I fell in love with this song, I Will Be Here, a couple of years back. It was Daddy's (my father-in-law's) birthday and their wedding anniversary. In true von Trapp-like fashion, MacGyver's family came up with a program during the celebration. One of MacGyver's nieces played the keyboards while his older brother sang this song.
It was very touching. After that special day in May, I associated Daddy with the song.
(So unfamiliar was I with the song that it was only after I had heard my brother-in-law sing it did I realize that the song was made popular in the Philippines by Gary Valenciano. )
When my father-in-law passed away four years ago, MacGyver's sister compiled some videos and selected photos of the family. One of the songs she chose as background music for the pictures slide show was I Will Be Here.
The words took on a whole different meaning since Daddy was no longer physically with us. Listening to the song while watching pictures of the family taken over the years and ending with pictures taken during the wake often brought me to tears.
I tried to figure out what the songwriter's true intentions were when he wrote the song. Listening to the lyrics, one can tell it is a song about love. Love which is so intense, so pure, so true. It can apply to a variety of relationships filled with love -- God's love for us, a husband's love for his wife, a parent's love for her child, a person's love for a relative or even love for good friend.
It is truly a beautiful song. And when one is in love, it is easy to relate to such songs.
Opting to write something about this song has led me to various avenues I would not otherwise have explored.
First it led me to the anime against which the music was set.
The movie is called Voices of a Distant Star and it about long-distance relationship between a teenage couple who communicate by sending emails via their mobile phones across interstellar space. Fifteen year old Mikako is a fighter sent out into space because the Earth is being attacked by unknown alien forces from outer space.
The story starts with Mikako remembering her time with Noburo. Noburo stays on Earth, while she goes out to fight in space. They stay in touch is through text messages on their mobile phones but as the distance between them gets bigger, it takes longer to receive messages.
Noburo waits a month, then a year, then a total of eight years and six months to receive mail from his love. The added twist is that Mikako does not age while in space while Noburo grows older alone. Each wait hopefully for the next message that seems to take an eternity to reach them.
(I have to look for the DVD to find out how the movie ends.)
Then it led me to the songwriter.
Steven Curtis Chapman wrote this song. Chapman is a Christian musician. He is also an advocate for adoption. He and his wife Mary Beth have adopted three children from China. (They have three biological children of their own.) They started a charity organization called Shaohannah's Hope. Shaohannah Hope Yan is their first adopted daughter.
I also found the background of the song.
In an interview Steven Curtis Chapman explained, "This song was actually written about my feelings for my wife and family. At the time my parents had divorced, and this was a large burden on my wife. She worried that this would happen between us, so I wrote this song for my wife, promising that I would always be here waiting for her. If God is the most important thing in my life, my wife ranks just below. Even if life may sometimes lack warmth, or there's arguments, if it's not always perfect, I'll still keep my promise."
And finally, it led me to discover that when I made my first draft of this message in May, tragedy had struck the songwriter's family.
His youngest daughter, Maria Sue Chapman, 5, died on the 21st of May 2008 after she was hit in the driveway of their home in Tennessee by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother.
For anyone who has loved, who is in love, or has lost a loved one, I Will Be Here is not only a song of love, but it is also a song of strength and a song of hope.
I will be here ...
It was very touching. After that special day in May, I associated Daddy with the song.
(So unfamiliar was I with the song that it was only after I had heard my brother-in-law sing it did I realize that the song was made popular in the Philippines by Gary Valenciano. )
When my father-in-law passed away four years ago, MacGyver's sister compiled some videos and selected photos of the family. One of the songs she chose as background music for the pictures slide show was I Will Be Here.
The words took on a whole different meaning since Daddy was no longer physically with us. Listening to the song while watching pictures of the family taken over the years and ending with pictures taken during the wake often brought me to tears.
I tried to figure out what the songwriter's true intentions were when he wrote the song. Listening to the lyrics, one can tell it is a song about love. Love which is so intense, so pure, so true. It can apply to a variety of relationships filled with love -- God's love for us, a husband's love for his wife, a parent's love for her child, a person's love for a relative or even love for good friend.
It is truly a beautiful song. And when one is in love, it is easy to relate to such songs.
Opting to write something about this song has led me to various avenues I would not otherwise have explored.
First it led me to the anime against which the music was set.
The movie is called Voices of a Distant Star and it about long-distance relationship between a teenage couple who communicate by sending emails via their mobile phones across interstellar space. Fifteen year old Mikako is a fighter sent out into space because the Earth is being attacked by unknown alien forces from outer space.
The story starts with Mikako remembering her time with Noburo. Noburo stays on Earth, while she goes out to fight in space. They stay in touch is through text messages on their mobile phones but as the distance between them gets bigger, it takes longer to receive messages.
Noburo waits a month, then a year, then a total of eight years and six months to receive mail from his love. The added twist is that Mikako does not age while in space while Noburo grows older alone. Each wait hopefully for the next message that seems to take an eternity to reach them.
(I have to look for the DVD to find out how the movie ends.)
Then it led me to the songwriter.
Steven Curtis Chapman wrote this song. Chapman is a Christian musician. He is also an advocate for adoption. He and his wife Mary Beth have adopted three children from China. (They have three biological children of their own.) They started a charity organization called Shaohannah's Hope. Shaohannah Hope Yan is their first adopted daughter.
I also found the background of the song.
In an interview Steven Curtis Chapman explained, "This song was actually written about my feelings for my wife and family. At the time my parents had divorced, and this was a large burden on my wife. She worried that this would happen between us, so I wrote this song for my wife, promising that I would always be here waiting for her. If God is the most important thing in my life, my wife ranks just below. Even if life may sometimes lack warmth, or there's arguments, if it's not always perfect, I'll still keep my promise."
And finally, it led me to discover that when I made my first draft of this message in May, tragedy had struck the songwriter's family.
His youngest daughter, Maria Sue Chapman, 5, died on the 21st of May 2008 after she was hit in the driveway of their home in Tennessee by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother.
For anyone who has loved, who is in love, or has lost a loved one, I Will Be Here is not only a song of love, but it is also a song of strength and a song of hope.
I will be here ...
1 comment:
I read this a week or so ago, and I have to admit that the song kept on going in my head for DAYS!
princess
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