I can’t promise to keep up this pace, but this week’s SFTO episode is another original. Hopefully someday in the near future a full studio version will be released because the acoustic version doesn’t quite capture the energy of the song.
This song makes its stage debut on the same day this post is published. In our services today, it will kick off a 4 week sermon series that will unveil the new vision for our local church that the leaders feel God has revealed to us. The song came about both from my personal faith journey and the many prayer times, discussions and meditations on this vision.
The scriptural anchor for the song comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, specifically from Matthew 5:41. For me, this turned out to be an interesting point of discovery – this whole 2nd mile business. I started wondering if perhaps this was the new frontier. A realm in which American Christianity had yet to explore. What if we went the first mile, which is usually all that is expected, then went another to demonstrate that we carry a love that is far greater and very much different than any other love any person has experienced, and then remained in that second mile? Isn’t it in the 2nd mile where we really start to give and sacrifice? Where we begin to “lose our life” and really start to discover that abundant life Jesus talked about? I think we have yet to discover answers to these questions. In my experience, there aren’t many people living in the 2nd mile.
That’s what this song touches on – it’s an anthem for those of us who know there must be something more. Something beyond ourselves. It’s for those of us who want more of Jesus and less of ourselves. It’s a song that asks “What if we…”
Life Begins
by Ben Chilcote
We’re headed for the Kingdom
We’ve only just begun
Our bags packed for the journey
We carry only love
We found the path that’s narrow
Open up the door
Our feet prepared for walking
Our hands prepared for war
Don’t look back
Life begins in the second mile
Will we dare to step across the line
If it is where He leads us
Love begins in the second mile
Will we dare to leave it all behind
So we can walk like Jesus
We claim to be in Him
Put your best foot forward and begin!
We will look for Jesus
When we serve the least of these
We’ll kill the world with kindness
And fight our battles on our knees
To love those in our circle
Closer to the cross
We need Your heart for mercy
And Your burden for the lost
Don’t look back
Life begins in the second mile
Will we dare to step across the line
If it is where He leads us
Love begins in the second mile
Will we dare to leave it all behind
So we can walk like Jesus
We claim to be in Him
Put your best foot forward and begin!
We’re bringing down the kingdom
We’ve only just begun
Armed with hearts for justice
We carry only love
We found the path that’s narrow
We know there’s something more
Our feet prepared for walking
Our hands prepared for war
Don’t look back
Life begins in the second mile
Will we dare to step across the line
If it is where He leads us
Love kicks in the second mile
Will we dare to leave it all behind
So we can walk like Jesus
Leave it all behind
Dare to cross the line
Trust that we will find
A life in the second mile
Leave it all behind
Dare to cross the line
Trust that we will find
A life in the second mile
I don’t suppose you’ve got an mp3 available for download?