♪ Amazing Grace ♪ ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ I once was lost ♪ ♪ But now I'm found ♪ ♪ Was blind, but now I see ♪ ♪ When we've been there ten thousand years ♪ ♪ Bright shining as the sun ♪ ♪ We've no less days to sing God's praise ♪ ♪ Than when we'd first begun ♪ Imagine what he's seeing up there, why just imagine! When my dad passed away, we were leaving the grave site and my grandmother, she just was looking out the window and said, I can only imagine what Bub's seeing right now. It really stuck with me because I was so just eaten up by missing him, that in some way it was therapeutic to consume myself with what he was seeing versus him not being around. If I had a pen in my hand, I would always doodle, "I can only imagine," literally in everything I could get my hands on. If I'm on hold on the phone, I'd be writing that, on anything. So I just became obsessed with this investment in heaven, so to speak, you know that he was now a far greater part of my future than he was my past. (road noise) We needed one last song and so, they were like, hey, tomorrow's our last day in the studio, we've gotta get this song done and so I set up all night, literally looking for a blank page to start writing anything on. Couldn't find one, every page had "I can only imagine" written in it. It was one of those moments where it was like, okay I get it. (emotional music) Okay, God, okay. (dramatic music) But I was just so excited because I never had anything like that come that quickly. And so we went in the studio the next day, and we unpacked everything, and recorded the song, like for maybe two takes. (dramatic music) And so for about a year, we never sang it live. We're like, we don't know it, like we've never played it. So while he's preaching, we're behind the curtain, quietly trying to learn our own song that we'd never played live. When the curtain opened, we played it and the spotlights hit us in the face, couldn't see or hear anything. When we finished, there was no applause, nothing, it was dead quiet. And I can remember looking at each other going, this was the worst decision ever. And then when the lights came up, most of the crowd was at the altar on their knees crying, and we're like, what is happening? And I guess we've played it every night since. People ask, why did this song do what it did? Why do you think it reached so many people? And I'm like, man I think ultimately, most people can agree that they hope that there's something better after this. If they've lost a loved one, they hope that they're in a better place, and I think people embrace that hope. After Imagine kinda ran its course in the Christian music, there was a Top-40 station that, they were doing this truth or dare, kinda shock jock, kinda Howard Stern, kinda morning thing. They were doing truth or dare which was supposed to be like this vulgar, perverted thing they were doing on the air, and someone called and dared 'em to play Imagine. Their own fans started doggin' 'em, like oh it's something you wanna do. So they got a copy of it and they played it. All of a sudden the phone started ringing off the hook. It became like the number one song on their station for the next six months. Well in that, one of the stories they told us was there was a lady that was about to take her life. She had decided to run her car off a bridge. She's listening to Wild 100, Imagine plays, and she gets incredibly angry at the song. So much so that she's decided to put that on hold, and drive to the station to like, how dare you play this song. It was totally messing up her plan, I don't know. In traffic, I wanna say she saw a billboard of a Christian radio station, and knew, maybe they could explain why this dumb song's being played. Called them because the mainstream wouldn't answer. The lines were busy cause people kept calling in. So she called the station she could find, why's this song exist? How dare you? Why would you have them play it on mainstream,? Like it works that way, and they're like we don't know what you're talking about. And then they kept talking, are you okay? Are you okay? And then she's like I just don't understand it. And then they eventually led her to Christ. That by the time she did get to the mainstream station, she hugged the guys neck in tears and said if you wouldn't have played that, I wouldn't be here. We had a chance to play at Fort Hood in Texas for the troops that caught Saddam Hussein were coming home. And it wasn't just them, there were several soldiers coming home. And so we played, and this one officer came up, and just embraced us. We could barely understand what he was saying cause he was crying so hard. He said he lost his whole company, he's the only one to survive. He said he spent the whole night with a loaded gun and Imagine playing through a Walkman, contemplating whether to take his life or not. And he goes, I decided it wasn't worth it. To be asked to play at Fort Hood, I'm freaking out, like these are like real heroes. And the last thing he said, he goes you're the biggest hero in my life. To us, I remember just crying, going no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm like, I'm outta shape, I like Doritos a lot, and things like that, I was like, you're the hero. It's just really overwhelming to have him say that to us and that the song kept him from doing something crazy like that, it was, yeah. I've been consumed with heaven for a very long time. I don't know how it all works. Do I think that we're gonna cross over Jordan and there's some streets of gold and stuff? Honestly, probably not. I tend to believe that whatever John was seeing in Revelation, was he was describing it with the most precious things he could possibly comprehend, whether it was gold or whatever he's seeing. There's no other words to put it than it looked like this, and the tools I'm given to describe things, he's describing it as best he knows how. (organ music) In Ephesians it says we've already been placed in heaven. Which means somehow, in past tense, part of me is already there. I don't know if I ever just assumed this, he's gonna place us in the heavenlies or whatever, but the fact that we're already there, that if part of heaven is no more separation from Christ, in a way, heaven's kinda begun. There're parts that we don't see clearly, but at the same time, we're no longer separated from Christ. And I'm not trying to say there's not a place where our loved ones are. I believe all that takes place, but the fact that nothing can take us out of the hand of Christ. Nothing's gonna change, even on our worst day, we know what our outcome is, as one of His. You know, that's a pretty awesome thought, that in a way, it kinda has begun. Heaven is kinda here in a way, in a sense. Corinthians 2:2 says I've determined to know nothing while I'm with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I can't tell you how many times I've said that while getting beaten, while being abused, and the things I've gone through. Just, it's almost like you kinda zone out and just keep clinging to that. This is what it's about. It's still kinda the hope I hold on to to heaven is that no matter what gets to me, it's like I'm determined to know nothing but this. You know, whether it's thinking about my dad, and what's to come, we're gonna talk about heaven, or what I'm going through now, I'm determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. If there are people that are watching this or whatever and thinking man, I'm intrigued by this, but uncertain, I mean the Bible says if we believe, and confess our sin and believe, then we can be saved. I think there's a moment when you just choose to believe, God this is real and I want you to be a part of this story and who I am. Even if we don't get the words right, I think God's faithful to see the heart, and to do His part, so to speak. A day without having faith that there's something after this just kinda feels like a wasted day to me. And so it's just what I choose to believe. If it turns out that I'm wrong, then a better life has been lived because of it. I know what I was before and I know what I am now. I know what my dad was before encountering Christ. You can argue the semantics of it all, and if God exists or whatever, but the thing that can't be argued is what he's done in my life. That's probably the most real thing I've ever seen. I think the idea of us believing that we're a part of something bigger improves our quality of life here. Just believing it's not just about us. I think the idea that it doesn't just end, and we're put in the ground, that's it. How does that not impact the way you live now. I think deep down we wanna believe there's something more. I have to believe that. Knowing that I'm a part of something bigger, knowing that it's worthwhile to get out of bed in the morning, and tell people about the Gospel, rather than just some songs that have no meaning or point, and things eternal, just seems kinda empty to me. I love the idea of having hope and embracing the fact that I'm gonna see my dad again. (soft music)
