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I'll Take Your Promises With Me

from Standing Stones by The Crossing

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about

Sarah and her family came as refugees to live with our community for several months. They brought three sons, but not the baby daughter we’d expected; she was lost to malaria shortly before they left the camp. Tall, sad, beautiful, and mysterious in her silence, Sarah often made me wonder at the faithfulness of Christians who have never had the blessings or comforts I’m used to associating with being a follower of Christ.—Jen

lyrics

I come from the proud land of Africa
My home the savanna of southern Sudan
Now home is a city across the wide sea
A jungle of metal and noise and strange men

I dream of a village in Africa
Its peace shattered by shots and loud cries
I run from that place as the smoke rises high
The place where my father and brothers have died

Now home is a shelter in Pinyundo Camp
If home you can label this desolate place
With hope as scarce as the water and food
But God walks beside me, I cling to His grace

I must fly on the wings of the dawn
Banished by famine and fear o’er the sea
Yet I’ll sing in the shadow of your wings
I’ll take your promises with me

My days now are full tending husband and sons
But I look past the fences, I’m longing to flee
Where hunger and fear no more live by our side
Where our children are safe from despair and disease

I bury my daughter in Africa
Deep in the soil of my garden of hope
She’s safe in God’s arms, but I want her in mine
My arms ache to hold her one more time

We go to the land of America
We take our three boys, leave a small mound of earth
A new life to sow where the wind blows so cold
Uprooting our lives in the hope of rebirth

I dream of a village in Africa
And outside my window the snow gently falls
A new baby boy cradled close to my heart
A flicker of hope gives a whispering call

Yet I long for that proud land of Africa
Though violence and pain be her lot on this earth
I grieve for the life that I’ll never know
In a village at home in the land of my birth

credits

from Standing Stones, released May 24, 2002
Lyrics: Jen Ingerson Music: Jen Ingerson, Tony Krogh

Hilde: lead vocals Tony: guitar, vocals Mark: flute Mike: bouzouki Jen: fiddle, vocals

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The Crossing Chicago

The Crossing is a talented group of musicians firmly rooted in the traditional celtic music featuring bagpipes, whistles, fiddle, cello and harp among their many instruments. They blend original songs with traditional Irish and Scottish jigs and reels as well as atmospheric ballads. With their songs they get you thinking while their instrumentals get your feet moving. ... more

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