I've been a fan of 'hard' Christian rock for some time. Stavesacre released this song on their Absolutes CD in 1997 at a time that I was embarking on the present journey. Ya gotta hear the soundtrack to get a feel for the intensity of feeling. And like Mark Salomon (lead) asks "Why'd you try to take me out, why try to keep me down?", I ask the same...... One has to keep trudging ahead in spite of the SOBs and negative forces that just want to keep us down.

Shiv by Staveacre, 1997

I'm crawling out of my skin
I hope I get under yours
So many times before
But you still wanna know why
I won't just lay down and die
What did you expect
I think that I could guess
But this weight is lifted and I'm like
Back from the dead
And I'm feeling kinda strange
I'm not the same, and I think I like the change

Nothing lost, just cut away
Nothing left to hinder me
Pushing on, stronger everyday
Leaning into the wind that used to carry me
The last shot
Nearly killed me
Eternity lifted me again
Oh, how I want to be
An offense, an unsettling presence in this life

Why'd you try to take me out?
Why try to keep me down?

To get my eyes off me
Down each ugly street
Too many needs, too many
Souls on their knees
And where have I been?
Too much is me and mine
Too much is wasting time
With the cares of this life and now
I understand and I'm
I'm on my way. I feel like a man
And I, I think I like the change

Nothing lost, just cut away
Nothing left to hinder me
Pushing on, stronger everyday
Leaning into the wind that used to carry me
The last shot nearly killed me
Eternity lifted me again
Oh, how I want to be
An offense, an unsettling presence in this life

Why'd you try to take me out, why try to keep me down?