The Author of the Story by Daniel Amos

I just ordered the latest album from this incredible group. Daniel Amos, if you have not heard of them, has been around since the 80s and is one of the most creative and consistent (in quality if not regularity of publications) groups I still follow. I hesitate to categorize them as “CCM,” but there is no doubt they have never hidden their faith. In fact, what makes them a group and Terry Taylor a lyricist I continue to return to is their willingness to wrestle openly with their faith. The Phantom Tollbooth’s description of their latest album Dig Here Said the Angel makes me think it has been written for me and this time.

The result is the most fun, enjoyable album about death you’ll hear, at least this year.

Well, okay – it’s not exactly about death. I guess you could say it’s really more about life – or really the tensions between this life and the one to come. So here we are once again: looking, with Terry Taylor, at the paradoxes, the apparent contradictions, the mysteries, the antinomies (a great word – see above) of our existence. It’s kind-of what he does.

This took me back to their last album, Mr. Beuchner’s Dream. I have been reading some of Buechner since Mack died, especially Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith. To be honest, it reads a lot like a series of blog posts. That is not bad, but it certainly isn’t the most powerful material I have read. The third song on that album, however, hit me differently 12 years after I first hear it.

One thing we have learned, take comfort where you may find it. There is some here:

Splish, splashThe Author of the Story

Music by Daniel Amos, Words by T.S. Taylor
©2001 Zoom Daddy/BMI

She had one foot on the ground
And one foot in the air
(it seemed) the world held her cold hand
While the angels brushed her hair

“but that’s how it has to end
On this side of glory,
Some wounds will never mend,”
Says the author of the story

I held one hand in the fire
And lifted one hand towards the sky
But the busy world still turned
And the angels passed me by

Sometimes there seems to be
No author of the story
These thoughts occur to me
On this side of glory

And I kissed the Lamb of God
And my fingers found the wounds
And the angels moved the stone
And I searched the vacant room

That’s how it all begins
On this side of glory
“and you’ll see her shine again,”
Said the author of the story

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