I Come From A Long Line...
I guess I should just admit it, there are certain songs that just get me. I’ll hear them, get wrapped up in the message and well, often, my eyes will start leaking. Garth Brooks, “If Tomorrow Never Comes” is one, that line: “…did I try in every way to show her every day that she’s my only one…I’ve lost loved in my life, who never knew how much I loved them…now I live with the regret that my true feelings for them never were revealed…I’ve made a promise to myself…” Another is Michael Martin Murphy’s “I Come from A Long Line of Love.” Spiritual Songs do the same thing to me at times. I get choked up in “I Love to Tell the Story” and “10,000 Reasons.”
Maybe it’s because it’s Memorial Day as I write this, but I woke up thinking about “Don’t Quit” early this morning and about how we stand in a long line of others who have been where we are what we do still matters. I used AI and gave it my thoughts, it came up with this. I’ll also attach the audio of it. I had to fight and fight AND kept it acapella until 4 minutes or so in. But it’s not too shabby to encourage you today! Sometimes I just need to remember that I’m not the first. Today I’m thankful for you and for all those like you who have gone before us.
I stood behind a pulpit young and nervous
With shaking hands and so much left to learn
Older men sat listening with their Bibles
Men who’d carried truth through every turn
And one of them put his arm around me
Said “Son, there’ll be hard days ahead”
“But the gospel’s still the power of heaven
And faithful men still stand and preach,” he said
I come from a long line of preachers
When the times get hard we don’t give up
Truth has always cost somebody something
But we still stand up and speak for God above
Through the heartache and the battles
Through the seasons of discouragement and doubt
There’s a fire handed down through generations
And by God’s grace we’re gonna carry it out
You see I come from a long line of preachers
Years go by and now a younger preacher
Calls me up discouraged late one night
Says “Sometimes I wonder if I’m helping
If standing for the truth is worth the fight”
I told him what the older men told me once
“Son, don’t you ever lose your nerve
The Lord still walks among His churches
And faithful preaching still matters in this world”
You come from a long line of preachers
When the times get hard we don’t give up
Men who loved the truth more than their comfort
And trusted God to always be enough
So preach the word when it’s not easy
Love the people and stand come what may
There’s a great cloud of faithful voices behind you
And now it’s your turn to carry the flame
Son you come from a long line of preachers
We come from a long line of love and truth.