What God Means To Me

For those of you who do not know me, my name is David Hicks.  I was adopted and raised by a Christian family in the small town of Rockwood, Tennessee.  I was raised to love God and put Him first in everything I do.  In my mind I have been blessed as much as a man can be blessed considering when I was born. 

Needless to say I haven't always (always?  More like rarely.) lived up to the way I was raised.  I've had times of rebellion, times of laziness, times of cowardice, times of worldliness; I've had failures as a husband (that "AMEN!!!" you just heard was my wife), as a father, as a friend, as an employee; to this day I still find myself one temptation away from a spiritual trainwreck. 

Yet through it all God has loved me, forgiven me, listened to me, taught me, talked to me, adopted me.  I love Him with all my heart, and in response to His love for me I wrote the following some years ago.  I share it with you now in the hope that it can be a help and encouragement to you.

What You Mean to Me 

I want to try and tell You, God, what it is You mean to me.

I’m just a man, one in billions, just a grain of sand by the sea. 

But because You’ve touched so much of my life, You’ve been in every part,

I want to try and put in words, the things I feel in my heart. 

You loved me before I was ever born, before I could even breathe.

You arranged a home where I could live, loved by a family.

Through them You taught me to put You first in all I ever do.

The church taught me to love Your Word, to seek to know You through and through.

I’ve been given everything a man could need, to know the way of life –

the Bible, Christian parents and teachers, a loving Christian wife. 

Why have You loved me so?  To You what could I possibly be? 

At times I’ve lived like I was a beast, sin was master to me. 

Yet You saved me, You loved me, You plucked me out of the mire.

You’ve molded me and shaped me, and refined me through life’s fire. 

In the fire, that’s where I was, but You still held on to me.

You could have easily just let me fall, and let the flames devour me. 

You loved me first.  There is no doubt.  No words were ever more true.

And that’s the reason that now I say, my Lord, my God,  I love You.

I’ve never even seen You, never even shook Your hand,

But it’s You I love and long to see, it’s by You I want to stand.

I want to thank You from my heart, to say it to Your face,

I want to hug You and feel Your love, a father’s tender embrace.

You’re the reason I’m sane, the reason I’ve survived, the reason I’m here today.

You’re the reason I can look in the mirror and know by You I’ve been saved.

You’re my all in all, You’re my everything, all that I long to be.

What other dream could I have than You, to see You eternally. 

Please save me now, wash away my sins, cover me by Your grace.

Please lead me home, save my soul, in Your kingdom give me a place.