This Place

This song was started in 1998 and then sat in my writing book for the better part of 15 years. I dug it out every few years, took a stab at completing it, and stuck it back in my drawer. My wife was normally better at remembering my songs, my lyrics, or the melodies better than I, so I was always grateful for her help when I couldn't quite remember how it went. However, this song was one she had never heard, for whatever reason.

In early 2013, I dug it out for the fourth or fifth time, and this time the missing pieces came together. It was finished. I quickly recorded it into my phone so I'd remember the tune. There it sat for the next few weeks. Then, the life-changing event of our lifetimes happened ... my stroke: the one the doctors predicted I would probably not pull through.

There were many dark days during the months I sat in the hospital. One of the darkest for my wife was in the ICU while I was still paralyzed, was not aware of my surroundings, and could only speak gibberish. We were losing our home, we still had two kids at home, and now if I lived, I was not projected to have much hope for a functional life. Crying out to God for the tiniest ray of hope, she reached into my things and pulled out my phone. There was an audio file dated a few days earlier, and she hit play. It was this song: the one she had never happened to have heard me playing or singing snippets of at any time in the past fifteen years. It was that tiny ray of hope she prayed and asked for, as it accurately depicted the emotions of the situation we were facing.

Nothing I could write here could sum it up better than this song does as it is written. It is another one of those that amazes me with its prophetic nature of where or lives would go. You may be experiencing a season where all life and hope are driven out, and you are hanging on to your faith by your fingernails. I hope this brings a bit of peace and encouragement, as it did for us.

Click below to hear this song: