Best A Man Can Do

Notes from Joel:

I think this song has been about the best a songwriter like me can do. It's been by far the most requested song, and won more response, than any I've ever written. I had been thinking about the idea of capturing what it is to live each day to the fullest just like Jesus would have us live it, but really send the point home with an example sketched in lyrics and melody. A farmer friend of mine was really the inspiration, but he's really not as old as the gentleman decribed in the song. But still there is much of his personality capture here in these words. (Of course, every artist is allowed some liberty with the story, and I've taken plenty of it.) Before I could finish the final verses, I hopped in my '55 Ford F100 pickup and drove through the nearby wheatland on that moonlit night. The crickets and frogs called loudly and the smell of wheat and hay was thick in the still night air. The words to the last verse were scribbled on a piece of paper by the light of the old truck and the moon. More than anything else, this song captures what I want to be - a man used by God as an active and outspoken example of a humble spirit used by God in the lives of those around me. 1 John 2:6 "If you say that you know Him, you must walk as He walked." ...the best a man can do.

Recorded at Coyote Run in June of '90. Released that same year on Wisdom Street and played several thousand times since the day it was written.

Credits: Joel Weldon - Lead vocal, guitars, bass; Craig Bidondo - Keyboards; Timothy Jones - Drums, programming; Steve Mills - Background vocals; Chris Merkling - Background vocals

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The Best A Man Can Do

On a county road driving through the wheat fields
Didn't really have a destination just thinking to myself
I must have been dreaming 'cause I didn't see the gas gauge
The tank ran dry and I wished I was somewhere else
I'd walked for a mile then I sat by the roadside
Then the drone of an engine came up from behind
Under gray bushy brows he just questioned and smiled some
He said, "Son, looks to me like you need a ride."

As I jumped in his 69 white Ford pickup
Loaded down with haybales and dusty sacks of grain
My eye caught the Bible laying on the dashboard
Something told me this was no ordinary day
He said "Son, where you headed?" and he meant more than small talk
It didn't take long and we were talking about life
In that weathered old face there was a passion for living
His peaceful eyes showed it and I asked him why

chorus
He said... There's a fire burning in my soul
It keeps a man warm and it makes a man whole
When the sun goes down and the day is through
To live and walk like Jesus did
Is the best a man can do

Tires popped gravel as we stopped at his front door
The flame burned blue on his old cook stove
He waved me a chair and he poured me some coffee
It was strong like his gaze that cut through to my soul
His message was clear, he didn't have to prove 'nothin'
Every word was like water to a thirsting man
He said "Don't waste your youth just chasing the wind, boy.
'Cause time, it'll fly like a bird from your hand"

chorus

bridge
Then I asked him if he lived there alone
He glanced at a picture on the windowsill
He said "Nine years ago she went to be with Jesus
Oh, how I loved her.." and I knew he did still

"Son, there's a purpose for all under heaven
You'll make a lot of choices before you die
Better live today as if tonight you'll meet your maker
And with the love of Jesus you'll have nothing to hide"

With a beat-up can we headed back to my car
As I got out to thank him I tried to give him a ten
He wouldn't take the money but with a well worn smile said
"Someday here or in heaven I hope to see you again"
A tingle went through me as I watched him drive away
I knew I'd been given much more than I'd planned
The words that he said would stay with me forever
I'd just shaken the hand of a God-fearing man

chorus

By Joel Weldon

©1990 Joel Weldon Music (BMI).   Used by permission.   All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, copying or commercial usage strictly prohibited. Please respect the rights of creative artists by not abusing copyright law.

 

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