THE JESUS WAY

It took me three years to finish writing “The Jesus Way”.

All the verse lyrics came to me in a single instance of pen to paper during a season of frustration and confusion. I was asking God where I fit into it all, and He answered me. This is what was written:

“If you curse me I will bless you

If you hurt me, I will forgive

And if you hate me, I will love you

I choose THE JESUS WAY

If you’re helpless, I will defend you

If you’re burdened, I’ll share the weight

And if you’re hopeless, then let me show you

There’s hope in THE JESUS WAY

If you strike me, I will embrace you

If you chain me, I’ll sing His praise

and if you kill me, my home is Heaven

For I choose THE JESUS WAY!”

The words came out so fast that I honestly had to reread what I had just written to fully grasp it. As I did, I was moved to tears, overwhelmed by the heart and person of Jesus. How good, patient, loving, and kind He is. I was equally overwhelmed with how often and deeply I fall short of looking and acting like Him. God was simultaneously blowing my mind with His character and breaking my heart with the reality of my need for a Savior.

At first, I just saw the words on the page as a sort of prayerful declaration of who He is and who I aim to be. But as the months and years passed, the words didn’t get lost in memory. Instead, they grew into a melody that I would often sing to myself. I would hum it in the morning before tackling the day. I would recite it in moments of feeling taken advantage of or tempted to take a less holy path. I used those verses, and the melody that grew around them, to remind my heart of who He is and who I have chosen to be. To preach to my soul what is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

For a long time, I thought this song was only for me. The idea of releasing and carrying a song that says so decisively and unashamedly that “I choose the Jesus Way” felt daunting to me. I so often decide to choose “The Phil Way” instead, you know? But I couldn’t shake the pull inside. I felt that God wanted me to finish the song and give other people the chance to sing along.

So, I set out to write a chorus that would carry the same heart as the verses. It took me months of writing several different choruses and then one finally came flowing out that I wanted to sing over and over:

“I follow Jesus

I follow Jesus

He wore my sin

I’ll gladly wear His Name

He is the treasure

He is the answer

I choose the Jesus Way”

I showed the whole song to my good friend and producer Jonathan Smith, and together we wrote a bridge and buttoned the whole thing up. In twenty years of writing songs, I’ve never had a song personally impact me the way “The Jesus Way” has, and I believe it will continue to for the rest of my life. I have no idea what God has planned for this song, but I am excited to watch His story for it unfold. I hope and pray that this song turns hearts and eyes to Jesus in the same way that it has turned mine to Him.

The Jesus Way was never promised to be easy. But it does promise to be full of meaning and abundant life! You and I were created to know and be known by God. To walk in His presence and His abundant life. Humanity lost its way. The Jesus Way is our roadmap from heaven to find our way back to Him. The more we align ourselves with Him—His way, His truth, and His life—the more we become who we were always meant to be! Peace follows. Joy follows. LIFE follows! May we now and forever declare together that we choose “The Jesus Way!”