Stories Behind The Songs, Unreleased Vol. 3: Prodigal

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This was another favorite that didn’t make the record. In fact, it was one of the songs that led me to the title of this record, which I do not believe has yet been announced. So I guess I can’t explain too much more about that. So let’s just jump to the song.

The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) has always been a favorite of mine. Obviously, I’ve already written one song from this text, Still Here Waiting from the Grace record. But I have grown much more fond of this parable after reading The Cross and the Prodigal by Kenneth Bailey. He is a scholar in Middle Eastern peasant culture, and so he reads the Bible with a different background than most. I really enjoyed his insights and it brought this story back to the forefront of my thinking.

The song specifically deals with three moments in the story: the son’s choice to return home, the son’s journey home, and the son’s arrival at home. In the first couple of verses, I dug into some of the thoughts that might have been going through his head, some of the feelings he might have experienced while deciding to go home and while traveling home. I tried to look at it through his eyes, but also through mine and yours since we have all walked this road of regret.

But today I want to look at one thing specifically. In the bridge, we get to one of the most powerful things I found in The Cross and The Prodigal. Dr. Bailey says this, “First century Jewish custom dictated that if a Jewish boy lost the family inheritance among the Gentiles and dared to return home, the community would break a large pot in front of him and cry out “so-in-so is cut off from his people.” It was called the Kezezah ceremony. The son had betrayed his family and his community by losing their wealth to others, specifically Gentile “others”. So when Jesus’ story happens to mention a pig farmer, he was very intentionally pointing out that the inheritance was lost among the Gentiles. So when the son returned home, he would be mocked, berated, abused, and publicly cast out, all before he ever actually got home. As soon as someone saw him, the village would turn out against him.

But the father is looking for his son. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” I don’t know how to phrase this delicately… have you ever seen an old man run? It’s usually not attractive. Especially when the old man is wearing robes and has to hike them up over his old wrinkly knees to run down the road. Shame was coming upon the son. The kezezah was coming. The village would cut him off. But before that could happen, the father shamed himself, running down the road, not acting respectably, not making the prodigal return in shame. The father ran down the road and embraced him. He declared him as a son, putting a robe on his back and a ring on his finger, before anyone could cut him off. The son deserved the shame, but the father shamed himself, so the son could return to the family. Such an amazing picture.

I’ve already moved on to other books by Dr. Bailey, but you should start with this one. And maybe you’ll even hear the song someday.

Prodigal

Long, so long have I wandered far from home
Hard, it’s so hard to lay my pride down and turn around

But You say You’re waiting for this prodigal son to come home
But I hesitate till I see You running down the road to me

Far, so far have I fallen from where You are
Scared, I’m so scared that You won’t love me when I get there

But You say You’re waiting for this prodigal son to come home
But I hesitate till I see You running down the road to me

Calling out my name, taking all my shame
My humiliation turns to joy
The prodigal’s embraced, my excuses all erased
By an overwhelming, unrelenting love
Your love

And You say You’re waiting for this prodigal son to come home
But I hesitate till I see You running down the road to me

c.2011 Ardent/Koala Music All rights reserved

Story Behind The Song, Unreleased Vol. 2: Wherever We Go

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This was probably my favorite song that didn’t make it on the new record. And since there’s still no definite news about the record, I thought I’d tell you about this song instead. It’s really continuing the journey of On A Corner In Memphis. In fact, the alley that I picture in my brain is one in Memphis. So basically it’s addressing the idea that God’s truth can come from anywhere. The other day I was reading about Balaam and his donkey. You can read it yourself in Numbers 22 (and end up like I always do reciting, “Balaam, he had a donkey, who was gentle and true and kind.” Free copy of NEED to whoever can identify that quote first.) In the story, Balaam is saved from God’s wrath by a talking donkey, and not the one from Shrek. But God doesn’t just use donkeys. He uses all of us. Not just those who have been to seminary. Now that doesn’t mean seminary isn’t important or valuable. It just means that someone who hasn’t been to college has just as valid a relationship with God. The homeless man has just as valid opinion on who God is to him as I do. Therefore, I can learn about God from anyone who knows him. ANYONE. And I ignore other people’s opinions about God to my peril. So I told this story through a song. But it didn’t make the record. But you can read it here, and probably hear it live sometime.

Wherever We Go

I got lost downtown last Saturday
A dark alley on a stormy night
A man dropped down from a fire escape
And I nearly died with fright
He said, “I’m sorry, sir, There’a nothing to fear.
There’s no one left but the broken here
But you’re welcome to stay.
It’s out of the rain.”

And he said,
“I don’t know you or where you’ve been.
I don’t know where you think you’re going to, but
All I know is I found Jesus can reach us
Wherever we go. Wherever we go.”

He told me stories I had long forgotten
From when I was a child
About Daniel in a lions’ den
And his three friends in the fire
He said, “You’ll find God on the streets of Sodom
And at heaven’s pearly gates,
But tonight He’s downtown,
Around this fire of the broken-down.”

He said,
“”I don’t know you or where you’ve been.
I don’t know where you think you’re going to, but
All I know is I found Jesus can reach us
Wherever we go. Wherever we go.”

And I said, “Who are you to lecture me
On life and God above?”
He said, “Once I was just like you,
But lost everything I loved.
My family, my job, my home, my life it came unwound.
But he never let me go; He never let me down.”

He said,
“I don’t know you or where you’ve been.
I don’t know where you think you’re going to, but
All I know is I found Jesus can reach us
Wherever we go. Wherever we go.”

c.2011 Ardent/Koala Music All rights reserved.

Story Behind The Song: Unreleased Vol. 1

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If you’ve been around a while, you probably know that in the weeks leading up to the release of each record, or the weeks following the release of the record, we post a series of blogs that tell you the stories behind each song. Well, I had a lot of songs I really liked that didn’t make it on to this record. And since I don’t yet know when this record is going to be released, I decided to do a series of blogs on the songs you’re not going to hear on the record. I know that’s weird, but hey, it’s my blog. And this way you’ll be somewhat familiar with them in case I ever pull any of them out in a concert. Let’s see, where to start?

How about with the song that started every concert of the 2010 fall tour with Pocket Full of Rocks… “God Can Rescue Me”. I suppose I had been listening to too much Steve Earle before I wrote this song. The thing is I’m almost always listening to something before I write that always pulls me away from the middle of the road Christian radio. But apparently this time I swerved too far to the left. Or the right. It’s hard to say. Either way, it’s a good song, but it didn’t make it on the new record. That is not to say that it’s anyone’s fault: producer, label, radio, or anyone else. It just means that these songs either got beaten out in the process or just didn’t fit where we were going. So here is its moment in the sun.

God Can Rescue Me

I can climb any mountain
I can sail any sea
But I haven’t found any place yet
Where God cannot rescue me

From the barren plains of Zimbabwe
To the crowded streets of Tokyo
God has proved He can rescue
No matter where I go

I can’t outrun the reach of His hand
The measure of His power can’t be taken by man
His Spirit’s hounded me all across this land
Wherever I go, I know God can rescue me

From the darkest valleys of my sin
To the corners where my secrets hide
Whatever mess I find myself in
I know that there God’s rescue lies
There God’s rescue lies

I can’t outrun the reach of His hand
The measure of His power can’t be taken by man
His Spirit’s hounded me all across this land
Wherever I go, I know God can rescue me

Nothing can separate me from His love
Nothing can separate me
Nothing can separate me from His love

I can’t outrun the reach of His hand
The measure of His power can’t be taken by man
His Spirit’s hounded me all across this land
Wherever I go, I know God can rescue me

c. 2011 Ardent/Koala Music (ASCAP)

I have always had an inordinate amount of respect for my ability to sin. I know that may sound strange but consider it for a moment. We look at our sin, our most shameful moments, and they seem insurmountable. We gaze into their darkness and we despair. Yet we rarely contrast their darkness to the strength of the light. My greatest sin cannot in any way compare to the power of the blood of my Savior. I fear my sin because I stare at it, much like the army of Israel stared at Goliath. But compared to the might of Jehovah, Goliath was less threatening than an ant. Not even a fire ant. Just a regular old worker ant. And my sin is no different. Yes, it is serious enough for me to deserve eternal punishment, but it is no obstacle to the will of my God. I have not managed to foil God’s plan for salvation. I can run from God for my whole life, and yet He can cover that distance in a step as soon as I turn to Him. The rescue of God is always just a request away.

Thoughts?

Todd