Redemption – Desperation, Part IV

[m/l van Dyk]

Johnny knows why he was spared in Vietnam

God has a reason for his sacrifice

Johnny knows David thinks it all will fall on him

But the message is clear and he knows he has a purpose

The writer descends into the heart of the mine

Down to the bottom of the well of souls

Falling through darkness, bloodied and broken

He spreads the explosives as death takes hold

Johnny stands a final time as his life slips away

Tak screams in anger and commands that he stop

But the heart of the unformed can no longer sway him

And he finishes his life’s last task

God can be everything, God can be cruel

Sometimes He makes us live

Carrying a burden for thirty three years

They are no longer his sins to forgive

With the smoke of the ini rising up in the sky

Destroyed by the power of daylight

The four survivors leave the nightmare behind them

And head toward the open highway

In the back of the car sits a folder of photos

Materializ4ed out of nowhere

The handwritten label says they’re from David’s school

But the writing is in Johnny’s hand

Two different lives. somehow intertwined

Two vantage points of a parallax view

Heaven and Earth, somehow connected

Giving a glimpse of the eternal truth

As he opened the folder, and pulls out the picture

Young David Carver’s astonished

The picture’s of Johnny and David’s dead sister

Although they have never met

In the picture they’re standing on the very street

Where David’s friend Brian lay dying in his arms

Written at their feet, are the words First John 4/8

And Mary asks David what it means.

God is Love

God can be everything, God can be cruel

Sometimes He makes us live

Carrying a burden for thirty three years

They are no longer his sins to forgive

God can be everything, God can be cruel

Sometimes He makes us live

Carrying a burden for thirty three years

They are no longer his sins to forgive