Still Life
Words and Music by John Fischer
(For those of you who know them, I wrote this song on Ron and Anne Marie Ritchie's piano one night when I was staying over at their house.)

Still life
We were always meant to live a still life
But somehow we got trapped into the fast life
The cast life
Where everyone plays a part

You lose yourself in the fast life
In the fast pace of the rat race
Where no one knows who you are
And nobody cares
If there really is a God
And He has something to say
We would never hear it
'Cause the noise is in the way

Still life
We were always meant to live a still life
Where everyone can see our real life
Be still and know who is God

Open Your Heart
Words and Music by John Fischer

Can't you see we're close to the end
You no longer can laugh and pretend
You've been fooled right from the start
Why not give i and open your heart

Jesus calls you why don't you choose
When you've got nothing there's nothing to lose
If you turn away from His grace
You may never more see His face

Don't go searching into the skies
He's right here in front of your eyes
You don't have to go very far
He will come to you right where you are

How He loves you and wants you to see
The full measure He made you to be
With his presence living inside
You will never have to live a lie

Simple Pleasures
Words and Music by John Fischer

Sitting by the ocean with nothing to do but talk to you
Sitting here listening to the whispering waves telling me it's true
Hiking to the top of a mountain
Drinking water from a cool clear stream
Watching the sunset and talking to God
And knowing He loves me

These simple pleasures
Are everywhere in great measure
I just open my eyes and I can see
The richest things I have are free

I always wished I had a little cabin alone in the north country
I'd sit there in the morning writing a song with the fire warming me
But it ain't that hard
And it's not that far
One look in your face and I realize
My cabin is in your eyes

Everybody's buying and trying to keep up with the cost of life
Getting paranoia when the prices annoy you you can't see the light
When real simple pleasures
Are everywhere in great measure
Why just open your eyes and you can see
The richest things in life are free

Setting of the Sun
Words and Music by John Fischer
(This song and "Have You Seen Jesus My Lord" were written from the same spot on a cliff over the ocean north of Santa Cruz. My favorite musical moment on this album is on the instrumental tag to this song. Download for a sample.)

The rocks are in their places
The seagulls look for theirs
The flowers wait expectantly
Forgetting all their cares
The curtain clouds roll back to let you know
The show has just begun
We're about to see the setting of the sun

The sky has turned a yellow-gold
With fading signs of blue
The ocean green has turned to gray
With a shining path breaking through
A lonely seal swims by the screen
Diving just for fun
He has come to see the setting of the sun

And though the sun must set each day
And come back again
There will be a new sun soon
Whose day will never end
He's the maker of it all
The light of everyone
Soon we'll see the glory of the Son
The real one

I'm Human
Words and Music by John Fischer
(There were four or five of us in my bachelor pad in Palo Alto who were in love with Kathy Purdy at one time or another. This song was what I did with my frustrations.)

Kathy Purdy
Whoever you are
I'd like to know you
But it's so hard
I want so much to deal with reality
But how can I know what's true
When I never get to see
Each time I learn my lesson
And each time I fall
Thinking I've got my rights
When I've got none at all

Don't you know I'm human
That means I have to feel
All the things a human feels
Although the Lord is real
I fight with my emotions
And usually I win
But right now I'm hurting
And tempted so to sin
I know the Lord is in control
I know he'll do what's right
But I just must get in this song
What's in my heart tonight

What I really want to say
And what I hope you'll hear:
Is you're the best thing past my way
In just short of three years
But I know the best is from the Lord
And what He gives is free.
I guess I'd just like to know
If He's giving you to me.

So I'll just trust Him
Like I've done a thousand times before
He's been faithful in the past
He'll be faithful once more

I know the Lord is in control
I know He'll do what's right
But I just had to get in this song
What's in my heart tonight

Matthew's Blues
Words and Music by John Fischer
(The gospel according to Matthew, by the way, is all about the kingdom of God.)

The world is trying to get it together
Trying to help their fellow man
Hoping we can make it better
Do you really think we can

You go to school to find the answers
And graduate finding there are none
In our youth we fight all kinds of battles
But in the end we've never won

The history books are all against us
Destruction is upon us, still
To change, you'll have to find a way
To make a river run uphill

The people who are optimistic
Are really way behind the times
The geniuses are all sadistic
Just eat and drink and wait to die
American Pie
Whiskey and rye

But something many have forgotten
There's more than merely meets the eye
A quiet kind of revolution
Is coming down on us from the sky

You can't read about it in your textbook
You can't hear it on your TV screen
But just the same it's all around us
And what's more it's always been

So if you want to know about it
There's one book you really ought to read
And take a walk in a virgin forest
And let the maker let you see
The kingdom of God
He who has ears let him hear
The kingdom of God
He who has eyes let him see
The kingdom of God

Matthew's blues gonna show the news to you
Matthew's blues gonna show the news to you

Brightest and Best
Words by Reginald Heber (1793-1826)
Music by John Fischer
(Cat Stevens popularizing the hymn "Morning Has Broken" got me re-thinking the hymnbook.)

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid
Star of the east the horizon adorning
Guide where our infant redeemer is laid

Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining
Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining
Maker and Monarch and Savior of all

Say shall we yield Him in costly devotion
Odors of Edom and offerings divine
Gems from the mountain and pearls from the ocean
Myrrh from the forest or gold from the mine

Vainly we offer each ample oblation
Vainly with gifts would His favor secure
Richer by far is the heart's adoration
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor

All Day Song (Love Him in the Morning)
Words and Music by John Fischer
(I woke up one morning in the guest bedroom of Horton and Edna Voss in Redlands, California and the sun was streaming in the windows and reflecting off the buttery yellow walls. I picked up my guitar and wrote this little ditty before going downstairs for breakfast. Thinking it was too simple, I carried it around in my back pocket for a few months before trying it out at a Sunday evening service at Peninsula Bible Church. They loved it and learned it on the spot. It's probably my best known song, and yet, because I was never that serious about it in the beginning, I never wrote more than one verse. So much for "ditties.")

Love Him in the morning when you see the sun a-rising
Love Him in the evening 'cause He took you through the day
And in the in-between-time when you feel the pressure coming
Remember that He loves you and He promises to stay

When you think you've got to worry
'Cause it seems the thing to do
Remember He ain't in a hurry
He's always got time for you

So...
Love Him in the morning when you see the sun a-rising
Love Him in the evening 'cause He took you through the day
And in the in-between-time when you feel the pressure coming
Remember that He loves you and He promises to stay

We Are All Together
Words and Music by John Fischer
(Kind of the theme song behind the community effort that brought this album into being.)

Adam stood in the garden
And thought that no one was watching
And he was free to do whatever he pleased
No one would see
But he failed to see
That he was part of one humanity
And all who came after
Would suffer for his own selfish ways
All of their days

You can't imagine that you have the right
To live your own life
Thinking you're the only one
And no one will care what you do

You don't live alone
We are all one in the Lord
You don't sin alone
We must all bear the same load
You don't live alone
We are all one in the Lord
You don't sing alone
We must all sing the same chord

Don't you know that we are all together
Don't you know that we are all together
Remember
We are all together
Don't forget that
We are all together in the Lord

Rest In Him
Words and Music by John Fischer

Rest
Rest in Him
Your work is through
Lean back on His great power
He'll work through you

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