August 27, 2005

American, By God's Amazing Grace

Woody and a Civil War re enactor Dressed in "local" farm dress of the 1860's Pea Ridge National Military Park and Battlefield Pea Ridge Arkansas.

You have likely heard this song already... we hear it a lot on all sorts of radio stations, for Luke Stricklin, the solder turned singer story teller is a local native son. The people here are very proud of him and pray for great things in his future


American, by God's Amazing Grace

by Luke Stricklin

Bottom of my boots sure are gettin' worn
there's a lot of holes in this faded uniform
My hands are black with dirt and so is my face
I aint never been to hell
but it couldn't be any worse than this place.
Tell my wife don't worry 'cause I know what to do
it makes you feel better sometimes, but don't know if it's true.
I know if I die it's just my time to go
but I pray to God every day that I may get back home.

Well when you've seen what I've seen
things don't seem so bad
quit worrying 'bout what you aint got, thank God for what you have
'Cause I could be raising my family in this place
but I was born an American
by Gods Amazing Grace.

For the last twelve months I've had a new address
the neighborhood smells like sewerage and the streets are lined with trash.
You never know what's gonna be the next thing to explode
but unlike these people, I have another home.
It breaks my heart to see these kids out on the streets
walking barefoot through the trash, diggin' for something to eat.
I give them what I got, just to let them know I care
and I thank God it's not my son that's standing there.

Well when you've seen what I've seen
things don't seem so bad
quit worrying 'bout what you aint got, thank God for what you have
'Cause I could be raising my family in this place
but I was born an American
by Gods Amazing Grace.

You want to talk about it, you better keep it short
cause I got a lot of lost time I gotta make up for.
Really don't care why Bush went in to Iraq
I know what I done there and I'm damn sure proud of that.
You got somethin' bad to say about the USA
you better save it for different ears 'less you want to crawl away.
And I laugh in your face when you say you've got it bad
until you've spent some time on the streets of Baghdad

Well when you've seen what I've seen
things don't seem so bad
quit worrying 'bout what you aint got, thank God for what you have
'Cause you could be raising your family in this place
but you were born in America, By God's Amazing Grace!!!!


I often fail to thank God for what I have. I will try to be more mindful of my current blessed circumstances. Thanks Luke for the reminder...