Brent

Lord, I can't be in Bastrop now, So hear me where I kneel, I'll walk his fence line post by post And name what needs to heal. Circle the Jones house, Lord, Keep peace within, keep fear without, Christ before them, Christ behind them, Christ above and all about. Circle Momma, Lord, tonight, Keep comfort near and pain afar, And when it's time to carry her, Come gentle, as You are. Circle Laura in the chair, Keep rest near, worry far, And Samson, Lord, who cannot stand, You know where sparrows are. Circle the Jones house, Lord, Keep peace within, keep fear without, Christ before them, Christ behind them, Christ above and all about. Circle the girl next door, Lord, And the child beneath her heart, Be father to the fatherless, That was always Your part. Circle Ray in the prayer room, Lord, With one voice missing now, He's prayed for half of Bastrop, Lord, Let half of Bastrop bow. Circle the Jones house, Lord, Keep peace within, keep fear without, Christ before them, Christ behind them, Christ above and all about. And Brent, Lord. You know Brent. You knew him in the cell. He isn't asking for the strength To carry Gaza's gate, Just the strength to get up in the morning, And the morning after that, Let him run and not be weary, Let him walk and not faint. Circle the Jones house, Lord, Keep peace within, keep fear without, Christ in the front room, Christ at the gate, Christ above and all about. Amen. Amen.

Down in a winepress, Gideon was threshing, Hiding his harvest from the raiders on the hill, An angel sat beneath the oak tree, watching A scared man working quiet, keeping low and keeping still. He hadn't won a thing, he hadn't fought a soul, Just a scared man with his wheat down in a hole, And heaven didn't tell him to be braver, Heaven said: "The LORD is with you, You mighty man of valor," Down in the winepress, Before the fight was won, The LORD is with you, You mighty man of valor, He said it first, before a single thing was done. You've got a dog named Gideon asleep against the door, And his brother Samson can't get up to meet you anymore, Laura's counting Momma's breathing in the middle of the night, And there's a widower in the prayer room, and no words that come out right. So you asked what Gideon asked beneath the oak: "If the LORD is with us, then why has all this happened?" And heaven didn't answer with a reason, Heaven said it one more time: "The LORD is with you, You mighty man of valor," Down in the winepress, Before the fight was won, The LORD is with you, You mighty man of valor, He said it first, before a single thing was done. He cut the army down from thirty-two thousand To three hundred, so nobody could boast, Gave every man a trumpet and a torch inside a clay jar, And in the middle of the night they broke them, every one, The sword of the LORD and of Gideon! The LORD is with you, You mighty man of valor, He said it in the cellblock Before the gate swung wide, The LORD is with you, In the front room and the prayer room, "Surely I will be with you," all the way to the other side. Surely I will be with you.

Sound off! (Lord, hear!) Sound off! (We're here!) Bring it on down! (Lord, hear! We're here!) The hospice bed came Monday, by the window, in the light, Eighty-eight years old and Momma's coming home, Two years you filled her pill box every Sunday night, Now Laura sleeps beside her so she won't wake up alone. You took two pups somebody named for hell And gave them better names, the way the Lord did you, Now Samson, named for the strongest man who ever stood, Can't get his back legs under him, and there's nothing you can do. You said it's way too weird to be coincidence, You said you must be doing something right, Every bomber crew knew when the flak got thick, You were right over the target that night. So keep your head down, brother, we've got you covered, We've got men on their knees all the way down the line, For Laura and Momma and Samson and you, Prayer cover over the Jones house tonight. Next door a girl is carrying a baby Whose daddy didn't wake up on her couch, And Ray went to the prayer room this morning And sat beside a chair that cancer emptied out. And you've got a word to bring to Wilderness Ridge, And the hospice nurse is calling on the phone, And all of it this week, on one man's shoulders, But that man has never once been on his own. You said it's way too weird to be coincidence, You said you must be doing something right, Every bomber crew knew when the flak got thick, You were right over the target that night. So keep your head down, brother, we've got you covered, We've got men on their knees all the way down the line, For Laura and Momma and Samson and you, Prayer cover over the Jones house tonight. They let you out the gate in March of oh-eight, Back when you were on the other side, nobody shot, Now Bastrop calls you chaplain, and you lead twenty more, So you're drawing every round the devil's got. When Moses' arms got heavy and the battle wasn't won, Two men found him a rock and sat him down, One on the left side, and one on the right, And his hands held steady till the going down of the sun. We brought the rock, brother! (We brought the rock!) Now lift 'em up! (Lift 'em up!) So keep your arms up, brother, we've got you covered, There's a rock under you and a man on either side, For Laura and Momma and Samson and you, Prayer cover over the Jones house tonight. Steady, steady, till the going down of the sun, Sound off! (Lord, hear!) Sound off! (We're here!) Bring it on down! (Lord, hear! We're here!)