  I'm so proud
that you will admit it.  (laughter) You must not have kids yet.  Have
you admitted to them, how bad your taste was when you were their age? 
(laughter)  That's why I don't get pictures and stuff, man.  We used to
blackmail my folks all the time.  You know, we'd look at what they
looked like when they were, you know, our age, and we'd go, (snicker)
"...and you're worried about us?"

Oh, wow.  That's why I, you know--I know the Bible says that children
are a blessing, and stuff.  I just have to take it on faith.  (laughter)
 That must be true in some sense.  You know that song, "By The Waters Of
Babylon," the text is from the Scriptures, it's from one of the psalms. 
I think it's one of the most beautifully written psalms in the whole
collection.  Except, the thing that blows me away is that after you have
this really beautiful lament, then at the very last verse of that is,
"How blessed is the man who dashes their little ones' heads against the
rocks."  (scattered laughter)  This is not the sort of scripture you
read at a 'Pro-Life' meeting.  (laughter)  You just have to take it on
faith that it's supposed to be in there, I guess.  For a long time I
couldn't understand it, and then...one Sunday I had to help out in the
nursery at church.  (laughter, applause)  I realized then, in fact,
God's ways are higher than ours...(laughter)...it's funny...people pay good
money to get them.  I never understood it.  You spend all that money,
you know, having those babies, and then they're gonna take your money
from you for the rest of your life.  (laughter)  I suppose they would be
nice, at some point...never at five in the morning.  All my friends that
have kids, hate their kids at night.  Most of them give them drugs, to
get them to sleep.  "Here, kiddy, kiddy, kiddy!" (laughter ) (he
chuckles)  That's what I love about parents.  Because everyone thinks
that love is supposed to make sense. Then you go, but it can't make
sense.  'Cause who loves more than a parent loves their child?  And that
makes no sense whatsoever.  All those children do is, you know, eat, and
throw up, and dirty their diapers.  (laughter)  And their parents are so
proud of it.  (laughter) Especially their first one.  "This is the first
diaper!"  Blows me away.  And then you know, you go in their houses, and
they've got those pictures on their refrigerators.  I want to find out
who invented those magnets and shoot 'em.  (laughter)  And they're so
proud of those pictures.  "Look what Aiden drew!"  I dunno, what is it? 
(laughter) "It's beautiful!  Look what a sense of color and balance he
already..."  And you go, man, it looks like a Picasso.  And I mean that in
the worst sense of the word. (laughter)  This is not great art.  "Well,
yeah, but it's really good for a two-year-old!"  Well, yes, but it's
still not the sort of thing you want to hang on your wall, is it? 
Parents are so amazing to me the way they love their kids.

A lot of people say, you know, gee, because people like what I write and
stuff, you know, they always say, "So when you write, do you sit down
and try to think of something really heavy to say to people?"  I'm like,
no, actually, no.  They say, "Well, what inspires you?"  And I always
say, well, you know, I have a lot of pagan friends, and I talk to them a
lot about the inspiration of the Scriptures.  How as Christians we
believe that they were breathed out by God, and that they are inspired
by God.  So, if I say my songs are inspired, I think that confuses
people.  Because then I think that they think that my songs should be
canonized, and the Canon has been closed for several years now. 
(laughter)  So I always like to say that I believe the Scriptures are
inspired and our songs are provoked.  And then people say, "Well then,
what provokes your songs?"  And the honest answer is, bills.  (laughter)
 What provokes you to go to your work?  (laughter, applause)  And you
know, you hope in the course of writing something that you're gonna say
something that's gonna encourage someone to do something good, but man,
I tell you, there's so much great music out there, that none of us need
to write any more good stuff.  There's just more great music than we
could ever listen to, if we lived to be a hundred.  And it's a great,
great privilege to get to do what I do for a living.  And it's a great
honor that you pay someone when you listen to them and I sure appreciate
the way you've been listening tonight.  You've really honored us, and I
hope we have something to give you back.

[Compassion ad]

We're going to do one more song for you, and then we're gonna take a
break.  And we'll take a ten-minute break, and I really do mean ten
minutes, 'kids!'  Because we have as much music to do in the second half
as we've done in the first half.  So, we wanna...(applause)...do all that
and have you get home in time to go to work tomorrow.  So--we're gonna
do this in an 'old church' way, we're gonna line it out, which means
that I will sing a line to you, and then you all will take it and sing
it up to God, ok?  They used to do this before they had hymnals, and I
still think it's a good idea.

[I See You]

(break)

SECOND HALF

[Like It Or Not]

(applause)

Mark: (laughs) Thanks!  Well...we've been on the road, This Train, since
April 23rd.  Last night was the first night we've slept in our own beds
since April.  And...it just hit us, we're in the last week of a tour,
we're kind of sleepy.  It just hit us!  So normally, people--people,
"Oh, you're so energetic, you're so energetic!"  Not tonight.  I need a
nap.  None of that's your problem, though.  So...(tuning)...oh, that's not
good...man... The guy at the store tuned this for me when I bought
it...(laughter)...don't know what happened...he told me something when he sold
this to me.  These strings are real cat-gut, he told me.  Real cat-gut. 
And I didn't think much of it, I went, well, that's fine.  And I didn't
feel bad, but...the strings are starting to come unraveled, and I'd swear
it's a whisker.  (laughter)  And now I feel all guilty.  (laughs) 
"Kitty..." (laughter) So...I don't think there's much we can do for this guy
now, though...I have friends who think that's about the kindest thing you
could do to a cat, but I'm not one of those people... Anyway, this is one
of my very favorite songs of all time, and we hope you'll sing along,
because it'll sound a lot better than just watching us nod off up here. 
And you might not recognize this particular version of this song, but
once you do recognize it, please sing along.

[I Saw The Light]

Mark:  Thanks!  I think I just, I think I did something bad, hold on...
Are those pins at the bottom supposed to be bent over sideways?
(laughter)  Anyway...the guy at the store said--oh no, never
mind--(laughs) Well, we, about two weeks ago our brand new record came
out, we have a second cd out.  No doubt news to you who didn't know we
had a first cd. (laughter)   That's all right.  And...but...when we started
writing songs for it, I was really struck by that scripture that says,
anything you do unto the least of these you do unto Me.  So I began to
ask myself, who are, in fact, the 'least of these,' the very 'least of
these.'  And since we live in the '90's we hopped on the Internet and
'surfed the Web,' or in my case, 'dogpaddled' the Web, and...(laughs) I
swear, the whole first month I had a computer, I just hid in a corner
and threw rocks at it.  (laughter)  But anyway...we compiled our lists of
who, in fact, are the 'least of these,' and we were really surprised to
find out that it's mimes.  Isn't that weird?  I know, I was surprised
too, but if you think about it, these are people, like, you know,
without jobs, who just hang out in public parks all day 'walking against
the wind' and what-have-you, hoping to get spare change from hardworking
people like you and me.  (laughter) And, still, nonetheless I was still
surprised.  So...this is our drummer, Cobra Joe.  Say "hi" to Joe, would
ya?  (cheers)  Leave 'em alone, Joe.  And...so I told...and that's Jordan.

{end first tape/start second tape}

Mark:  Hey, thanks so much!

[I Will Sing]

[Sing Your Praise To The Lord]

Thank you.  This is a song I wrote in Amsterdam, and kind of how
everything is 'legal' in Amsterdam.  I always thought my parents didn't
sin because they were just too old.  When I was there, I was as old as
my parents were when I used to think that.  And I don't think I was--I
guess you just think that as you live, you eventually outgrow
temptation, and the reality is, you don't.  You need Jesus just as much
now as you ever did.  That's what this song is about.

[Hold Me, Jesus]

(applause)

[While The Nations Rage]

(applause)

Thank you.  That was a song I wrote for the 'village,' 'cause I don't
want them to raise your children for you.  This is a song I wrote for
the sky.

[If I Stand]

(applause)

This here's a song I wrote for Martin Luther.  Because the only place in
the whole Bible where it (doesn't) say "faith only," his favorite
phrase, was in James, where it said that we are not saved by faith only.
 And he wanted to cut it out of the Canon because it didn't agree with
him.  And so he started a great Protestant tradition of just taking what
we like of the Scriptures and ignoring the rest.

 [Screen Door]

(applause)

Don't get me wrong, I like Martin.  (laughs, laughter)  Oh, it's just
none of us are right about everything, are we?  Which is the whole
problem in life, because you kind of go, man, if only all Republicans
were really stingy, wouldn't it be easy to just dismiss them all?  And
if only all Democrats were really 'whacked,' then we could get rid of
them, too, but, you know, there's good and bad in all of us.  And it all
gets mixed up, and it's hard to sort it out.  Which is, I guess, why we
like heroes so much.  I often get asked who my heroes are, and I have a
good many, and I don't know any of them.  And I have a feeling if I got
to know any of them I wouldn't like 'em anymore.

I don't want to be too cynical, though, about things.  There is one
guy...I got in trouble, you know, I got a lot of 'hate mail' because of...I
get more 'hate mail' than any other Christian artist probably in the
universe.  (laughter)  And I don't know why, because I think I'm a nice
guy.  (laughter) I remember one time, though, I was waiting on my
manager.  I was sitting outside this promoter's meeting down in
Nashville, and they were talking about all these different Christian
artists, and they said, you know, what is their 'demographic'?--that's
what they call you guys, the 'demographic'--and they said, you know,
so-and-so, he appeals to young families, young married couples, blah
blah blah blah.  They said someone else, and they went, oh, he appeals
to teenagers, someone else, oh, that's the college crowd.  Then after a
long, long time they finally said my name, and there was just dead
silence. (laughter)  It was making me really nervous, and finally, one
fellow spoke up, he said, "Rich Mullins...I think he appeals to smokers." 
(laughter)  I felt really wonderfully complimented, (laughs) to tell you
the truth.  Don't you get sick of health freaks?  I always want to say,
look Bud, you're gonna die anyway.  You may as well go out eating
something that you like.  (applause)  What is the point of living to be
a hundred and fifty if all you get to eat is bean sprouts?  (laughter) 
I'll never understand people, I'll tell you...

Anyway, one of my heroes, I cited as being my hero, was Francis of
Assissi.  And I...when I was a kid I saw a movie called Brother Sun,
Sister Moon.  It's available in a lot of video stores, and I highly
recommend you get it.  You just have to ignore Donovan's soundtrack. 
It's very 'dated' and corny.  But if you get past that, it's really a
wonderfully made film.  It's by Franco Zeffirelli.  And I tried to play
it for my nieces and nephews and stuff, because I think that they need
heroes and all that, too, and they can't get past the soundtrack. 
So...(laughter)...so I thought, I'd like to try to rewrite the soundtrack
for that movie, and send it over to Franco and see if he'd re-release
the movie with a, you know, what I would consider a great soundtrack. 
And then I went, you know, there's no way, you know, it just wouldn't
work.  So I decided, Beaker and I decided to write a musical about
Francis of Assissi.  Only we decided instead of having him be a
twelfth-century Italian saint, we would change him into a
nineteenth-century American cowboy.  And just basically follow the
course of his life, which is played out in the American West instead of
twelfth-century Italy.  So we've written it, it's called Canticle Of The
Plains, and it will someday be available in some form.  At this point
it's lost, and we're not sure where to find it.  (laughs) But on the
recording, I don't know if you're familiar with DC Talk, but Kevin Smith
and Michael Tait sing two of the parts.  And then, Leah Bingham Nash of
Sixpence None The Richer sings the part of Claire, because she's the
most Claire-like person we could think of.  And when I met Mitch in
college, I went home and I said, "Man, Beaker, I just met Frank.  I met
the guy who is exactly what Francis would be like if he were a
nineteenth century cowboy instead of a twelfth century saint."  And so,
he sings the part of Frank on the tape.  And we're gonna do one of his
songs tonight.  This is a song of dedication that Frank sings when he
realizes that to say 'yes' to Jesus means that you necessarily have to
say 'no' to everything else.

[Heaven Is Waiting]

(applause)

Well...(piano intro to 'Just As I Am')...it's now that time of evening when
we're gonna ask hundreds of you to come forward and...listen to yet
another This Train song.

Mark:  You've been a very polite audience so far, so why don't you get
over it and hop on up for a second...this is kind of just an old hillbilly
gospel 'stomp your hands, clap your feet,' 'marry-a-relative' kind of
song...

[That Great Atomic Power]

(applause)

And here's another song from Mitch.

[intro]

Mitch:  Y'all are clapping good!  This song's called 'Hope.'

[Hope]

(applause)

Mitch:  Thanks!

[Bound To Come Some Trouble]

(applause)

Thank you all so very, very much for coming out tonight, you've been
really great to play to.  We've never played in Green Bay before.  Thank
you for having us.  I hope you'll have us back.

(applause)

It's always funny to try to figure out why people come to hear, you
know, what you do. 'Cause you, um, I get so bored with it.  One thing
that gets me through 'Awesome God' is when everybody else sings it, you
know.  And I think it's a really good song, I ain't saying it ain't. 
Just so happens I like a lot of stuff I write.  I always resent those
guys who don't like what they write, then I kind of go, "Then please
don't burden me with it."  

(laughter)

I think you ought to like what you do.  Because there's a reasonably
good chance no one else is going to.

(laughter)

I think a lot of what we do is kind of like what my friends' kids do,
you know.  Angels probably, I've just got a feeling like God's got this
great big refrigerator up there in heaven, that's just covered with what
we do.  Angels come by for a drink or something, and they see all the
junk on His refrigerator, and they go, "God! What are You thinking!  You
own the cattle on a thousand hills, surely You could afford a few good
pieces of work!"  Then God goes, "Ah, I know.  But my kid made that."

Picasso said that good taste was the enemy of great art.  I think he was
right.  Especially given the art that God does when we offer up the
'junk' of our lives.  And He turns that into something that is beautiful
to Him.  

And you know what, not only do the angels sometimes probably think He's
'whacked'--sometimes you and me think He's kind of gone a little 'off
his nut' too.  Because we're going through our lives, and we're trying
as hard as we can, and things just seem to always blow up in our faces,
and we keep going, "God, God, why?"  We don't know what He's doing.  So
just let Him do it.  If you really believe He's good, then let Him do
it.  

People always say, "I don't know where the Lord is leading me."  I
always say, it don't really make a whole lot of difference.  The
important thing is to be where He has led you to already.  If He has led
you into a marriage, then be faithful there.  If He has led you into
being single, then be faithful there.  If He has blessed you with many
material goods, then be a good steward of those goods.  And if He has
blessed you by allowing you to imitate His life of poverty, then imitate
it with great joy.  

Someone once asked Mother Teresa if she thought that we didn't suffer in 
the United States like other people did because we were a righteous
nation, and Mother Teresa said, "Oh, no, I'm afraid you're so wrong." 
They said, "What do you mean?"  She said, "I don't think you suffer
because I don't think you are worthy to suffer." 

Don't resist the work of God in your life by asking for an easy life.  
If you live really good, folks, you'll get older.  I guarantee you that, 
you will get older.  

It's amazing to me to see pictures of my grandparents, when they were
kids, and how handsome, and pretty and everything they were, and bright
looking.  And then seeing them when they were very, very old, I never
would have connected the two.  Life had beat them beyond recognition, in
many ways.  They had arthritis, they had cornea dystrophy.  Eventually
they died, and we all are gonna do that sooner or later.  

And if you live really good, you will be beaten.  If you really try to
walk in faith, you will fall.  You will stumble.  If you believe that
your life in Christ is one constant spiral upward, then you are badly
mistaken.  And if you think it's heretical to say, then read the lives
of the apostles.  Their lives were blemished, their track records were
not particularly good.  

If you try to have faith, you will be attacked by doubts you never knew
you were capable of.  But you keep on believing, even if you fall, even
if you struggle with doubts, you keep on believing.  And if you live a
life that is marked by hope, by the belief that God is good, and there
is goodness in the world that awaits us, you'll be disappointed.  You'll
be crushed, even, sometimes.  The Scriptures say hope deferred makes the
heart grow sick. You're gonna have a sick heart.  But you keep on
hoping.  And if you choose to love, you will be misunderstood, you will
be betrayed, you will be rejected by the people who most desperately
need the love you have to offer.  And remember that when you try to
love, it's not like love in the movies.  In the movies, when people are
loving each other physically, they always are perfectly fit and tan, and
beautiful.  Most of y'all, I've seen you, you don't look like that. 

(laughter)  

We are blemished people, and in order to love anybody, in
any way, we have to expose that part of us that we'd rather keep
hidden.  Our own selfishness, our own fears, our own hangups, and it's
embarrassing.  So humiliating.  But you keep on loving.


Many of us are obsessed with becoming rich, many of us are obsessed with
becoming smart.  But all of our wisdom, all of our great insights, we
see in part and we prophesy in part.  But when that which is perfect
comes, that which is in part is done away with.  But there are three
things that will remain: faith, and hope, and love.  Make sure you live
in those. And if you do, you will be hurt, you will be crushed.  But
when you wash up on that other side, when life is done with you, when
you wash up over there, them angels that were looking at your little
works of art and saying how tragically misconducted they were, they will
look at what's left of your body and say, "Man, what is this!"  And
Jesus will say, "Oh, I know who that is. They are mine!" And the angel
will say, "How do you know he's yours?"  And Jesus will say, "Well, you 
see that sweater they've got on?" 

(laughter) 

"I knit that for them."

[Sometimes By Step]

[Creed]

(applause)

God bless you all!  Good night!

(applause)

[No Not One] (sung acappella)

(applause)

Do ya'll know,

[I'm Gonna Sing, Sing, Sing]

[Swing Low, Sweet Chariot]

[When The Saints Go Marching In]

Ok, now I gotta divide you into three groups to do the rest of this
song, so you people over there in that section, and you people over
there, way over there in that section, you're gonna be Group A. You
people here in this section, Eric pay attention.  These people over
here, this is Group B.  (cheers)   And you guys right here, you're the
'leftovers.'  (cheers)  Now before we get into this, I want to say one
more thing to ya--and that is, the people that Christ came for first
were the 'leftovers.'  (cheers)  And Jesus has a special place in His
heart for the oppressed, and I hope that we won't forget about them.  I
hope that you will go back and look at the Compassion stuff.  I hope
that you can become part of a wonderful ministry, and that you will know
the joy of being a part of that.  Now we're gonna sing, so Group A,
you're going to sing with Mark and with Mitch, you're gonna sing,

[I'm Gonna Sing, Sing, Sing]

Can you hear 'em?  Group A, c'mon, you gotta sing louder than that.  You
just keep singing that, sing louder.

Group B, you sing with him (Eric).

[Swing Low, Sweet Chariot]

Hey leftovers, are y'all ready?  I'm gonna sing with you, we're gonna sing,

[When The Saints Go Marching In]

All right!  All together I want to hear you singing,

[I'm Gonna Sing, Sing, Sing]

Thanks again!  One more song, it goes:

[the Doxology, 'Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow']

(applause)

{end}