[trhoke]

This is a song prompted by 2 Timothy 1:9 which reads "...who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." The italicized part in the Greek means "Before times eternal". That simple note in my friends Bible blew me away, I'm not sure why I never got the impact from "all eternity", or from "before eternity". I guess it's the way the Greek emphasizes things.

Anyhow, the song is not officially done, but I thought I'd throw out what I have so far.

Oh, and just joking about the subject line, Luke...

Before Times Eternal (Second release, additions are italicized, some stuff is changed so you'll just have to be observant ).

Before the earth had shape
And plants grasped for the sun
Before the waters danced with joy
And mountains stood their ground

Before the stars took their place
As jewels in the night sky
Before man fell from his throne
And demanded to die

Before times eternal
Before there was a before
I never even considered
I was saved before I was born

Before I drew my first breath
And my heart beat in time
Before I took my first step
On this journey of life

Before I set my mind on You
You had adopted me as Your son
Before I knew I was lost
You guided my steps home

Before times eternal
Before there was a before
I never even considered
I was saved before I was born

Before Times Eternal (First release)

Before the earth had shape
And plants grasped for the sun
Before the waters danced with joy
And mountains stood their ground

Before the stars took their place
As jewels in the sky
Before man fell from his throne
And demanded to die

Before times eternal
Before there was a before
I had never even considered
That I was saved before I was born

Before I drew a breath
And my heart leapt with life
Before I took my first step
On this journey of life

Before I set my mind on You
You had adopted me as Your son
Before I even knew I was lost
You had guided my steps back home

Before times eternal
Before there was a before
I had never even considered
That I was saved before I was born

[Nate]

As a whole, I think the song is awesome.... however, there are a few intricate details that I think you could work on.

Originally Posted by trhoke

Before the earth had shape
And plants grasped for the sun
Before the waters danced with joy
And mountains stood their ground

This is probably my favorite stanza of the song. No real comments here. It reads very well.

Before the stars took their place
As jewels in the sky
Before man fell from his throne
And demanded to die

I'm not sure what style of music this is supposed to be set to, so what I'm about to say may be very important or may be very unimportant: the metre here is COMPLETELY different than the metre in the first verse. Syllabicly, only the fourth line matches properly... but even there, the accents are disjointed.

If this was supposed to be a hymn, I'd go hogwild trying to fix this metrical inconsistency. On the other hand, if this was a more modern-type song, I don't think I'd worry so much.

In any event, even without the metrical issues, I don't think this stanza reads as nicely as the first one. "As jewels in the sky" is the line that I think throws it off the most. It's just too short... to me.

Before times eternal
Before there was a before
I had never even considered
That I was saved before I was born

WHAT A CHORUS!

Very nice. The only thing I'd suggest is to get rid of the clumsy "had never even considered". I'm not very fond of the word "had" in song lyrics, that's where I would start re-thinking the line.

Before I drew a breath
And my heart leapt with life
Before I took my first step
On this journey of life

This is pretty nice, except for rhyming "life" with itself.

Before I set my mind on You
You had adopted me as Your son
Before I even knew I was lost
You had guided my steps back home

OH YES... the last two lines here are excellent. Again, though, I would personally shy away from the "had" phrases here.

Awesome stuff.

In His love,
Nate

[trhoke]

Thanks Nate, those are good suggestions.

I don't have a meter for the song because quite frankly although I have a general idea as to what it is, I don't know enough to implement it in my songs.

Regarding the style, it's not intended as a hymn per se. I have enough trouble writing songs without binding myself to a particular style.

Anyway, I made the changes you suggested, and the revised copy is in my first post (along with the first copy).

Thanks,
Tim

[Nate]

Nice work with the revisions.

In His love,
Nate

[KFBobInsanesMom]

Very nice.