Church Planter Anthems | I Just Wanna Get There by JHP

Living the lyrics of Jackie Hill Perry's "I Just Wanna Get There" as a church plant, and pastor, and learning that trusting in Jesus is ultimately The Art of Joy

For previous church planter anthems that I've written about in the past, check these out:

• Church Planter Anthems Part 1 of 3 | Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)
• Church Planter Anthems Part 2 of 3 | God I Look to You
• Church Planter Anthems Part 3 of 3 | Redeemed to Redeem

Despite Propaganda's Crimson Cord and Lecrae's Anomaly being two great hip hop albums that were dropped in 2014 – and with both dropping songs that will be part of this phase 2 – still lately I have been returning to Jackie Hill Perry's The Art of Joy again and again. Part of the reason is because Jackie brings together some of the lyricism of Lauryn Hill with beats that could be pulled off some of The Roots recent tracks. Proof is in the pudding with songs "The Solution" and "The Art of Joy." And those are just a taste. As it says on Humble Beast's website, "The Art of Joy is an album that will call you to introspection, reflection, and worship. Jackie Hill Perry’s thoughtfully painted portrayal of the Gospel directs the listener to seek out joy that is not dependent on our circumstances, but what Christ has accomplished on our behalf."

But another reason is because "I Just Wanna Get There" is providing a great soundtrack to my life right now.

Having dreams for what I hope God desires to do with Emmaus City is sometimes hard to hold loosely. God wants us to be laborers who see many people in Worcester as potentially ready to receive Jesus. And just like Paul, and Timothy, and others who have been faithful before, He wants us to walk in step with the Spirit and do the hard, good work of sharing and showing the good news to those who have never heard it, those who will reject it, as well as those who will receive it. And too often, I don't want to endure the suffering necessary for me to become more like Jesus. I have to come to realize and believe again and again that God's grace again is what will change those I am being sent to, as well as myself. 

So I just wanna get there, and too often "there" is the easiest and the quickest road in my own strength, not the long and narrow, yet grace-filled road in Jesus' strength. In listening to Jackie's lyrics, I'm reminded again that He's using all of my calling, and desires, and experiences, and successes, and failures, and hopes, and fears, and strivings to make me and Emmaus City more like Jesus. I want my confidence to be in Him and however, whenever, wherever He chooses to make us better according to His great, good, gracious, and glorious plan.

"I Just Wanna Get There" lyrics from the album The Art of Joy

By Jackie Hill Perry

(I just wanna get there.) God, You're making me better. You're making me better. And You choose to do it however, whenever, wherever.

You don't know what I've been through, don't know what I've been through

When the pain cuts deep, cuts deep.
You would think it was a Ginsu,

And with me as the meat on the menu.
...

Trying to find joy in the midst, this don't seem that simple.

'Cause I do what I don't want to do when what I don't want I do,

And I do what I don't want to do and what I want to do I don't do.

It's me, not You.

And it seems I'm not true

...
Pleased in things that are not You

Seeing things that are not true, man,

Can't fight the fight because I'm too mad.
....
  My vision, so distracted by tension,
Condemnation, placing faith in the weight of my sickness.
Life's prescription is distant.
Wait, my Physician is living.
His finish was the grace for my prison.
 ...
 I'm raised in His image,
It's the penicillin for the snake and his venom.
I race and I'm tempted,
I race and I'm trippin',
My behavior like I wasn't raised from the crypt.
I got to face it, I'm sick. 
Then I get a face of me waiting for me to see Jesus
And gaze at His face until I get (there) ...

(I just wanna get there.) God, You're making me better. You're making me better. And You choose to do it however, whenever, wherever.

Don't know what we go through, don't know what we go through.
See the rings, see the videos, see the means
See the dreams of the queen for the good life,
But I want to be a good wife.
Wish I would have come home, 
It would have been a good night,
But instead we had a fight 
And the price is the piece of the wolf bite.
...
I came home from that honeymoon
Feeling high, feeling right,
Feeling like our whole life was in front of us,
Until something nudged me to take the test.
It said, "Yes."
I'm saying, 
"No, 
This can't be right.
Can't be sight, 
I'm trying to live.
This can't be life.
How am I a mother after eight days of being a wife?"
I'm being invited to imprint a life
And I can't focus on nothing else but me 
Until I realize who was living in me was given to me
From His wisdom
...
My heart's society bait, telling us "Wait."
Baby's first name is "Mistake."
 It's a problem when the saints
Believe that we're slow dancing with sovereignty,
Until we got to be 
Taken from this life like it's robbery.
We're just pottery.  
The joy is that the clay is shaped by grace
And the Potter promised me that everything will work for good.
 (This ain't a lie.)

(I just wanna get there.) God, You're making me better. You're making me better. And You choose to do it however, whenever, wherever.

I just wanna get there.

Next post: Church Planter Anthems Phase 2 | Future of Forestry "All I Want" Lyrics

– Sully 

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