Pastor with a Past

[good4somethingbum]

Pastor With a Past ©2016 Robert George BMI

He pulled up outside our small church in an old Volkswagen bus
Saw the iron cross up on the front door caked in rust
Looked around at tattered hymnals and the squeaky folding chairs
Knelt beside some good books on a shaky stand and said a prayer

Mama made me go to his first Bible class
When he said the book of Acts,
Was a plan of attack
I knew he was a pastor with a past

Well, he drove us young kids from that noisy neighborhood
Showed us God’s love in the forest and got us choppin’ wood
But he had no Bible school diplomas on his wall
Other preachers said he might not be a minister at all

Took us to a lake and fished for trout and big-mouth bass
He got us thinkin’ of,
How heaven’s net is love
And the reel was a pastor with a past

People said his folks were poor,
And he’d baptized thugs and whores
In some muddy pond in Arkansas
Local dealers hated him,
Cos he led us kids from sin
And his teaching style was real and raw

One night he was beaten by a shadow in a mask
Like a snake that shed his skin,
Few could identify him
After he hurt the pastor with a past

Doctors in the ICU said our friend was comatose
And then after two nights he just vanished like a ghost
With our good friend gone we felt so lost and dazed
Some began to drift back to unrighteous ways

Cos the freedom of the Gospel’s pure and timeless page
Finds confinement in a mortal man’s corrupted cage
Although we had felt downhearted and confused
We found purpose chopping wood and finishing the pews

Now the front door has a rugged cross at last
All we plan and build and do,
Turns out tough and straight and true
Like it’s guided by the pastor with a past
Guided by the pastor with a past…