From the album More to This Life (Sparrow, 1989)
This is Steven's second appearance on this list. When it's all over he will be listed with five songs and four of them in the top 100. It's not surprising, considering he has released 20 albums in his career winning 5 Grammy awards, 56 GMA Dove Awards (more than any other artist in history), and many other accolades. I will be Here is from his 3rd album, More to This Life, which has been certified Gold with sales of over 525,000 units.
The tender lyrics paint such a beautiful picture of a man's unconditional commitment to his wife and his marriage, but they were inspired by a painful experience in his life. When Chapman and wife Mary Beth married in 1984, they were young but they had a good role model to follow; the strong, spiritually-centered marriage that Steven’s parents had. But shortly after they wee married, Stven's parents relationship began to come apart.
"So in the process of that," Steven says, "my parents did end up divorcing, [and] it really shook the foundation of my faith, my ideas of marriage and everything because, again, with my parents, there was a strength there."
With the fears the Chapmans had about the state of their union, Steven wanted to assure his wife that their marriage wouldn’t crumble. "It felt like I needed to drive a stake in the ground again and say to her, ‘No matter how I feel when I wake up tomorrow, no matter how disillusioned we may be at different points of this, I have made this commitment to you, and I will be here when you wake up.’ Because I think there was this real fear in her that said, ‘Wow, if this happened in his parents’ lives, what assurance do we have that this won’t be our story as well?’"
In writing the words "And just as sure as the seasons were made for change/Our lifetimes are made for these years/So I, I will be here," Steven found a release for his troubled heart and also discovered a way to encourage others. "I was so surprised when people began to use the song as a wedding song and to have them say to me what a beautiful song of commitment it was for them," Chapman recalls. "It was one of many ways God redeemed that [experience] in my own [life] and continues to." (source)
The tender lyrics paint such a beautiful picture of a man's unconditional commitment to his wife and his marriage, but they were inspired by a painful experience in his life. When Chapman and wife Mary Beth married in 1984, they were young but they had a good role model to follow; the strong, spiritually-centered marriage that Steven’s parents had. But shortly after they wee married, Stven's parents relationship began to come apart.
"So in the process of that," Steven says, "my parents did end up divorcing, [and] it really shook the foundation of my faith, my ideas of marriage and everything because, again, with my parents, there was a strength there."
With the fears the Chapmans had about the state of their union, Steven wanted to assure his wife that their marriage wouldn’t crumble. "It felt like I needed to drive a stake in the ground again and say to her, ‘No matter how I feel when I wake up tomorrow, no matter how disillusioned we may be at different points of this, I have made this commitment to you, and I will be here when you wake up.’ Because I think there was this real fear in her that said, ‘Wow, if this happened in his parents’ lives, what assurance do we have that this won’t be our story as well?’"
In writing the words "And just as sure as the seasons were made for change/Our lifetimes are made for these years/So I, I will be here," Steven found a release for his troubled heart and also discovered a way to encourage others. "I was so surprised when people began to use the song as a wedding song and to have them say to me what a beautiful song of commitment it was for them," Chapman recalls. "It was one of many ways God redeemed that [experience] in my own [life] and continues to." (source)
Here is the original album version of the song.
And here is a live performance of the song were Chapman talks about the inspiration behind the song:
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