A Little Bit Longer (Commentary)

Track number five on this record y'all, uh, it's a song called "

A Little Bit Longer." We wrote this with our dear friend, Shane

Stevens. Man, I, I love this song on so many levels, and I know y'all

Probably gonna have your own stories for it too. I think that's the

Thing I love about this song is, for everybody, it's got its own

Universal, "Hey, this song ministers to me because of this." Um

This is one of those, one of those types of songs where everybody

Can have their own meaning to it, but I will say, the thing that I

Think I was thinking about that day in the writer's room was all of

The ones that we've met over the years on the road that came to

Jesus at our shows. They thought they were just coming to a concert

The next thing they know, they have an encounter with the real Jesus

And they surrender their lives to Him. And then, we've met so many

Of those folks that told us how they'd get back home, or they'd go

To work, or they'd run into so and so, and they'd, you just ran into

A bunch of emotionalism. You just, you didn't really get saved

Because how do you know you got saved, and all this, this, and all

The thing that religion does. It gives you all of the checklist of

The do's and the don'ts, and, and, and, and when you've done enough

Then you get your certificate of completion, and then you can say

You belong to Jesus. And, and I, I'm so done with that, and I really

Think that most people are done with that. I think, think most

People, they just wanna know that, that God loves 'em, and that He's

For them, and that they can stay in His presence, and they don't have

To feel like they're an outsider anymore. And that's the beauty of

The gospel, is that it's God's will that no man should perish, but

That everybody would come into a working knowledge of the truth, and

Then once they're there, I love the promise in Hebrews that He'll

Never leave us, and He'll never forsake us. I'm so tired of this

Certificate of completion mentality, and I think you can

Hear that in these songs, especially this one, of saying

"Yo, you had an encounter with the real Jesus, and you ain't

Gotta leave. You can stay right here. He loves you, He's

For you." I mean, that's my interpretation of where we've

Written this song from, but, yeah, just, y'all share on that

Yeah, and I think, you know, how you get there to being so outdone

With it, Jesus got outdone with that spirit too. And I think that

Jesus saying, you know, "All who are weary, all who are heavy

Burdened, come unto Me, because My yoke is easy, My burden is light

And I'm gonna give you rest. I'm gonna give you rest." And religion

Is always gonna be, isn't it funny, instead of using the staff to

To, you know, hit on the heads, and bring on the, bring in the sheep

And hit the heads of the wolves, we're turning it around, and so

Often, we, we wanna hit the sheep. And it's like, uh, buddy, so

A hundred percent, this song has meant so much out of, you know

There was a lot of songs we had to choose from, that we got to choose

From, uh, to put on this First Things First album. And when it

Started coming down to the wire, there were a couple slots left of

You know, why this song, why that? And when we chose this one to take

On one of the final slots, I, I felt like we were all unified on

Man, whoever's out there that has gone through, you know, hurt

Whoever's gone, feeling like they're not worthy enough

They're not good enough, this song has the opportunity to really

Minister to that person. Uh, we've been raised in the church

As, as PKs our entire lives, and this song still ministers to

Me, uh, because we're all human, you know? And, uh, thank God

The same blood that Jesus shed for one thing, for one sin

For whatever that you're going through today, you know, He shed

It for all of 'em. And so, man, this song, it means so much

It's an, it's an invitation to His presence, and I think that that's

Where the heart of this song is. It's the heart of the, of the

Person speaking, saying, "Man, all I know is when I run to You

It's like a refuge, and, and I'm done hiding, and I just wanna be

Able to know I can stay here." And so when I, I, I hope that when

You hear this song, you feel the welcoming of the Holy Spirit, that

That, and the open arms of Jesus saying, "You can stay. I'm, I'm

Not going anywhere." And you, and you hear the words of Pastor James

In chapter four, verse eight, where he said, "Draw near to God

And He'll draw near to you." I think there's that drawing near in

This song, and, and, and I hope that everybody can use this as just

An intimate, um, tool in, in, in the arsenal, if you will, a weapon

In the arsenal to kinda say, "Man, I, I'm gonna use this song as a

Prayer of, 'I just wanna get near to God. I just wanna be in His

Presence, and I don't wanna go anywhere,' and, and just know that

He's not going anywhere. He's right there with His arms open, and He

Loves you, and He'll never leave you, and He'll never forsake you."