"I wanna see the day when I walk up to You
See right through You
I wanna see Your face when I hear You say
Say 'I love you'" - Noisy Little Sunbeams

Larry Norman died this Sunday at the age of 60.

When you first begin your journey, you're not sure just who you are
And the lessons that you're learning, they don't take you very far.
And you just can't keep from stumbling, though you try so hard to stand,
And the truth can be so humbling when it's just beyond your hand.

Norman was known in many circles as the first person to successfully blend rock music with the Christian Gospel. His lyrics were simple, straightforward, and yet often profound. He believed that his mission in life was to bring Christ to those who felt shunned and rejected by the Church. And as such, Norman was subsequently shunned and rejected by many churches . . .

As though youth were my invention, as though love lay undefined,
To stay free was my intention, to stay young and unconfined.
And so I held my pride above you, oh, yes, what a fool was I,
Holding back those words "I love you," and letting out that word "goodbye".

I didn't share a lot of his theology, nor did I buy in to some of his social politics, but I always believed in his passion. Norman believed that Jesus came to save "the least of these" and had no desire to preach to the converted. He wrote many songs so that each verse contained it's own self-contained salvation message so that when he played on street corners, as he did so often, passersby could get the entire Gospel message even if they didn't stay for an entire song.

I was foolish in my younger days to think they'd never end
Life confused me with its changing ways, and I could not comprehend
All the meaning in those moments now lost like footprints in the sand
And I'm standing here remembering, but it's so hard to understand.

Norman never lived a charmed life: he suffered brain damage as a result of a plane crash, numerous heart attacks and circulatory problems, and divorce. And through it all, he kept up a good natured humor, making concert goers laugh nearly as much as we sang.

Now I'm sitting in this garden in the middle of my days
And my memories drift and harden as the years they slip away,
And I've been looking in this mirror at the age around my eyes
Time is such an earnest laborer, precision is his neighbor.
Lay my body in the ground, but let my spirit touch the sky.

And sing we did. Norman's concerts didn't seem so much entertainment venues as they did gatherings of a few hundred good friends to tell stories, sing songs, and laugh. Sure it was just one guy doing singing and talking, but we didn't care. We all felt like friends.

I was wrong to let you go
I was a child and I did not know
About the love that we both could have given
And now you've gone so far away,
I hope I'll see you again someday
But if I don't, I hope I'll see you in heaven.

Now I sit here, crying about a man I only met a few times, but who shaped and influenced me in ways that I'm still just coming to understand. During the time that he was "visiting this planet", Norman touched countless lives. 60 years seems like too short a time for me. There's a selfish part of me that wishes he was still here, instead of safe and whole in the arms of his Savior. But like I said, that's a selfish part of me. The rest of me is sad for now, but I know I'll see him again.

When my own visit is finished.