City on Our Knees

CITY

ON OUR

KNEES

City on Our Kness

Copyright © 2010 by Bethany House Publishers

Art direction by Paul Higdon.

Design by Lookout Design, Inc.

Manuscript prepared by Todd Hafer and Rick Killian.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Published by Bethany House Publishers

11400 Hampshire Avenue South

Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division of

Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

E-book edition created 2011

Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. × Scripture quotations identified CEV are from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright © American Bible Society 1995. Used by permission. × Scripture quotations identified ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. × Scripture marked GWT is taken from God’s Word®. © 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group. All rights reserved. × Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. × Scripture quotations identified MSG are from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. × Scripture quotations identified NCV are from The Holy Bible, New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas 75039. Used by permission. × Scripture quotations indentified NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. × Scripture quotations identified NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-4412-1351-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

"City is about a MOMENT

A moment that we all

come TOGETHER

And our DIFFERENCES FALL

by the wayside

And LOVE fills in the cracks

And we turn our attention

on what UNITES us.

That’s what I envisioned

when I wrote this song.

CITY IS ABOUT

A MOMENT,

AND THAT MOMENT

COULD BE NOW."

CONTENTS

City on Our Knees: Divided We Stand

The City of God: A City on Its Knees

SECTION ONE

IF WE GOTTA START SOMETIME, WHY NOT NOW? Step Across the Line

TobyMac Blog: Does Crossing the Line Mean Crossing the Globe?

The Bittersweet Story of Alexandra

Mysterious Ways

One Sunday Afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama

Keeping a Promise

Loose Change That Loosens Chains

Love From the Blind Side

Allyson Felix: A Runner Takes a Stand

A Pastor Undone

The Way of the Celt

Becoming a Living Martyr

SECTION TWO

TWO WORLDS COLLIDE: Out of the Comfort Zone . . . and Into the Light

TobyMac Blog: The Beautiful Collide

Of Poverty and Politics

What Love Looks Like

Through New Eyes

Chasing Little Miracles

From Comfort to Compassion: One Teen’s Story

Facing the Storms

Joined by Prayer

Searching for Nadia

Awakening

Give Me Souls, O God, or I Die!

SECTION THREE

WE ARE ONE CHOICE FROM TOGETHER: We Are Family

TobyMac Blog: A Family of Humanity

The Disarming Power of Peace

Charles Spurgeon’s Five Hundred Children

Prayer and Lightning

Prayers That Changed the Fate of Nations

A One-Way Ticket

From Small Beginnings

The Clapham Conspiracy

An Appointment With God

A Miracle on Fulton Street

The White Rose

SECTION FOUR

THROUGH THE FOG THERE IS HOPE IN THE DISTANCE: Hope Is Just a Prayer Away

TobyMac Blog: Jaded or Joyful?

Into the Jaws of Hell

When the End Is the Beginning

New Hope Academy: A City on Our Knees Goes to School

Prayer and Faith Alone

Jean Driscoll: The Chairwoman of Defying the Odds

A Word of Hope

If I Can Do Nothing Else, I Will Pray

Hope Rises From the Rubble in Haiti

CITY ON OUR KNEES:

DIVIDED WE STAND

It’s all love tonight

    When we step across the line

We can sail across the sea

    To a city with one King

        A city on our knees

WHEN YOU LOOK AROUND THE WORLD TODAY, the division is overwhelming. We are divided along so many lines. Rich/poor, black/white, liberal/conservative, male/female—the list could go on and on. Sadly, within the church you will see the same thing. Baptism, spiritual gifts, and style of worship are just a few of the things we are divided over.

There are elements of society that seek to separate, divide, and demean people, and these forces are at work continually. You can see these forces during a divorce, through cyberbullying, or even in the national health care debate. The bottom line is we are divided. We live in such a self-focused society, continually encouraged to stand up for ourselves and look out for number one, when actually we need to think of others, see their perspective, and look out for those who may not be able to look out for themselves. Sometimes instead of trying to be understood, we need to try to understand.

That’s one reason that, throughout my career, God has continued to put certain songs on my heart. Songs like One World, Diverse City, Colored People, and Walls express my hope of seeing humanity putting aside differences and loving well—of seeing people realize that we are better together. We can accomplish so much more in life when we spend our time and energy working with one another, striving for a common good.

One of my secrets to staying sharpened spiritually is walking with inspiring people. People who are in hotter pursuit of holiness than I am. It’s built-in accountability or peer pressure turned upside down. They make me want to love God and others more passionately.

I have been very fortunate to see great things happening where I live, in Franklin, Tennessee. God has been doing something very special here. One example is the church I attend, Strong Tower Bible Church (www.strongtowerbiblechurch.com). It is a multiracial church pastored by my close friend Chris Williamson, who has written the book One But Not the Same. The congregation is truly a Diverse City, and each week Pastor Chris leads us onward as we learn to walk together in oneness while celebrating our differences.

Then there is New Hope Academy (www.nhafranklin.org), another community in Franklin that you will hear more about later on. It brings together the poor and the affluent, realizing that both will remain impoverished and underprivileged unless they come together and tear down the walls that constrain us.

In Franklin we also have one of the answers to the national health crisis. Dr. Tim Henschel from Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital felt called to provide pediatric care to children who could not afford it, so he worked with the community to open Mercy Children’s Clinic (www.mercytn.org). Today it is a thriving clinic that has seen over 9,500 children.

Other examples include The Red Road (www.theredroad.org), a much needed ministry to Native Americans, and Hard Bargain Mount Hope Redevelopment (www.hardbargain.org), which builds, repairs, and restores homes for those who otherwise could not afford it.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. In this day and age when it always seems like somebody is against somebody else, people can lay their differences down, come together, and search for the answers.

The answers don’t always come easily, but one thing I do know is this: If we hope to find Truth, we will find it when we come together and fall on our knees.

This brings me to City on Our Knees. Of the dozens and dozens of songs I’ve written over the years, this one is uniquely special to me. It says all I have wanted to say in a song in a passionate, artistic way. It sums up what my career, my life, have been about: People rising above their differences and coming together in God’s love. People letting down their guard and stepping across the lines that separate us. We become one people, worshiping one God. It’s a vision of a dream moment for me. I’ve been asked Why should we come together? In response I always describe a life of diversity in one word—rich. Life is fuller when we are together. When I have embraced people who grew up differently than I did, who don’t look like me, or who don’t have the same financial resources I have, my life has been enriched. You’ll see this truth time and time again in the pages of this book.

It’s no accident that one of the sections in this book is We Are Family. One line in City on Our Knees says, We are one choice from together / We’re family. I’m a husband and a father, and that word, family, means a lot to me. I have my own little Diverse City. My Jamaican-born wife, Amanda, and I have five Jamerican children running around the house. Members of a family sometimes have their differences, but in a strong family, people are secure in each other’s love, even in the middle of conflict. That’s what holds everything together. That is the foundation. And that is the image of unity and love I wanted to portray in City on Our Knees.

Given how personal City on Our Knees is to me, you might be surprised that it came to me while I was writing a song for another band. During a writing session in my studio with two friends I write with often, Cary Barlowe and Jamie Moore, I felt something special starting to take shape, but I told myself, No, this isn’t a TobyMac song. I kept fighting what was happening.

But sometimes a song is bigger than you are. So I took a break from writing for the other band, made some coffee, grabbed a pen and paper, and got to work. It usually takes me a long time to write a song. (All together, I spent two and a half years working on the songs for my latest album, Tonight.) But this time I literally couldn’t stop my pen, and Jamie and Cary were right there with me. I quit wrestling with God and just let Him breathe through me. And the words started pouring out of me like crazy. It was a fast write. The whole process only took about twenty-five minutes. I was just a vessel, privileged to be a part of it.

This book in your hands reflects the heart of the song. The stories are not mine, but are stories of people who have stepped across their own lines—lines of discrimination, persecution, doubt, prejudice, pride, bitterness, self-isolation, and despair. As you read, I hope you’ll be inspired to see how just one person, or one small group, can be a mechanism for change.

This isn’t a book of philosophies. It’s a collection of powerful stories that show what life can look like when people step out in courage and in love, and strengthen the family of God. I hope these stories will inspire you to create a story of your own.

As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.

—PSALM 48:8 NIV

THE CITY OF GOD:

A CITY ON

ITS KNEES

IN THE EARLY FIFTH CENTURY, as the Roman Empire was crumbling and Europe was fading into the shadows of the Dark Ages, Christianity was under attack, much as it is today. Many pointed to Christianity, which had become Rome’s official state religion under Constantine the Great roughly a century before, as the cause of Rome’s collapse. These critics contended that Christian bigotry undermined people’s freedom to practice other religions—or to be subject to the dictates of their consciences. They pointed to the Christian faith as divisive and claimed that its lack of widespread acceptance created the crack that divided the empire and made it vulnerable to barbarian attacks.

In response to this criticism, Christian leader Augustine of Hippo wrote The City of God. This book made two major main points:

(1) Immorality and corruption, not Christianity, led to Rome’s collapse.

(2) All the world was defined, in essence, by the laws and culture of two metaphorical cities, the city of man and the city of God. Augustine explained how, from the time of Adam, the city of God had worked to rescue and prosper all humankind. It worked to transform selfishness, exploitation, and greed—itself ruled by its lust of rule—into peace, justice, and joyful communion.

Augustine pointed to the city of God as a place that transcends time and space, culture, ethnicity, and nationality. It is not defined by adherence to a certain set of practices and regulations, a particular way of dressing, or even belonging to the right organization or hanging with the right crowd. Instead, Augustine wrote, the city was defined by an inner pursuit of goodness and outward demonstrations of generosity. The inhabitants of the city of God are those who bow their knees to Jesus and join hands with any others willing to do the same.

Further, Augustine proclaimed that citizens of this city would focus their prayers and actions on dismantling a world of sickness, exploitation, violence, abuse, and poverty—and replacing it with a world of freedom, peace, and dignity. The city of God is marked by pursuit of knowing God and living in His ways.

Augustine wrote,