Today, I had a first.

My merch…a t-shirt…one of my “Never Alone” t-shirts, specifically, was the chosen attire for a man at his time of death to be dressed in and laid to rest in his casket during his funeral.

The man was Jack Talbott. He was a dear friend. He had a long battle with cancer. I can’t recall too many times over the past year or two that he wasn’t wearing that shirt, to be honest. Today, I walked into a funeral home to officiate his services to see him laying peacefully wearing it.

“It meant a lot to him, your song,” his wife Kathy told me. The song played on the speakers overhead as pictures of Jack at different phases of life scrolled by.

It’s not the first funeral my song has been played at, sadly enough. I recently was asked to sing it at one of my best friend’s Celebration Of Life. Tony Schott was my Front Of House engineer…as well as my close friend. He died suddenly of a massive heart attack at the church.

“Tony loved your music,” his wife Angie told me at the service.

My song has been played at funerals prior to this…and at weddings…even at the birth of a baby.

…and this is where I want to focus. This is why I write songs. This is why I hope anyone who writes songs – especially for the Church…writes songs.

“The songs we write are like arrows in the quiver of the church.”

The songs we write are like arrows in the quiver of the church. Each one is like a weapon against Satan – a powerful arsenal when Satan attacks. Music is powerful – and we provide a musical lyric to sing against desperation, anxiety…to rally celebration…to cheer on to victory…to comfort the grieving…to say “you are Never Alone.”

Surprising…when I wrote the song…I thought it was for me and a situation I was going through…

…yet in the few short years since I wrote it…

…I’ve found that I’m the one not alone in the stories of those that it has helped.

Songwriters…keep writing. Help equip the worshipers to let their arrows fly out against the enemy.

…and worshipers…you aren’t alone. Ever.