Give Me the Strength

Here's a good worship opener for church. Feel free to use and record your own!

This was written for Sunday worship at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Huntington Station, NY, the church were I was baptised. I was the musician there one summer and needed a song to fill in the prelude slot one Sunday, so... "Give Me the Strength" came out.

Give Me the Strength
by Kevin Story

Lord, give me Your words to sing

To Your people gathered worshipping

Speak through my fingers and my voice

We all in You want to rejoice

Give me the strength, Lord, to live like Your Son

Give me courage, Lord, to show how it’s done

We want to rise up and sing to the sky

Singing Your praises, Your name to glorify

Lord, open my eyes to You

So I can see what You want me to

Help me spread Your holy light

And grant the world this awesome sight

Give me the strength, Lord, to live like Your Son

Give me courage, Lord, to show how it’s done

We want to rise up to reach for Your light

Even one ray, Lord, would make it all all right

Lord, I lift my heart to You

My joys and sins for You to view

Clean me, make me your instrument

Use me to spread your wonderment

Give me the strength, Lord, to live like Your Son

Give me courage, Lord, to show how it’s done

We want to rise up and shout throughout the earth

Spreading the Good News, starting a rebirth

Verse:

E     | F#/E      | Am6/F#  Am6/B  | E     | E     | F#/E     | Am6/F#  Am6/B  | E     |

Chorus:

Amaj7     | G#m7  C#m7  | Amaj7     | G#m7  Dadd2  | Amaj7     | G#m7  C#m7  | D     | G     | A6/B     |      |

End:

D     | A     | E  A/E  | Am6/B  E  |

© 2005, Kevin F. Story

For Bethany Presbyterian Church

21 August, 2005

steal this song

i wrote this song with the intent that it be stolen. well, hopefully not stolen out of malice or greed. (i doubt that's happening here.) with so much unrest and stuff in the world today, i hope folks will learn this song their own way and post their own versions of it and share it with their friends. it's all about spreading the message of PEACE and LOVE, and proclaiming our basic rights to FREEDOM and CHOICE. (if you're one of those folks who "steals" this song, let me know!)

i turned 26 last week, a feat i never thought imaginable. but it does make one wonder about what one is doing with one's life. i recall hearing that Neil Young was upset people of my generation weren't doing anything, making music about what was going on in Afghanistan & Iraq; well, here's to hopin' we can start a fire. or something.

RAISE UP YOUR VOICE
by Kevin Story
(c) 25 Feb 2011

1. Everybody wants peace
So peace is our song
Sing a song of peace right now
You know it can't be wrong (2x)

Chorus:
Guns, hate, prison state
Take 'em away
Take 'em away for a brighter day
Peace, love, freedom, choice
Raise up your voice
Raise up your voice
Raise up your voice!

2. Everybody wants love...
3. Everybody wants freedom...
4. Everybody wants choice...
5. Everybody wants peace...

Chords
Verse
G C | G C | G C | G C | F   | C   | G C | G   |

Chorus
D   | C   | G C | G C | D   | C   | C   | F Bb | F Bb | F Bb | F Bb | G C | G C | G C | G   |

Love Song, pt 2

Read part 1 here (it's only 3 paragraphs).

-----

He asked how the show went. I was surprised, but I answered that it went great, that the crowd loved it—especially the girls in front. He said something that sounded like “naww” and leaned back into the sofa, but not before scooping a handful of almonds. He flicked one into his mouth and chewed slowly as his mind chewed and ticked and thought and processed. After chewing for a bit he sighed staring at the ceiling and said, “Missed a few changes here and there.”

random thoughts

we should not worry about getting into heaven; that is for the future. if we live a good, reverent life now, what need have we for worry?

-----

such friendliness and good feelings cannot be replicated anywhere but at a hippie concert, and it is here optimistic ideas about a utopian world are born: such acceptance, such fellowship, such commonality.

midnight blues

i don't live in rocky point anymore, but tonight this poem i wrote back in january popped into my head. thought i'd share.
 
A Night in Rocky Point

Couched in suburban anonymity
Through the night's chill
A cooler cat honks his way
Through Parker's land of birds
Feathery music tripping against the stars
Bars of melody
          of soul
A human wind
Briskly blowing into the ears
Hearing blues and reds and greens
Medicine much needed
to warm this aching heart

Far off in France the
Melody sways
Chassés in the ev'ning
But here it's free
It's dance unmetered
          unrhymed
But the rhythm's there
In the freezing air
An aire on the heir of the blues
Thrills to fill this night
Music lifting sunken souls
to flight


31 Jan 10

something new i'm working on

these are the introductory paragraphs to a short story i'm working on. right now it's called "Love Song."

-----

He was a singer of great renown, and when he sang the women sank into their sighs and longing. Long into the night, he'd sing for them his songs of love and loss, but mostly love. Of all the singers of love songs in the world, he was most assuredly the best as I watched him there, and the girls all around, sighing and longing and waiting for him to look their way, which he never did, since his eyes were usually closed or looking at the neck of his guitar or staring far off into another world. Even when he thanked them, he closed his eyes and said it with a small bow of his head, then walked off to rest in whatever room was provided for his resting.