A Love Song…

I'm a fan of love songs.

By "love songs," I mean music that highlights the deep love everyone longs for. I wish there were more love songs out today, so over next couple of weeks I'd like to share a couple I've written and recorded . Whether or not you have experienced true, lasting love, I hope you'll find your heart warmed and encouraged as you listen. God cares about romance, not just in human relationships but also in our understanding and experience of the deep, eternal love He offers to us. I encourage you to listen to each song from the perspective of human love and the spiritual vantage point of God's love for you.

I wrote a song called "Look Longer" a few years ago. Here's the story behind it:

One day my wife Terese and I were shopping at some stores on the main street of Venice, Florida, close to where my sister and brother-in-law had a house where we were staying. It was a typical Florida afternoon: hot, humid, and sunny. After an hour of browsing, I told my wife I needed to sit in the shade on a bench just outside one of the shops she wanted to visit. Sitting on that bench, I started people-watching, listening to various languages and accents, and observing the different people groups and clothing styles.

As I sat on the bench, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two teenagers walking hand in hand. They seemed lost in the bubble of young love as they talked and blissfully walked past me, unaware of my presence. From the few words I heard, I sensed that the young man was asking for a deeper relationship with the young woman whose hand he held. Then, about 10 steps behind them, I saw another couple walking hand in hand. The difference was that the second couple was about 60 years older than the young couple that had just passed me. I was struck by the idea that this older man had been in the same place as the younger man, albeit decades earlier, asking the woman whose hand he still held to envision a future with him. It was like watching a decades-long love story pass me in a few seconds.

When Terese and I returned to the house we were staying at, I sat down at the piano and wrote this song. It is a song that even now reminds me of the two couples I saw, and especially the deep love God has blessed Terese and me with in our marriage. I am thankful that she said "yes" when I asked her to look longer at a future with me!

Thanks to my good friend and producer Matt Kirkwold, we recorded the song "Look Longer ."I hope you enjoy it as much as I did bringing it to you. Here is the link to hear and see the song video:

"Look Longer" Chris Atkins song and video

Just as the person in the song asks their partner to envision a future together, God also invites you and me to look longer and deeper at the sacred romance He offers to us—with Him.

God bless you!

Chris Atkins