Those Who Serve in Jesus Name

What is the reward for serving students for 34 years?

Besides the holy moments of laughter, love and tears.

 

Did it make a difference? Did it really matter at all?

Or was it just a passing phase between these same four walls?

 

Did I give my life for Him that I know died for me?

Did I give Him everything to help the world to see

 

The beauty of His lasting peace

The price of nailed scarred hands

A light thats shines so brightly to the shores of foreign lands.

 

Im asking all these questions because today I shut the door

Pack my bags and walk away from all Ive known before.

 

But oh I heard His loving voice in the quietness of my soul

That I shall treasure all my life as I am growing old

The words were strong and clear my friend

They ring within my heart

“Those you serve in Jesus name will never grow apart.”

 

My family will be there to fill my empty days

And all the friends who I have shared will never go away.

 

The students who have walked these halls who I have loved so dear

Will share the Gospel story with those far away and near

 

Yes thats why I am living

The reason for my life

To strengthen people giving

And turn darkness into light.

 

And though I never say it

I whispered to myself

“My tropies are in peoples hearts and not upon a shelf.”

 

So celebrate this moment with tears and cries of joy

Lift your arms to heaven and with all your might employ

 

That a life lived in Jesus name is a life well lived indeed

Cause every gift that we receive and ever mouth we feed

 

Defines a life of love my friend

And this I know is true

All Ive done in Jesus name made all our dreams come true.

 

So Im walking out Fite building

In the quietness all alone

As I look over my shoulder

I hear Him say once more

 

Well done good and faithful servant

Im thankful for your heart

and those you served in Jesus name will never grow apart.

Yes those you serve in Jesus name will stay there in your heart.

 

 

Written in love and respect on the occasion of Phyllis Turner’s Retirement after 34 years of service at Carson-Newman College by Danny Nicholson

The Church Parking lot

Every Sunday morning, I went to hear the Word

After listening to the sermon, Id tell others what I heard

 

But when I left this morning, Much to my surprise

I met Jesus in the parking lot and he took me to the skies

 

He met me at the pearly gates and he welcomed me home

He told me I would hurt no more and Id never be alone

 

Did you ever dream of meeting Jesus in a church parking lot?

On an ordinary day

Or leave your family suddenly, Without a word to say

 

But dont cry for me my friends cause I’m  in a better place

I will see you one day soon and then face to face

 

We’ll understand life’s brevity with all its up and downs

We’ll see the plan that God reveals, Without a sight or sound

 

And all the mystery of Love, All the pain and strife

Will change within a moment and we will finally see the light

From that golden parking lot that shines within the night

 

We’ll see that life was just a passage where we decide who we love

We’ll hear the angels singing and dance in the stars above

 

Yes, its hard to understand I know while standing in this spot

But theres no better place to meet Jesus than the church parking lot

 

Cause no matter where you go, No matter what you do

When you finally meet your Savior all your dreams come true

 

Goodbye – Farewell my friends, Ill see you in the sky

And then this tragic ending will make us smile; not cry

Tears will turn to joy and death will turn to life

 

So rest in peace you precious souls cause I will see you soon

Get ready for that special day when we’ll dance around the moon

 

Yes, its hard to understand I know while standing in this spot

But theres no better place to meet Jesus than the church parking lot.

This is My Dream for You

Where in the World can My Baby Girl find riches beyond all her dreams?

 

Where in the World can Diamonds and Pearls be replaced by the Love that You bring?

Tell me Where in the World can My Baby Girl make all of her dreams come true?

It comes from the Love that’s found up above

And this is My Dream for You

This is My Dream for You.

 

Where in the World can the flag be unfurled like Peace blowing in the wind?

Where in this life can anger and strife be replaced with a Love that’s within?

Tell me Where in the World can My Baby Girl make all of her dreams come true

It comes from the Love that’s found up above

And this is My Dream for You

This is My Dream for You.

 

So go down into the water and wash away all of your sins

And Rise to the Light in the midst of the night

And begin your new Life again

Begin your new Life again.

 

Where in your heart can you find a start that washes away all of your past?

Where in your soul can the story be retold with a Love that will always last?

Tell me Where in the World can My Baby Girl make all of her Dreams come tru

It comes from the Love that’s found up above

And this is My Dream for You

This is My Dream for You.

 

Goodbye Old Friend

You never really said that you were leaving
But i knew when I looked into your eyes
This would be the last time I would see you
So I kissed you gently and said goodbye

Goodbye old friend
Its been a good one
Now you can go and dance around the moon
Tell Grandpa and the family that we miss them
I will see you in the stars again real soon
I will see you in the stars again real soon

Last night we gathered on the front porch
And we sang to the stars up above
And I swear I heard your voice come down from Heaven
It was singing that familiar song of Love

Goodbye old friend
Its been a good one
Now I can see you dancing around the moon
Keep singing with the angels up in Heaven
I will see you in the stars again real soon
I will see you in the stars again real soon

Sometimes the stars up in the sky
Put on a show….what a beautiful sight
And when I finally say good night
I think of you
I think of you

Goodbye old friend
Its been a good one
Now I can see you dancing around the moon
Keep singing with the angels up in heaven
I will see you in the stars again real soon
I will see you in the stars again real soon

The Tree of Life

“Pretend that life is nothing but a tree and its growing constantly

And all your responsibility is to stand strong and grow in peace.”

 

As I started the encore song for my final set, the crowd erupted and I felt the connection between their hearts and mine. As I finished the song and I walked off stage, I knew I had found myself. I was exactly where I belong. But as I walked down the long, dark corridor back to my dressing room, I saw a myriad of memories flash across the movie screen within my mind. It had been a long, hard road and the moment transported me back to my childhood……and there I stood before that old tree in my backyard. The place where I was born.

 

The tree my daddy had planted so many years ago was my friend. In the summer, it provided shade to sit under. In the fall, it was painted with colorful leaves that danced in the wind. In the spring, it turned green and I would climb to its highest place and hide from the world. It was a treehouse, a high pole that held the sail for my pirate ship, it was a song when the wind blew though the limbs and leaves. It was my constant companion and encouraged me to think and say all that was on my heart and mind. It listened and provided a place of solitude for my imagination and yearnings of the soul. I watched it in the night hold the moon in its hand and in the day it held the treehouse in which my friends and I played card games and spin the bottle with the girls in the neighborhood. It was always there.

 

As I grew older, it was the shade near the old basketball court where we would slice the watermelon open after a hard fought battle and even served as a place of silence where I figured out all the hard times in high school. I said goodbye to my old friend when I left for college because no one knew me like the dancing giant in my backyard. I remember watching it in my rearview mirror when I drove away to college. I swear I heard it crying when I pulled out the driveway. The limbs waving goodbye in the wind. The swing hanging off the lowest limb was rocking to and fro as I made my last glimpse over my shoulder.

 

To my surprise, the old tree was gone when I came back for Christmas break from college. My dad had made a decision to cut it down and my heart was broken when I saw the empty yard. He said, “The old tree was dying and we had to cut her down.” There was a sadness in his heart too. “Who cut the tree down dad? I asked. “Mr Johnson, the man down the street who was a carpenter of sorts ask if he could do the work for us. The old man said that he thought the old tree would be useful for a couple of projects he had in mind. The next day I walked down to mr. Johnson’s home and knocked on the door. He answered the door as polite and gentle as he always did and said, “May i help you son?” “Yes sir” I said. “My dad said you cut down the old tree in my backyard and I have come to see what you did with her? He paused and said, ” She was good for a few pieces of furniture” and he showed me a chair and table that he had created. Then he pointed to the corner of his room where a beautiful guitar sat on a stand. “The guitar was carved out of the heart of the tree. It was the perfect size for the prize piece…..a beautifully constructed instrument.” I stood and stared at the workmanship of my childhood dreams and there was a moment of silence where i think the old man heard everything that was being said in my heart. He walked across the room and picked up the guitar. Then he did something that I will never forget. He handed it to me. “This is for you my son.” I gasped and said, “For me?” “Yes”, he said. “The guitar is a gift to you.” I could tell he understood what this old tree meant to me and he wanted me to hold the cradle of my childhood memories in my hands.

 

I will never forget that moment. I began to play around with the guitar that evening and I swear the sounds that came out of it were sweeter than anything I have ever heard in my life. The sounds gave me that same soothing feeling I had when I was a young boy in the tree. In fact, I could almost hear the wind blowing across my backyard when I played the chords. I did not put it down for days and as soon as I returned to college, I found a classmate that began to show me how to play. I played night and day and soon the sounds started to remind me of all the memories of my younger days. I scribbled down on a piece of paper these images in my mind and heart. Before long, my friends and family began to ask me to sing these songs for parties and gatherings and it never cease to amaze me how many people said they felt the same way I did. They cried and laughed when I sang and it made me feel like I was in my backyard with my old friend every time I played. Soon I was recording my songs to give to others and in a few years I was standing in front of thousands singing, for the most part, about my childhood dreams.

 

Sometimes I wonder, when I am on stage, if the old tree is still not talking to me about those wonderful moments in the summer when I rested under her branches. It seems everyone has a tree in their backyard……a place where their memories speak to them about days gone by. I think that which holds our memories….holds our future or at least hold the substance of all we are and all we become. In my case, the tree held and unveiled all that I longed for in my life. A place to remember all that I hold dear. A place for others to remember the same things. It begs me to ask the question, ‘Is everyone looking for a way back to their childhood memories? Are all the sounds, stories, songs, and poems trying to recapture what once was innocent and white as snow?  Do we long to return there more than anything in our lives? I found my dreams in a tree in my backyard. Dorothy found her home in Kansas. Is there a thread of truth running through humanity that always brings us home? I dont know…..but I know one thing. My life was born in the tree that my daddy planted a long time ago. The sounds of my music were planted in my own backyard and as far as I travel to sing and perform…..I still feel like I am right at home. I think the people that pay to hear my music are just trying to hear the sounds of their childhood one more time……and I know am trying to hear mine.

 

My first son was born a couple of years ago. I sing him to sleep at night with that same old guitar made from the tree. He has grown up so fast and the years are blowing by faster than I ever dreamed. Yesterday, we walked outside to the backyard and I held his little feet in my hands as I lifted him up to reach the branch of the tree in our backyard. I wondered then….is my son reaching for the tree? Or is he beginning the first step of the rest of his life?

 

“Pretend that life is nothing but a tree and its growing constantly

And all your responsibility is to stand strong and grow in peace.”

 

 

 

 

Summertime Again

Its Thanksgiving in Colorado

And I woke up all alone

The cold November wind is blowing

So I called you on the phone

We talked about the time we shared

The sound of your sweet, sweet voice

Will keep me warm until Im home

Oh the thought of you warms my heart

Though Im cold and all alone

All the times we lfet behind

Will keep me warm until Im home

And its good to know in winter time

You will always be my friend

And that will keep me warm

Til its summertime again.

So place those memories in the fireplace

Just enough to warm my soul

Ill just pull them out one more time

Cause my heart is frozen cold

As the flames rise and dance inside

I pray warmth will see me through

And keep me holding on til the sun will shine

And all my dreams come true

Oh yes seasons come and seasons go

But summertime is when

I come home to Carolina

And hold my dreams again

Yes the thought of you warms my heart

Though Im cold and all alone

All the times we left behind

Will keep me warm until Im home

And its good to know in wintertime

You always have a friend

And that will keep me warm til

Its summertime again

A Servants Prayer

We come here today to celebrate the heart of the servant

To thank those who have approached the threshold of God with hammer in hand

To lift up those who have raised a paint brush to Heaven and translated their work into worship

For every nail in the wood

Every shingle in the roof

Every new window that children see the world through

We thank you for these servants of work, worship, and love.

Now to the servant hands of the carpenter

Who bore the nails of our redemption

Who as Creator constructed the world in which we live and prepares a mansion in Heaven even as we speak

We give thanks…..

Build through us oh God a world of peace and unity

A Home that is a light on the hill

So that on the daay of Your return – You might say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Your work on earth is finished.

In the Name of Love

One by one….I called out their names
The sound fell to silence cause no one remained
But I know that He heard me
Cause He lost a son
To a war He created and had already won

One by One they lowered them down
No one was there when they were placed in the ground
No one remembered….cause no one was there
But God as my witness I heard them singing this prayer

In the Name of Love
In the Name of Love
You will not be forgotten
In the Name of Love
Your name will be spoken by the Father above
He’ll call out your name
In the Name of Love

Ashes to Glory

Burn it down to the ground

And watch it rise back up again

Foolish pride will bring you down

To a place you’ve never been

You will fly to the sky

When you’re ready to ascend


And the Ashes will turn to Glory once again.



They flew those planes into the buildings

They fell down like waters flow

To the ground so the people

In their hearts would always know

That the ruins of a nation

Will come alive in the end


And the Ashes will turn to Glory once again



Bridge



Oh the the dreams of a nation

Oh the life of just one soul

Has to die to begin


Then the Ashes will turn to Glory once again 

When You Were Born

Before you were born
Before you were formed in the heart of me
You were a part of me
And only God know how I loved you then

Even when Id never held you tight
Or watched you sleep within the night
Or seen your mother’s smile within your eyes
What a pleasant surprise

When you were born
I loved you more than words can say
Your little hands
Your simple ways
They opened the door to my heart
When you were born God blessed the day I heard the news
My skies of gray and clouds of blue faded away
When you were born…When you were born

You came in with the sun
You brought the morning light
You stole away the darkness
A shining star within the night
You gave me everything that life is all about
You filled my empty heart and washed away my doubts

Danny Nicholson
Written at the birth of my first son, Daniel Taylor Nicholson
Dedicated to Bryson and Taylor
1989