“Wait here”, the manager said, and we leaned against the wall, all six of us, like a giant line-up. I turned to Chase and whispered: “Are you excited to meet Matt Redman?” and he nodded and grinned as we leaned against the wall in the wait.
I suppose we expected fanfare, or a crowd, or something to herald this amazing artist – but suddenly, humbly and quietly (I didn’t even from which direction he came), he was standing in front of us and there were no handshakes – only hugs. He said he’d heard a lot about us and then he moved down the line of us and greeted each one, learning names and personal details. He met Karsten’s stuffed dog, talked with Darcy about her loom bracelets and their colors, and got on his knees in front of Chase and Aidan and asked them if Spiderman and Batman were in a competition, who would win?
And the craziest, most amazing part of it all? We got to stand in front of Matt Redman, look him in the eye, and try and put into words what the song 10,000 Reasons means to us….
How it underscores every car ride to the hospital…
How it’s floated out of most pre-procedure rooms…
How most of the hematology and oncology staff have been shown the music video at one time or other…
How it was the last thing Chase heard every day as he whispered “I’m so brave” and slipped into unconsciousness on the radiation days…
How every music therapist in the hospital downloaded the chords because they knew if they went to Chase’s room, it’d be the song he’d want to hear…
How it wrapped us up as we’d sit, high about the lake, day after day in the dark cancer days when the fevers wouldn’t break and the cancer cells wouldn’t leave…
Oh how we failed! There are not having enough words, enough good words to put into a few sentences what three years of this song as a soundtrack to our lives has meant. How precious it is to us, and how precious Matt Redman is to us because of it. There have been times and seasons when our hearts were broken and we could not call out, and the only thing that came from us to God were Matt’s words, Matt’s voice in this song as we had none left ourselves. This song has been one of the greatest gifts — until last night when we got the opportunity to try and find the words to tell him of it’s impact.
And how I wish you all could have been with us and watched as Chase sang along to so many of the songs, raised his arms in worship, clapped and cheered, even danced a little. And at the end of the night, before the closing song, the room got quiet as Matt spoke and he told them all about how he’d just met a family and the kids were all “firecrackers” (I mean, did he get us or what?) and that one of the sons had a brain tumor and then, Matt Redman told the room a minute of our story and Chase’s love of the song because – as he said – we were there to worship, but the church is always there to bear each other’s burdens, and we are the church, and as I sat in the hundreds of people, with Chase on my lap, Matt Redman invited the church to bear Chase’s journey with us, as a picture of Chase went up on all the screens, and Chase gasped and exclaimed “That’s me!”. Matt dedicated the song to the Lord, but said they’d sing it with Chase that night, and so we all stood together in this great room with hundreds around us and cried as we sang every word by heart – the way God put things together blew me away yet again.
And on that day when my strength is failing,
The end draws near and my time has come,
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending…
Ten thousand years, and then forevermore.
And all the way home, late into the night, Chase chatted on about “my friend Mr. Matt” and how he loved him and missed him and wanted to give him another hug “…because he sang my song, Mom! He sang my song!”
We are so thankful for this once-in-a-lifetime experience of worship and fellowship…
…moment by moment.
*For more on the ministry and music of Matt Redman, please visit his website here.*