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Promised Land

by John Lucas

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1.
Your warmth comes in the early spring With hope like snow still clinging to the ground And miracles, they rise up all around All for you, everything is made new And we will jump for joy through the dewy soil As you lay me down in peace In the fields where I’ve toiled And we will rise with barefooted abandon And I will chase the depths of your heart Oh the depths of your heart And we will laugh as we run without tiring A lion and a boy who both can’t stop smiling And we will bound mountains with a single leap As you shout your promises That you always keep And we open up our mouths, our mouths to sing But what echoes is just one mighty roar And you delight more than ever before For I’m not the boy I was Anymore We’re lions, we’re lions You and I And I don’t need a looking glass Or the praise of men, for it will pass I know the roar now inside my chest I claim this love, you can have the rest We’re lions, we’re lions You and I
2.
Love Is Kind 04:25
How come love was simpler when I could barely stand? Worrying was harder when I had to hold your hand ‘Cause my two feet hadn’t yet learned how to walk And my own voice hadn’t yet come out to talk But I knew love because I knew you And I believed that everything you told me Would come out true ‘Cause love is patient, and love is kind Love delights in the truth and is all you need to find But as I grew older I learned to complicate Things you made so simple and I did some things I hate And I became so afraid of making mistakes ‘Cause one hard fall is all that it takes To make you question the man you thought you’d be And I began to question the bright things you see in me But love is patient, and love is kind Love doesn’t keep a record of what’s behind And I’ve heard my strength comes from your joy Maybe that’s why I felt stronger when I was a boy Maybe I grew up too fast, or maybe I never did But I learned to bury and to chain And from you I ran and hid You know I want to finish strong But I’m having trouble at the start And I’ve forgotten where to dig To unearth my beating heart But love is patient, and love is kind Love revives the heart and transforms the mind And you say, son, throw your delight on me And you’ll become the man you want to be And my love will never fail you And always remember That love is kind
3.
We came to the water Sinners all were we For we’d heard a man could be reborn And then he’d be set free Oh I’ve never done hard time But I’ve had a few And some of the wrongs that I have done Would make you shift in your Sunday pew And I am oft’ intoxicated On sorrow and my shame And guilt makes a right fine prison cell When you’re afraid of your own name _ We came to the stream of life As clear as glass and as cold as ice And my heart sank as I looked in But I’d a pint of faith and I’d rolled my dice On the water so sweet that was just ankle deep But we had prisons to bury So we rolled our clothes and braced for the cold To leave all that we had to carry And we dammed the water that frees the damned And we dug the stones from the riverbed In the stream of life we formed a coffin And I’d be damned if that water didn’t cover my head _ We drowned the young and old in that sea of grace But we all rose the same We splashed like children, we did, in that sea of grace And we danced in the forest like flames Grace was enough and grace is enough And grace always will be More than enough to change an old man young And an ankle-deep stream to a sea Grace can’t be bought and grace can’t be sold Not for the wages of a thousand days Grace is the gift of a King who longs For His children to see they’re not slaves And grace gets deeper the more you trust That the King is good and the King is just And that naked forgiveness is stronger than the grave And sometimes grace takes clearing stones With a weary heart and aching bones To prove to that new child it was worth it all Roll away the stones Roll away the stones Roll away the stones And come alive
4.
Love will bring you to your knees To sow the seeds of grace Your heart I’ve made of earth and sea And your eyes are time and space Like a carpenter I carved your hands From driftwood from the deep And I placed my veins inside your dreams To woo you while you sleep And in your heart I've placed a journey And like a garden it will grow And when you taste the fruits of bravery I will part the seas below I composed your bones from symphonies And I danced to form your name From the womb you leapt in innocence And your innocence remains For I’ve ransomed you upon my blood From the wilderness of pain With fire by night I’ll lead you home And you’ll know you’re mine again And in your heart I've placed a journey And like a garden it will grow And when you taste the fruits of bravery I will part the seas below Your heart is my promised land
5.
Time 05:45
My heart has known the winters And my feet have known the snow But mine eyes have seen the glory Of a seed begin to grow There is a time to uproot, darling But most days just hold on tight For there’s a time for darkness, honey But dawn will always beat the night Sometimes death will come calling When you’ve been good and warned And other times its cold hands will cradle Dreams yet to be born There is a time to dance on sorrow And a time to kiss her cheek There is a time to mourn in silence But justice aches to hear you speak And I don’t know the end, or tomorrow’s story But I have found the one who gives me rest And I will make my bed in His promises For He holds true when nothing’s left...When nothing’s left There is a time when laughter will echo Through your halls of peace But war is known to change your locks And carry off the family keys There is a time for healing and pain A time for drought and a time for rain There is a time for everything Until we crown the risen King…Until we crown the risen King And I don’t know the end, or tomorrow’s story But I have found the one who gives me rest And I will make my bed in His promises For He holds true when nothing’s left...When nothing’s left So crown Him in your mourning And crown Him in your laughter And crown Him when it all turns dark Crown Him when you bury And crown Him when you marry And crown Him when your faith finds a spark Crown Him for He’s faithful And crown Him for He’s worthy And crown Him for He is good Crown Him for His promises Cut through the blindness Of children that have barely understood The beauty that has come And the beauty yet to come And the beauty that is yours and that is mine And that death produces life And that we are made alive By the King who paints beauty with time By the King who paints beauty with time By the King who paints beauty with time And I don’t know the end, or tomorrow’s story But I have found the one who gives me rest And I will make my bed in His promises For He holds true when nothing’s left...When nothing’s left
6.
I want to live simply like my father He never has much been for colors But I think That his colors are his children And I want to live fearlessly Believing nothing could ever hurt me If I’d just love If I’d just love relentlessly And I don’t have an extravagant plan For who I’ll be when I’m an older man But the best adventures Follow no maps And when I was born a quilt was sewn By the one who held my father Before he had grown Before he’d met my mother And more were made as our family grew A name is just a name But it holds me to you For there’s love in every letter And my name says that I am light And I want to learn how to fight For the ones This dark world has barred from hope And I want to see with clear eyes To see beauty underneath Every painful disguise I want the bravery to dream But it’s not the coat that makes the dreamer Nor the stitches of a quilt It’s not the colors that you wear, son It’s the colors that you’ve spilled When you fight When you fight When you fight Fight for love
7.
Dance past the whitewashed tombs And make way for the Bridegroom Oh He’s come to bring life to the dead Dance past the dry wells And run from the desert’s curses and spells For you will never thirst again Can you find a righteous man? Do you know a faultless land? Oh He’s come to wipe our records clean Hear the ring of the fallen chains See the world forget its aches and pains At the mention of His very name Come on and dance like a child Come on and dance like a man whose heart’s gone wild Come and dance like a river to the sea Come on and dance, ‘cause you have been set free Hear the march of the victor’s feet Hear the thunder of His heart as it beats For the taking of His bride And He has prepared a place Where we’ll finally see His face And we’ll be lifted from our knees Come on and dance like a child Come on and dance like a man whose heart’s gone wild Come and dance like a river to the sea Come on and dance, ‘cause you have been set free Let the filthy dance with the righteous Let the filthy dance with the righteous He’s covered our shame with His blood and a wedding ring So dance, come on dance…On your own graves Oh dance, come on dance…He calls us lovers, not slaves He makes the shamed beautiful He makes the broken whole He makes the darkness turn and flee
8.
You are the one who holds The ring of my love You are the one whose whispers Kiss my very heart And in your embrace my walls crumble apart My walls, my walls crumble apart You are the one I will dream with While our coffee steams You are the one I will dance with To the melodies of dreams And I will sing you to sleep each night And I will wake by your side Through every pain and sorrow Through the adventure of tomorrow Through the joy of every morning My love will be yours You are the one I will hold tight Through every winter wind You are the one that I will cover Through every storm that’s sent To prove that love endures all things Oh love endures all things Through every pain and sorrow Through the adventure of tomorrow Through the joy of every morning My love will be yours
9.
The Entrance 05:19
Gather the saints in the mist Beneath our favorite tree And forge your vows in stone And from the roots beneath And measure out my tent And the tables where we’ll feast And invite the stars for dancing For when the shadows have journeyed east Go on, go on Go on, go on and say I do And remember the treasure you glimpse When you’ve glimpsed my heart for you And I will keep you like a promise Stored beneath my wings As you camp beside my mountains And wait for my heart’s strings And I will call you with thunder to return To return to the tree And there I will meet you without mist Without mist or mystery Go on, go on Go on, go on and say I do And remember the treasure you glimpse When you’ve glimpsed my heart for you And time itself will paralyze To take in every moment Of the entrance of the promise Of love untold or ever spoken And with wildflowers The angels will sew our hearts as one But neither angels nor demons can ever cut Can ever cut the knots undone Go on, go on Go on, go on and say I do And remember the treasure you glimpse When you’ve glimpsed my heart for you
10.
Close your eyes, my darling And let me sweep you off your feet There’s a home in the meadow And it’s a home you ought to meet This will be our threshold To our home of joy and peace This will be the place Where our sorrows are released I know the walls are for now a little empty But you’ve the eye of an artist So let’s paint the walls with laughter Until not a spot is missed Entwine your treasures on the shelves with mine And hang your dresses by the mirror I’ve never heard my heart sing The way it is now that you’re here This, oh this, this will be our home For tonight let’s leave the dishes in the sink And our shoes by the bottom stair For dancin’ in the kitchen’s better When your feet are bare And one day we’ll own a piano And a fireplace where all the music will go Up through the chimney Oh we’ll play for all the stars This, oh this, this will be our home And one day we’ll add a room or two For little feet to come pattering through But for now, this home will just hold me and you And our home may soon change places As we bound mountains And walk on oceans without fear But for now our adventure lies here Oh for now, our adventure lies here This, oh this, this will be our home. This, oh this, this is our home.
11.
The Return 06:56
I miss the days before every love song had been writ And every story penned Another mind hadn’t beat you to it I miss the days before every land had been mapped When you could go explore And know the world was still untapped I miss the days before men couldn’t outwit God When He still spoke to us And we still spoke to God I miss the days before men could do everything When we still dreamed like birds Before we forged our wings Oh when did we stop missing things? When did we trade our garden and the King of Kings For a land that’s bare and a God that’s blind How can we not yearn for what’s behind? I miss the days before rings came off so easy When I could promise you And believe that you believed me I miss the days before everything had a price When we couldn’t count the cost Of every single sacrifice I miss the days before we all had useless hands When our tools were young And hadn’t yet raped our lands I miss the days before we knew when rain would fall When we’d plant seeds with hope And now we don’t hope at all Oh when did we stop missing things? When did we trade our garden and the King of Kings For a land that’s bare and a God that’s blind How can we not yearn for what’s behind? But I’ve heard whispers that this earth Holds the deepest mysteries yet Oh I’ve heard whispers when I listen to the trees And I’ve tasted eternity A sweetness my tongue has never known I’ve felt an ache deep down in my bones That proves there’s something more (Where are you? Where are you?) And I’ve heard laughter rolling from the canyons Laughter at the man who claims to hold more wisdom Than the One who stretched the heavens And treads upon the sea And I’ve heard the song of the return A song as pure as light Sung by a King with eyes that burn For a bride to be taken in the night So maybe the past isn’t what I’m truly missing Maybe I’m missing what’s to come Or maybe eternity has already begun
12.
Come and find me / Come and find me In the wild places / That can’t be tamed Come and find me / Come and find me In the bars of a prison / Where my sons are chained Come and feast / With the hungry And dine with me / Among outlaws and thieves Come and trace my veins / In an old oak tree And in the rivers that run / Into my seas Come and find me / On every unknown street And in every song / That leads you home Come and kiss my face / On a newborn’s feet Come and fall in love / Like you’ve never known Come and fall In love again, for the first time

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released May 15, 2015

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John Lucas Boone, North Carolina

John Lucas is a singer-songwriter from the mountains of NC.

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