Dan and I are fans of Mason Jennings, having seen him three times now in concert–once with Jack Johnson, whom we also love.  There’s a realness and mellowness about him that can’t be beat with other performers, and we think he’s much better in person than he is on his CDs.  Check him out sometime.

Since we’ve just come home from a whirlwind trip, and since I’ve just posted my delinquent 5-day posts from our trip (I forgot my jump drive that had my blog on it!), I’m going to share one of the most honest songs I’ve come across in a long time, and since the recording above is not crystal clear, I’m including the lyrics below.  I don’t know Jenning’s spiritual bent, and it’s not important here.  I just like the fact that he turned all his questions into a song.

“Jesus, Are You Real?”

Jesus, are you real?
Did we make you up?
Is salvation what you want
Or is faith enough?

Do you know where I’m bound?
Do you know who I am?
Are you just a word I use
When I don’t understand?

Standing like a statue in the sea
In a little truck stop in Tennessee
And bombs are crashing down in waves
On a giant TV screen

And I am struck
I cannot move to make it stop
What can I do? People are dying in their beds
While this flag flies over our heads

Jesus, are you stronger than a loaded gun?
I’m beginning to believe you’re not the only one
Strong enough to show your love, strong enough to give
Strong enough to go through hell, strong enough to live

And all night long I sat with you
In a darkened hospital room
And nurses checked in by the hour
I was made aware of a higher power

And how this fragile life we live
Is not ours to keep but ours to give
What in the world am I gonna do
If anything should happen to you?

All I do is doubt you, God
All is do is love you, God
All I do is question you
What else can I do?

This world was never solid ground
The past is coming back around
All I do is search for you
What else can I do?

And when I say I search for you
I mean I search for peace
I search for hope, I search for love
And one day for release

Jesus, my life does not feel the same
New things happen everyday, things I can’t explain
But I am not a man of faith, I’m a man of truth
But is this feeling in my heart, is this feeling proof?

When you do not know, you know
And when you know, you do not know
And when you think you do, you die
And when you do not think, you grow

Are we left here in the dark
Or are we left here in the light?
It seems to me that both are true
And it’s up to us to know what’s right

All I do is doubt you, God
All is do is love you, God
All I do is question you
What else can I do?

This world was never solid ground
Religion cannot help me now
All I do is search for you
What else can I do?

And when I say I search for you
I mean I search for peace
I search for hope, I search for love
And one day for release

God give me strength to accept the things
That I just cannot know
And even when I lose control
I will not let you go