In an instant, I remembered who my dad belonged to. That was the moment when my dad said Jesus. One of the best moments of my life and the most important of his. By the time the message was finished, my dad raised his hand and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. My dad was not a believer at the time, but God was working in him. I saw him come in with my grandmother and watched him almost the whole time we worshiped. I told my dad that we were doing an amazing opener for our worship set that he couldn’t miss. At the time, I was a worship pastor at Life.Church in Midwest City, Oklahoma. Then, I remembered something that had happened to my dad a few years earlier.ĭuring Christmas of 2013, I invited my dad to church. How could this happen? So many questions filled my mind. The sadness and disbelief were almost unbearable. My brother and I hugged him and prayed over his body. I remember staring for a moment before an uncontrollable sobbing overtook my body. When we arrived at the house, a law enforcement officer greeted us at the front door and told us our dad had been gone for a few hours and led us to his bedroom where his body lay lifeless. It was the longest 15 minutes of my life. We jumped in his van and made the 15-minute drive over to my dad’s house. It was by the grace of God my brother and I were together. Right as we were about to start, my cell phone rang. They had gone out to eat and were joking around as usual. As we were catching up, my brother told me he had seen our dad the night before. I arrived at my friend’s studio to finish up a project with my brother. Little did I know, the story of healing this song was bringing was just beginning.įebruary 15, 2019. It only took us four hours to write the song. It was everything I wish I could have told Amy the day before at Mike’s funeral. But the name of Jesus is the game changer! The song began to pour out and write itself. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”Īll of the hopelessness, loneliness, doubt, and anger Amy felt were valid feelings that most of us experience in our lives. John 14:13-14 NIV says, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. We prayed and tuned in to what God wanted us to say. Whatever I wrote, I wanted it to be God’s words, not mine.Īs we began to write, I told the team Amy’s story. I remember praying before we started writing, asking God for the right words. I felt God asking me to write a song specifically to answer Amy’s questions.
We had made several of these trips before, but I knew this one was going to be different. I had no idea at the time whether she would ever receive that word.Īfter leaving the graveside ceremony for Mike, I headed to Nashville to join our Life.Church songwriting team. It seems hard right now, but there is a light in all of this.” I knew my advice was easier said than put into practice. She asked how she was supposed to go on without Mike. I knew God was working in all of this.Īfter the service, Amy had a few more questions for me. I shared my experiences as a follower of Jesus with them. After I finished, I was approached by several of Mike’s friends who were wrestling with the message. The day of the funeral, I simply asked everyone in the room to consider Jesus. I looked at the experience as an opportunity to be honest and vulnerable. I knew my message would be heard by her family as well as countless friends and musicians, many of whom were dealing with the same struggles and asking the same questions as Amy. And when she asked if I would officiate the funeral, I said yes. She started asking questions about Jesus. In the difficult days that followed, Amy was forced to grapple with hopelessness, loneliness, doubt, and anger. For 11 days he fought hard, but in the end, his body just couldn’t recover. He seemed happier than ever.īut all that came crashing down when Mike had a heart attack. Five months earlier, he had married Amy, the love of his life. Mike had just started to find purpose in life again. We would make frequent touring stops to my mom’s house, and by the second or third time he was over, he started calling my mom his mom. He had run sound for my band for nine years and had become a part of my family. This was the day my good friend and colleague Mike Pickens passed away.