1991
Three years into my first marriage and we were getting ready to have our third child Chelsea when I wrote this song. We had married the year after I got back from missions in Venezuela (1984). I had been on a spiritual high, but that started to wane during the second year of my marriage. Life was difficult supporting a family and trying to keep my wife happy and interested. Music was placed on the back burner and that really drained the life out of me. In my memory banks, my mind associates this song with the little recording studio I setup in the third year of my marriage. It was situated in our garage on San Altos Place, Lemon Grove. I worked on the song in that garage and recorded it there on my four-track Tascam. At the same time, I was working on my Spanish album SOLDADOS DE LA LUZ for the Cerro Azul community in Tijuana Mexico. Also during this time, we had moved the home fellowship to Mike and Libby Stucky’s house which was just a few houses down the street from us. I re-recorded this one in March of 2010 and included it in my album titled TO SEE THECHILD. It is a song of repentance- not just repentance from sin, but repentance from neglecting the calling of God on my life and the gifts he had entrusted me with. My Christian walk has been marked with highs and lows and this song was at a point when I was coming from a low point back to a high one. I know that low points are necessary and inevitable in anyone’s walk with the Lord, but many of mine were self-induced or lengthened / worsened by my own pride or stubbornness. So it was my time to “come back to a place I’d been before.” The “dream” I talk about pursuing was the dream of fame and fortune. That was a dream that I needed to be set free from even though I wasn’t really pursuing it in earnest. Letting go of that dream was part of God’s humbling process during this season of my life. To serve Him became my new dream. That turned out to be way better than fame and fortune and soon my cup was overflowing with joy and blessings from on high! Well, this song ushers in a new year, so here are some tidbits from the headlines of the year 1991:
• Freddie Mercury- lead singer for Queen died of AIDS
• The UN coalition forces kick Iraq out of Kuwait
• Apartheid in South Africa is abolished in favor of a multicultural society
• The invention of the Airbag, genetically engineered Blue Rose, and the first WebBrowser
• Boris Yeltsin becomes Russia’s first popularly elected president
• Fires in Oakland CA burn thousands of homes
• The Dead Sea Scroll was unveiled in Israel
• Seventy tornadoes break out in central US
• Jeffrey Dahmer arrested and charged as serial murderer
• Joseph Harris goes “postal” in New Jersey
• Rodney King police brutality video released
• Popular films: The Silence of the Lambs, Backdraft, Thelma & Louise
And now for the moment you’ve been waiting for… the lyrics!
AFTER ALL THIS TIME
Words & music by Reggie Michaud © 1991
After all this time away from You Lord
I’m coming back to a place I’ve been before
From the bottom it looks so high
From the pit to the edge of the sky
In between there’s a sea of confusion that’s holding me down
After all this time pursuing a dream
I’m praying Lord, You’re gonna set me free
Just deposit my soul on high
From the pit to the edge of the sky
Far above all the hustle and bustle that’s holding me down
And I will serve You with gladness
And I will serve You with joy
Turning away from this madness
I’m turning; I’m turning around
Begging You please; forgive me Lord
After all it’s time to make the change
The sin I’ve kept no longer will remain
Just deliver my soul on high
From the pit to the edge of the sky
Cause I’ll never be holy if I keep my feet on the ground
And I will serve You with gladness
And I will serve You with joy
Turning away from this madness
I’m turning; I’m turning around
Begging You please; forgive me Lord
Three years into my first marriage and we were getting ready to have our third child Chelsea when I wrote this song. We had married the year after I got back from missions in Venezuela (1984). I had been on a spiritual high, but that started to wane during the second year of my marriage. Life was difficult supporting a family and trying to keep my wife happy and interested. Music was placed on the back burner and that really drained the life out of me. In my memory banks, my mind associates this song with the little recording studio I setup in the third year of my marriage. It was situated in our garage on San Altos Place, Lemon Grove. I worked on the song in that garage and recorded it there on my four-track Tascam. At the same time, I was working on my Spanish album SOLDADOS DE LA LUZ for the Cerro Azul community in Tijuana Mexico. Also during this time, we had moved the home fellowship to Mike and Libby Stucky’s house which was just a few houses down the street from us. I re-recorded this one in March of 2010 and included it in my album titled TO SEE THECHILD. It is a song of repentance- not just repentance from sin, but repentance from neglecting the calling of God on my life and the gifts he had entrusted me with. My Christian walk has been marked with highs and lows and this song was at a point when I was coming from a low point back to a high one. I know that low points are necessary and inevitable in anyone’s walk with the Lord, but many of mine were self-induced or lengthened / worsened by my own pride or stubbornness. So it was my time to “come back to a place I’d been before.” The “dream” I talk about pursuing was the dream of fame and fortune. That was a dream that I needed to be set free from even though I wasn’t really pursuing it in earnest. Letting go of that dream was part of God’s humbling process during this season of my life. To serve Him became my new dream. That turned out to be way better than fame and fortune and soon my cup was overflowing with joy and blessings from on high! Well, this song ushers in a new year, so here are some tidbits from the headlines of the year 1991:
• Freddie Mercury- lead singer for Queen died of AIDS
• The UN coalition forces kick Iraq out of Kuwait
• Apartheid in South Africa is abolished in favor of a multicultural society
• The invention of the Airbag, genetically engineered Blue Rose, and the first WebBrowser
• Boris Yeltsin becomes Russia’s first popularly elected president
• Fires in Oakland CA burn thousands of homes
• The Dead Sea Scroll was unveiled in Israel
• Seventy tornadoes break out in central US
• Jeffrey Dahmer arrested and charged as serial murderer
• Joseph Harris goes “postal” in New Jersey
• Rodney King police brutality video released
• Popular films: The Silence of the Lambs, Backdraft, Thelma & Louise
And now for the moment you’ve been waiting for… the lyrics!
AFTER ALL THIS TIME
Words & music by Reggie Michaud © 1991
After all this time away from You Lord
I’m coming back to a place I’ve been before
From the bottom it looks so high
From the pit to the edge of the sky
In between there’s a sea of confusion that’s holding me down
After all this time pursuing a dream
I’m praying Lord, You’re gonna set me free
Just deposit my soul on high
From the pit to the edge of the sky
Far above all the hustle and bustle that’s holding me down
And I will serve You with gladness
And I will serve You with joy
Turning away from this madness
I’m turning; I’m turning around
Begging You please; forgive me Lord
After all it’s time to make the change
The sin I’ve kept no longer will remain
Just deliver my soul on high
From the pit to the edge of the sky
Cause I’ll never be holy if I keep my feet on the ground
And I will serve You with gladness
And I will serve You with joy
Turning away from this madness
I’m turning; I’m turning around
Begging You please; forgive me Lord
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