The Three Trees (cowritten with Luke Sheldrake)

 There once was a garden where God walked with man,
Who knew Him and loved Him, God told him His plan:
'Go, tend to my garden, be fruitful and free;
Eat all it produces except that one tree-
The tree of the knowledge of evil and good-
Don't taste of its poison; trust me as you should.

But man in his folly, his shame and his pride,
He ate of the fruit and he spiritually died.
Now we as his children, we share in his sin,
We walked in the darkness, with hatred within.

But God in His mercy, He made us a plan:
To take away our curse by becoming man.
Christ took our curse on Him and died on a tree,
He gave of His lifeblood to set sinners free.
By trusting in Jesus we walk through the door;
His Spirit lives in us, we're orphans no more.

Christ calls those who love Him to take up their cross,
To deny ourselves and count our gain as loss.
Before we're glorified, we must suffer first;
To deny our Lord, we would then be cursed.

And so we look forward to glory to come;
No longer in darkness, in light of the Son;
Walking by the river with water of life,
No longer rejected, but now God's own wife
Enjoys the tree of life with leaves of healing
For the nations of God, its sweet fruit tasting.

The tree of the knowledge only made us cursed;
The tree of the Lord's cross now means that we're blessed;
The tree of life to come, we'll eat with our Lord,
Assured by His Spirit and His faithful word.

So take up your cross now and follow Jesus.
By His death on the tree He has now freed us
From the curse we deserve because of our sin
From shame now to glory we are welcomed in.