Spiritual Journeys Today

This song is autobiographic and is a revamped version of the song I wrote in 2012. For a very long time, I kept my history of heavy drinking secret from nearly everyone, along with the shame I felt for having lost control of who I was and for the way I lived my life back then. I even considered suicide at times. I got over all this when God pushed me to preach a sermon about it in Christ United Methodist Church in Rochester, MN. It was perhaps the most freeing moment of my life. I have been talking about God’s intervention in my life ever since, in the hope that I can and have touched more than the one life I know I helped change that Sunday morning from the pulpit. The knowledge that I helped someone get out of the same alcoholic hole that I put myself into, led me to put the Emerson Drive’s “Moments” onto the SongShare list. Helping that person is truly one of my God-gifted personal “Moments”.

“The Blacksmith”

God, You stand at the forge, crafting my soul,
Repairing what’s broken, making me whole,
With hammer and tongs, with love and with care,
You’ll pound and You’ll polish and lay my soul bare,
Upon life’s anvil, You’ll shape and You’ll mold,
Me into something more precious than gold,
Tempered and sculpted by Your own loving hand,
Help me be your face, to my fellow man

In my darkest hours, times I lost all hope,
I turned to the bottle, when I couldn’t cope,
With the false gods I worshipped, with the fool I’d become
You called, I ignored you, continued to run,

Hell-bound for nowhere, at a drunk’s blinding pace,
All the while knowing I was losing life’s race
I crashed to rock bottom and cried out to You,
You answered and showed me a path that was new
God, was there a plan for me, a long, long time ago
Redemption, Lord, and usefulness, Lord, was it really so?
What single reason could You have to keep this soul alive
I now know your hand took the wheel, each evening when I’d drive

Smashed beyond consciousness, homeward I’d go
How I got there safely, Lord, only You know,
Why did you save me, from my living hell?
I think it’s because I’ve a story to tell

God, You stand at the forge, crafting my soul,
Repairing what’s broken making me whole,
With hammer and tongs, with love and with care,
You’ll pound and You’ll polish and lay my soul bare,
Upon life’s anvil, You’ll shape and You’ll mold,
Me into something more precious than gold,
Tempered and sculpted by Your own loving hand,
Help me be your face, to my fellow man

Help me be your face, to my fellow man!

Copyright 2026 John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.

This song was inspired by my dear friend, Ray, during a conversation we had at the mosque last week as we watched over our Muslim neighbors. Ray is one of the happiest people I’ve ever met…at all times. He asked me, “What if your life isn’t about you?” I couldn’t get my mind around the concept immediately but this evening, these words were given to me. Thanks, Ray!

May each of you feel and recognize God moving in your life, today and forever.

Your Life?

What if your life was never
Really about you?
Only about the effects
Of all the things you’ll ever do

Your influence on others
The ways you help them change
What would you do different?
How would you rearrange?

Your life
God’s gift
To God’s wondrous world

Your love
Your hope
The excitement that you hurl

At

Ev’ry flower
Ev’ry blade
Of green, green grass
God ever made

Ev’ry future
Ev’ry now
Ev’ry way
Ev’ry how

Every one is God’s child
Every imagination’s wild

Ev’ry right and
Ev’ry wrong
Ev’ry curse and
Ev’ry song

Your life
God’s gift
Your life
God’s love uplifts

What if your life was never
Really about you?
Only about the effects
Of all the things you’ll ever do

Your influence on others
The ways you help them change
What would you do different?
How would you rearrange?

Your life
God’s gift
Your life
God’s love uplifts

For each and ev’ry creature

All of life
All God’s gifts
All of life
God’s love uplifts

Your life?
God’s gift to the world!

Copyright 3/24/2026 John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.

This song flowed into being as I thought of my many friends with whom I share a great deal of time, wide ranging interests, a love of life, and love for each of them. The song is dedicated to Patrick, who always manages to surround himself with interesting people. People with a wide range of ages, backgrounds, jobs, interests, and lives. Unknown people and people whose faces are known by millions. Patrick’s love for people is only outshone by his love for dogs and his love for conversations with people and dogs. I was thinking about our Tuesday and Friday coffee meetings and these words came tumbling out, one after another. They raced through my mind and onto this page with only small pauses as I searched for a right or rhyming word. The thought of the conversations that brought these words to life and the thought of the people with whom I spend much of my time brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eyes, as I remember those with whom I can no longer speak face-to-face.

May you feel and recognize God’s hand moving in your life, today and always!

John

Connections

Connections are what happens
When two loose ends meet
Sparks may fly,
Common int’rests rise
When I see you
And you see me

Celebrate the mystery
It’s found through all of history
Friendship, love, and God,
Enthralling, captivating, odd
Endearing and exciting
So much so, at times it’s fright’ning

Why do I have so many friends?
Unlike most any other men
Mentors, Mentees, equals too
All people just like me and you

Drawn together as magnets are
By fascinations near and far
By topics ranging far in scope
Like love and hate and fear and hope
Back and forth, and here and there,
Through space and time and every where

Scintillating, complicating
Mind expanding, rushing, waiting
Formless, yet precise, exacting
Introspective, yet distracting
Filling up my days and nights
Yet somehow, always, feeling right

My thoughts and songs are drawn from these
Conversations that fulfill and please
The hours filled with laughs and cares
Always treasured, always shared
Who’d have thought retirement
Would simply mean my time well spent

With fam’ly that I’m so proud of
With people whom I’ve come to love
My son, my wife, my many friends
May this continue ‘til this life ends

God hear my thankful prayer!

Connections are what happens
When two loose ends meet
Sparks may fly,
Common int’rests rise
When I see you
And you see me

Copyright March 19, 2026. John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.

Lamentation 2026

Who’d have ever believed they’d be traitors
To the land of the red, white and blue
White sons of the greatest generation
They had us, they raised us, and now they’ve betrayed us
All the while watching FOX news

Racists and xenophobes
With their pointed hats, and old white robes
Camouflaged in their best clothes
As they head to church
Ev’ry Sunday morning

Heads buried in their Bibles
But they’re worshipping their rifles
Separating people just by race
Hating ‘Others’, craving space
For more of their own

Chanting Make America Great Again
Breaking all our laws, betraying friends
Heads in the sand as freedom ends
How can we ever stop them?
Can our country ever mend?

Use your voices, raise your signs
Resist the evil, now’s the time
To stand up for each one of God’s kin
We’re mostly immigrants, just like them
Strangers in this land we stole
Not so very long ago

Fascists are coming for us all
We must stand up, we mustn’t fall
For their filthy propaganda acts
We got to take our country back
We’ve got to stop racist attacks
And hatred, fear and murder on our streets

Get on your knees and start to pray
That we all find a better way
To be the face of God each day
To ev’ry one throughout our land
To do our part for the fam’ly of man
The way that God had always planned

Not how we’re doing it in 2026, here in the USA
We have got to make our country better, find God’s humane way
Rememb’ring ALL of us are God’s children, even when we stray
God, hear our prayers and guide us, Lord, right here, right now, today!

Copyright 2/7/2026 John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.

A bedtime lamentation on a night when my fears and hopefully righteous despair and anger found expression. May the words of my pen and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. I had been debating whether or not to ever publish this piece as the message could and likely will, cause hurt for some. After a prayerful discussion with Pastor Jenny Cannon, I have decided that, as with all my writings, it came from a place I share with God. A place where words I didn’t know were in me, come rushing out in a torrent, a rapid flood of thoughts and ideas, of words and of wonder.
Thanks, Jenny!

As Your Hands

As I review, all the people who have been
An influence and shaped what I believe
I start to realize how many You have sent
To help me grow up spiritually
My mom and dad, people who have always lived
Their lives each day to match what they believe
They put their trust in You and tithed inherently
They demonstrated living faith for me

As Your hands, they’ve molded me
As Your eyes, they’ve let me see
As Your guides, they’ve led me through
Those times when I, could not see You
As Your heart and soul and wisdom
They’ve made me understand
That without Your love, I’ll never be much more than just a man
With the knowledge of You that they have provided
I am a new being in You, free and excited
Spirit Lord

Preachers, teachers, friends, I’ve learned so much from them
About Your Word, the stories of your love
The things I now believe, changed much from way back when
Now I know you live, within, not above
My Christian mentors, who spend their precious time
In fellowship, share what they know of You
Living examples of, the way I want to be
Living, loving, serving, Lord praising You

As Your hands, they’ve molded me
As Your eyes, they’ve let me see
As Your guides, they’ve led me through
Those times when I, could not see You
As Your heart and soul and wisdom
They’ve made me understand
That without Your love, I’ll never be much more than just a man
With the knowledge of You that they have provided
I am a new being in You, free and excited
Spirit Lord

As Your hands, they’ve molded me
As Your eyes, they’ve let me see
As Your guides, they’ve led me through
Those times when I, could not see You
As Your heart and soul and wisdom
They’ve made me understand
That without Your love, I’ll never be much more than justa man
With the knowledge of You that they have provided
I am a new being in You, free and excited
Spirit Lord

Copyright December 2, 2011, February 12,2026 John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.

This song came to me this morning as I was thinking about meeting a friend
of mine, Lynn, for coffee later today. I hadn’t seen him in quite a while
and he called a few days ago to let me know he’d had an article published
in a local magazine. Lynn’s wife, Carla passed away in 2010, leaving a
gaping hole in his life. Carla loved Christmas and I knew the holiday
would likely be tough for him again this year. He wanted to meet for
coffee and he is one of my Christian friends who has been an inspiration
to me, so I said yes eagerly. I hadn’t read the article yet but I started
to think about those people who have been there for me over and over
again, taking time out of their busy lives, in spite of their own
problems, hurts and pain. God took over and in a little over an hour,
this is the result. I read the article twice on the way to work this
morning and cried both times. Awesome article, Lynn and thanks for the
inspiration yet again.

May you feel and recognize God moving in your life, today and forever.

Truth Is

I told so many lies
Back when alcohol ruled my whole life
These days I realize
The booze couldn’t ever set my heart free
Of the pain, the hurt I tried to hide
That tore me up so deep inside
Now I look each person in the eye
Truth is, the truth is so important to me

I lost so many friends
Relationships I’ll never mend
My heart aches once again
As I look back on life, I clearly see
I can’t change the wrongs I did back then
The memories I wish would end
The things I’d change but never can
Truth is, the truth just might be the death of me

God chased me endlessly
Through valleys dark, God hounded me
God called my name repeatedly
I ignored, denied, rejected ev’ry call
I cried, I sobbed, I rent my clothes
The drinking death, I’d picked, I’d chose
I was almost there, life’s end was so close
And then I stopped

God was there
Right by my side
I took God’s hand
Life turned around
Truth is, the truth is God’s love and grace saved me

I live and love today
God’s love and grace, they guide my way
From God’s love, I’ll never stray
As I go through my life, it’s clear to me
I will love God and I will obey
I will treat my neighbors the way
I’d want them to treat me each day
Truth is, God’s truth is the heart and soul of me

Truth is, God’s truth is so important to me!

Copyright February 7, 2026 John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.

I woke up this morning thinking about truth and lies. A couple of weeks ago, I made a decision not to attend some training concerning the political caucuses here in Minnesota despite being extremely interested and invested in the results of the coming mid-term elections, given the evil of Trump’s Republican administration. My reasons for not attending the training and the caucuses were based on the fact that I needed to sign a statement upon entering the caucus, that I consider myself to be a member of the democratic party. The problem is…I’m not a member of the Democratic party, or any political party. I remain a proud independent voter, doing my best to vote for the person that I feel could best serve the public in any given role. I have voted for third party candidates, even in presidential elections. My path through life has been difficult due to choices I made. Alcohol abuse played a major role in my lifestyle for more than a dozen years. When I finally got past those troubled days, during which I lied to everyone around me, pretty much constantly, I made a vow to myself that I would do my best not to lie anymore. Hence the dilemma around stating that I considered myself a member of the Democratic party and the reason I woke up this morning thinking about truth and lies. This song is a result of those thoughts.

May you feel and recognize God’s hand moving in your life, today and always!

John

Show Up

Show up, show up
As God’s face, just show up
Show up here, show up there
All the time, everywhere
Show up, show up
As God’s love, just show up

The powers of evil have shown up
Here in the land of the free
They’re kidnapping all kinds of people
They’re wearing masks, their faces we can’t see
Children of God
Yet thugs here on earth
I’d pray for them, God
But for words I must search

Due to:
My anger, my hate
My despair and my pain
I cry for relief
But my words seem in vain

Show up, show up
As God’s face, just show up
Show up here, show up there
All the time, everywhere
Show up, show up
As God’s love, just show up

People seeking power over others is
A sad and sick story of hatred and fear
But the cries of the voices for justice,
Is something these criminals can’t seem to hear
They maim and they kill, people’s hearts and their souls
Unencumbered by empathy, if truth be told
The racism shown t’ward folks brown and black
Is out of control, we need to step back
And become God’s face
Ev’rywhere, ev’ry place
Now, today

Show up, show up
As God’s face, just show up
Show up here, show up there
All the time, everywhere
Show up, show up
As God’s love, just show up

Demonstrate loud
Demonstrate proud
Demonstrate now
Demonstrate as a crowd
Show the world what God’s face looks like
Show the world what God’s love looks like

Show up, show up
As God’s face, just show up
Show up here, show up there
All the time, everywhere
Show up, show up
As God’s love, just show up

SHOW UP!

Copyright January 18, February2, 2026 John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.

As shown below, this song was started in the margins of a church bulletin, filling the margins surrounding the graphic being used for the current sermon series. I mostly write songs using electronic methods these days, but I had left my phone at home that morning. If you look closely, you’ll notice some word changes. I believe that by being witnesses to the evil being perpetuated by the Trump administration towards immigrants, in particular. We can turn the tide towards the justice and equality that every person deserves. Let’s get back to the Biblical basics and “Love God with all our hearts, and love our neighbors as ourselves” so…show up as God’s face and God’s love!

Voices

I’m hearing voices
They’re frightened, they’re scared
I look around
There’s nobody there
Some are loud, some are hushed
Most are filled with despair
People are hiding, they’re staying at home
Though things seem much worse when you’re there all alone

The voices keep coming, though I never dream
I started to wonder just what it might mean
I thought and I thought, and I prayed just a bit
For guidance, for wisdom, to make sense of this
The meaning seems clear now, as clear as a bell
The voices are people who aren’t doing well
They’re poor and they’re hungry, they’re cold and alone
They’re looking to find a true place of their own

These past few months, they’ve started to ponder
If America’s path is starting to wander
Away from its place as the land of the free
Have evil and hate spread, sea to shining sea?
Is this who we are, who we’ve become?
Half of us say so, half of us want none
None of the hatred, none of the attacks
None of the worry ‘bout who’s got our backs
None of the gunshots, none of the death
None of the anger, none of the rest
Of the ugly, disgusting vitriolic words
That recently all of us have frequently heard

We must make our way back to faith, love, empathy
Towards each single person in God’s family
For those of you who are a bit slow
That’s every person, just so you know
There are no exceptions, there are no exclusions
Take it from me, it’s my humble conclusion

That everyone is a child of God
It only makes sense, it’s really not odd
Everyone! All! The entirety
Of each person who’s lived, throughout eternity!

I’m hearing voices, so many hurting voices…

Copyright February 1, 2026. John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.

This morning, Ralph Schornack’s moving piano prelude started the flood that became the words above. His music was awesome. The service can be viewed at Sunday, February 1, 2026 Joint 10 AM Service at CUMC if you’d like to hear Ralph’s prelude or the entire service. I’m likely going to watch it myself as my attention was focused on writing this song.

Listen to my
🔉🔉Recording🔉🔉 of this. (Currently a poetry reading)