#AtoZChallenge “I”

I am very open about my Catholic faith and how I know that while I am a gay man with multiple problems from addictions to mental health issues, My God and His Son Jesus Christ love me anyways. I also am aware that God does not make any mistakes – we are all here for a reason that only he knows.

I first heard I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me in the spring of 1999 almost a year after my mother had passed on May 10th, 1998 which happened to be Mother’s Day here in the US. I started balling my eyes out because, while I knew the song was about meeting God and Jesus at death, I immediately began imagining what it would be like to see my mother again, my grandfathers, my brother that passed when I was six months old and even friends who I had lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To this day 20 years later, this song can still bring me to tears and when I sing it, all of my dogs come running to me.

Mercy Me’s I Can Only Imagine was written and composed by lead vocalist Bart Millard, the song, based around a main piano track, was inspired by the death of Millard’s father and considers what it would be like in Heaven and to be standing before God. For your enjoyment here is Bart Millard telling the story behind the song along with the video.

That’s what’s in “My Rattled Cage”, thanks for stopping by!!!