I don’t know if you’ve ever been home alone and someone shows up just when you need them, unexpectedly, but that’s what this song is about. In fact, it’s a very spiritual song for me.

As a challenge to myself, I’ll often write with strong allegories to see if I can maintain the “cloak” the whole time. I also think it makes music more interesting when things are left a little up to the listeners’ imagination. After all, Carly Simon still hasn’t revealed who the subject of “You’re So Vain” is…

I used to work late on Saturdays producing a radio program. It would usually be 10 or 11pm before I’d get home and one particular night I stopped for Taco Bell (two Double Decker Tacos and a Bean Burrito (no onions)). As I settled in to enjoy my late night dinner, I popped in a DVD by a band called Mercy Me. I’m not a big Mercy Me fan. They have some good music and the guys in the band are nice. But it was a little unusual that I picked their live concert DVD to watch. In fact, I don’t watch very many live concert DVDs at all. And even more strangely, when it came to the one song that I could have easily skipped past, I Can Only Imagine, having heard it a million times already, I was mesmerized. And then I started to cry–really hard.

I have never longed and thirsted for the Eternal like I did in that moment. And it was a time in life when it was exactly what I needed. And the idea of a Holy Unexpected Visitor was something that had taken place a few times previously (at church, in the car, while a song played). So I decided to write a song about it. After about an hour, I had a really rough recording of the song.

I started to think perhaps you went away
Maybe you had some pressing thing to do or say
But here you are like the hero in the third act of some play
And I didn’t think I’d see you here today

Initially the bridge was just an instrumental section. I added the line about “crashing through all my doubt” later after reading a section from Brennen Manning’s Ragamuffin Gospel.

As your reward for reading this far, here’s the original, late night recording. Be nice. It’s a newborn.