Jesus Saves

There was a man I used to pass

On my way into town

He was covered in dirt like the world had beat him down

I often wondered how he ended up like that

So one day driving home

I pulled over to ask

I said, "Man, where'd it all go wrong?"

He said, "Son, do you really wanna know?"

"My daddy left for another woman

Moved off to L.A.

My mama fought hard against that cancer

She died when I was eight

I finished school, my country shipped me off to war

When I came home, my whole world didn't love me anymore"

"It's hard to see all that when you're driving by

So I just write down, "Jesus saves"

'Cause there ain't no way I could fit that on a sign

I can't fit that on a sign"

I took him to a diner

I bought him a cup of coffee

He asked me

If he could bum a couple dollars off me

He told me his story, I told mine

He said thanks 'cause most folks around here

Would never take the time

He said

"I lost my job down at the mill

When that factory closed

Army stopped sending me them checks

The bank took everything I own

Hitchhiked my way up to Chicago

The nights were too damn cold

I hopped a train headed west

'Cause I had nowhere else to go"

"It's hard to see all that driving by

So I just write down, "Jesus saves"

'Cause there ain't no way I could fit that on a sign

There ain't no way to fit that on a sign"

"I probably would've wrote down a little more

If I could've found a bigger piece of cardboard"

"My brother Walter was my hero

But he was bad to drink

One night, he laid his Harley down

Near that Ohio riverbank

Me and my ex-wife tried for kids when we were dating

Hell, we even had baby names picked out

But little Walter didn't make it"

"It's hard to see all that driving by

So I just write down, "Jesus saves"

'Cause there ain't no way I could fit that on a sign

I can't fit all that on a sign"