oh God, let me back in
[from southeast engine's a wheel within a wheel, 2007]

if i return would you take me back
teach me to learn to face the facts
i'm so sorry for all i did
oh God let me back in

when i was a child i believed in you
what a simple thing for a child to do
i could see the sky and my mind was set
i could feel ok when i was so upset
but as i grew it was so easy to forget
oh God let me back in

cause i've taken for granted all that you gave
i threw away what i was supposed to save
so if you would erase my debt
let me appreciate what i got left
let me be here in the moment
oh God let me back in

cause i've been so selfish autonomous and cruel
i've done whatever i've wanted to
so if you would forgive my sin
i won't be who i have been
i'll put my stock in you not them
if you let me back in

and for so long now i've just laughed and yawned
but i sawed off the branch that i was resting on
and as i fell from limb to limb
i found i was no real exception
so here i'm begging for redemption
oh God let me back in
oh God let me back in

words and music by adam remnant

[30 second itunes clip here]
[full clip at free.napster.com... thanks, beth!]

southeastengine.com

i bought southeast engine's latest release, a wheel within a wheel, at their baker theater show on saturday. i'm finding this track more worshipful than many of the 'christian' songs i've sung lately. theologically deep? maybe not. but it's honest and it's simple; it doesn't try too hard. it captures the raw emotion of realizing our own fallenness. while we may not technically have been kicked out... there are times we feel the need to be let back in. i listen to this song and i can't help but think of bonhoeffer and of the beautiful brutality of true sorrow and repentance.

begging for redemption... aren't we all.