I Come Expecting Jesus -- John Chisum and Nancy Gordon

 

This songwriter had already traveled a pretty adventurous road in his career, and had had a chance to reflect on how he got to where he was in 1996. So, John Chisum must have thought a lot about God’s presence in his life, even when things for a short time looked pretty grim some 13 years earlier, and even before that really. He grew up in Memphis, but evidently by the mid-1990s was in or near Nashville (see the map-graphic here, with highlights Davidson County where Nashville is located) where his music career was in full swing. With the apparent collaboration of Nancy Gordon, they said “I Come Expecting Jesus” to those who would want to draw close to Jesus Christ, the way John remembers when he was a teenager and young adult trying to change his life trajectory. His desire for Jesus was really beyond any plan that John had scoped out, so we might conclude that we are hearing John saying something from deep inside a pit where he’d been as a young man. Access a moment when you were at the bottom, and realize God was there – that just might be the message that John and Nancy are communicating.

 

John Chisum’s experience as a Christian began when he was 18 years old, following an adolescence filled with alcohol and drug abuse, and needless to say he had had only some distant thoughts about God and being close to Him. But upon his acceptance of Christ’s lordship in his life (with the very significant influence of a woman named Lynn, who discipled John), John says that that moment was like the ‘epicenter’ of everything that proceeded forth from that time. His first response was to write a song, which evidently blossomed into an embryonic music career, though he was still was a youngster struggling to make his way in the Christian music industry. A brief homeless episode with his wife, after an expected ministry job fell through, was part of the life that John lived in late 1983 and early 1984 in Nashville, before God seemed to answer his prayer for a foot-in-the-door new beginning. God answered, and John’s career had its new start in Nashville. The lyrics of ‘I Come…’ indicate this is an obvious communion song, written in or about 1996, though the exact circumstances of its inspiration are not described by John or Nancy. And yet, being close to Jesus, and expecting Him to be with you no matter what the situation, is what John indicates has been the driving force in his life from that seminal moment – actually two moments, when he was 18, and then in his early-to-mid 20s -- in his young life going forward. During communion, isn’t that the pivotal moment in His life when believers are invited to meet His embrace most intimately, a time when He ate and drank with those 12 Apostles, shortly before his crucifixion? To read and hear just how momentous and difficult that time was for Him, especially in what transpired later in Gethsemane and then on the cross, is to appreciate how the holy God feels about us, and just how much He was willing to endure to draw us near to Himself.  

 

Eating His body and drinking His blood…that’s how close He wants you and me to be. Calling it ‘a holy moment’ would be offensive if it were anybody but the Divine One. And, for those of us who can recall  times when we were at our lowest points and calling out to Him for relief, that ‘mercy and grace’ that John Chisum and Nancy Gordon write in their lyrics are not just pretty, philosophical words. They are  filled with meaning almost beyond description. Communion transcends what happens here terrestrially, though I still remember those special times when I did indeed feel His care and guidance in my earthly circumstances. The communion song John and Nancy wrote reminds me that His reach in His own life overwhelmed what happened to Him as a mortal – God overcomes. Getting close to the One who has the power to overcome life – that’s pretty special.  

 

Read about one of the songwriters here: Spirit Soul Body | John Chisum

 

And, here: About – Nashville Christian Songwriters

 

And here: /life-work-with-john-chisum

 

Listen to Chisum’s life story in this podcast here: JOHN CHISUM: 40 Years of Music Making - Nashville Christian Songwriters

 

Very brief information about the secondary author-composer: Nancy — The Blessing Co.

 

See information on the map-image of Davidson County (where Nashville is) here, including the public domain status of the graphic: File:Map of Tennessee highlighting Davidson County.svg - Wikimedia Commons . The following statement is associated with the graphic re: its public domain status: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.