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Band’s book sends a message of hope

Jul-31-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

The following is an article regarding a new book by the band MercyMe, and its connection to an officer with the Stryker Brigade. We posted another article on this topic a while back.

[Link to Full Article]
By Brian Bowers, Stars and Stripes

One simple song can influence people in incredible ways.

That’s the message in MercyMe’s new book “I Can Only Imagine: Stories of Eternal Hope.”

After its song about meeting God in heaven exploded onto mainstream radio last year, the rock/worship band decided to compile some of the messages it had received from fans. The resulting book is packed with emotional tales of how “I Can Only Imagine” encouraged listeners struggling to cope with devastating loss. [...]

The messages generally are brief, one-page items. However, two pages are devoted to one correspondent: Lt. Col. Joseph Piek, public affairs officer for the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, currently in Mosul, Iraq.

In a message from February, Piek tells of comforting a soldier whose friend was the first member of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team killed by enemy action. For his own comfort, Piek then turned to “I Can Only Imagine,” listening to the song “until the batteries ran out in my CD player.” [...]

Piek recently said he got hooked on the song while listening to KCMS Spirit 105.3 in Seattle with his family. [...]

“But the song took on a whole new meaning for me when I deployed to Iraq. I have wonderful friends here, but I needed to feel close to Jesus in order to see through to the end of some very long days. ‘I Can Only Imagine’ helped me focus on Jesus, and I imagined myself in His presence … He walks with me as I walk across our compound at night, and I talk to Him as though He were walking beside me.”

The song continues to have a presence on Piek’s base. “We have a young private first class named David Chovan, who sings for all he’s worth. He sings ‘I Can Only Imagine’ at church with such conviction it’ as though Bart Millard were there himself,” he said.


Comments For "Band’s book sends a message of hope":

I have commented on this before...this has to be the best song ever written! I am so glad that it is being sung and/or played over in Iraq by the troops...I can think of no better song to give them peace and assurance.

Posted by: Susan | July 31, 2004 6:51 PM

Thanks to the group Mercy Me for caring for our service members and many others. Thanks to God for the inspiration and promise of hope in the song and for drawing our loved ones to it. (Thanks always, Todd, for posting so many wonderful articles for us!)

Posted by: PattyF | July 31, 2004 7:43 PM

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