An abusive childhood, domestic violence, divorced parents, a bad romance—sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Unless you’re Brad Millard, lead singer of the band MercyMe. Instead of letting tragedy destroy him, he took all the pain, shame, and disappointment, and channeled it into writing the song “I Can Only Imagine.”
Anticipating what it would be like in Heaven and to be standing before God, the popular song has been turned into an equally-popular movie with Michael Finley playing Brad and Dennis Quaid as his horrible father. Many of the parent/child themes touched upon—abuse, abandonment, estrangement, reconciliation and death—will feel unnervingly close to many families. (It was very relatable to me, with the dysfunctional family life I had growing up.)
Though the subject matter is heavy, the movie is not a downer, focusing on making lemons out of lemonade, rather than a “woe is me” attitude. It encourages the viewer to stay positive because no matter how bad it is or was, something good can come from it in the future. Hope, healing, and redemption are possible, provided we don’t let misery and misfortune take over.
“I Can Online Imagine” is written from a Christian perspective, but members of the Jewish community will relate to the universal truth of God’s Word, God’s Plan, and God’s Love. Jews and Christians may worship differently, but we are all serving the same God who has promised to always be there for us.
I would love to see this movie. I havent even heard the song, I will have to find it on youtube.
The song is from 2001 or 2002, I think, and the movie was made recently. I bet when you hear it, you’ll recognize it. I can remember it being played non-stop on radio.