I Have Decided To Follow Jesus

I have sung this song thousands of times while standing in church.

I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus 
I have decided to follow Jesus 
No turning back
No turning back

If anyone has a reason to dislike this song it is me.  My parents were evangelists for the first six years of my life.  It was the 70's, and we did Revivals.  Back then, revivals ran all week.  Yes, full church services every night.  (I guess soccer practice was less demanding, and there were no DVRs because people came.)

The world behind me; The cross before me
The world behind me; The cross before me
The world behind me; The cross before me
No turning back
No turning back

We sang this song every night  for an invitation (The invitation is the part of the church service where you ask people if they want to follow Jesus.)  Billy Graham used it in his revivals, and so did we.    Even after we left evangelism, I went to church 3-4 times every week,  and we still sang this song and watched  people streamed down the isles tward Christ.


Tho' none go with me, I still will follow;
Tho' none go with me, I still will follow;
Tho' none go with me, I still will follow;
No turning back
No turning back

I love this song.  This song is not so en vogue as it was; we have choruses and other popular songs to sings.  Many churches do not give formal invitations, so maybe there is less of a need for this song.   Many churches try to avoid the old way of doing things because it seems new songs and methods are more appropriate.

But, this is still one of my favorites.  It stirs a deep place in me.

Maybe the songs stirs a deep place in me because it is deeply connected to my childhood, a lullaby of sorts.  Maybe I am partial to it because it is good to remind myself, aloud, of  that to which I am fully committed.  In my world where the phone beeps and dings telling me of my next appointment or the latest news,  I am still committed to this one main thing.

This one thing, He, has not moved, and,
me, I have not moved-
only the rest of the world is moving.

When searching the Internet for additional facts about this song,  I did not see this verse anywhere:

My cross I'll carry til I see Jesus
My cross I'll carry til I see Jesus
My cross I'll carry til I see Jesus
No turning back 
No turning back 

Maybe one of the country churches I was in made it up.  But,  I know we sang this verse.

For me, singing songs that have a deep history as part of my faith,  connects me instantaneously to all the moments in my life when I have sung this song.  This simultaneously grounds me and moves me forward.

Think of this way,  when you hear a bad 80's song in the mall while shopping,  you remember why you no longer wear fluorescent pink string ties and tie dye jeans.  You then put down the skinny jeans with zipper at the bottom, which have made a come back, and you buy something more practical while still humming the old song you don't even like because that song is part of your historical time and space.

Interestingly,  we recently sang I Have Decided To Follow Jesus  at my current church while giving a formal invitation.  People came streaming down the isles toward Christ.

Maybe that is why I like this song.