I love being a Dad! I know that I am supposed to say that, but I mean it! I love everything about being a Father.
Well...almost everything. There is one thing that I could do without. You see, our children are still fairly tiny, and the sound of little feet in our room at 3:30 am, followed by the subsequent, "Daddy...Mommy...I'm scared" is a common occurance. As sweet and enchanting as my children are, I would rather wait until the sun rises to enjoy their cuteness.
But I get it. I remember being a child, and I remember the feeling of lying in my bed and being frightened. Every shadow was a monster and every noise was an intruder. One night, after coming into their room for the third time, I remember my Dad losing his patience and saying, "I wish a monster would grab ya!"
A few years back when I began writing the songs that are on my first kids worship album, "God is in My Corner", I asked myself what sort of song I would like to have stuck in my kids' heads. Music has a remarkable way of burrowing itself into our minds and spirits, and I wanted to write something that my own kids could enjoy, internalize and gain strength and perspective from. I decided to write a song that they might be able to sing during those times when everything is a little bit frightening, as a reminder that they serve a God who is "in their corner"...always there for them and by far the strongest. And so, "In My Corner" came to be.
I guess it is a boxing metaphor, but when we say that someone is "in our corner" we are saying that they have our backs and that we can rely on them. The bridge of the song comes from Psalm 23, commonly called the Shepherd's Psalm. My paraphrase says, "I can walk, I can walk through the darkest valley. I know, I know, you are with me." After the song had been written, I thought back to my father, a man of God, and how he battled long and hard but eventually lost his fight with cancer. I had the privelege of being there with him as he passed, and never once did I sense fear. Pain? Yes. Questions? Yes. Fear? Not once. He knew that God was in his corner.
I want my children to fearlessly walk through life as they hold on to this simple assurance... "God is in my corner. No one else is stronger. I will trust Him, I won't be afraid. No! No!"
