Recorded by Karen Peck and New River on their “Hope For All Nations.”project. Recently I spent the evening at the hospital with a good friend as he said goodbye to his wife. I hurt for him and with him. My heart ached for their only child, a young girl barely out of her teens who now faces life without a mother.

 

The drive home at 2:00 a.m. was a quiet one. The next day much the same. We sort of get used to saying goodbye to people our parent’s age but when it’s someone close to our age, it seems a little tougher and for me seems to leave me feeling a little more pensive about my own mortality.

 

This song originated from a phone conversation Karen and I had several months ago. What started out as a discussion about songs for her upcoming recording ended with us talking about the differences in the funeral services of believers versus non-believers. It was a fascinating discussion of living a life of hope versus no hope. Of confidence versus uncertainty. Of eternal versus temporary.

 

At one point Karen said, “Well I’ll tell you this. When you hear that I’m gone, you won’t have to wonder where I’ll be. I know I’ll be there.” She said it with so much passion in her voice, I merely stated the obvious by saying, “Karen, that’s the song you need to write.”

 

It was a few weeks later on Tuesday evening December the 6th, 2016, she and I sat in a writer’s room at Daywind with her producer Wayne Haun and chased the idea. I’ve been around long enough to know that even good ideas with good co-writers can be a struggle. That was not the case with this song. It came as easy as any song I ever remember. I

 

ll admit, sometimes when I write with an artist, my priority is to capture their heart. With this one, it was personal. It was my story. For all the times I’ve gotten it wrong along the way, as the song says... I know that I’m forgiven. I know my name’s been written down and I know without a doubt that I’ll be there! How about you?

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https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-know-ill-be-there/1245360903?i=1245361822