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MR. PHIL WICKHAM: Well the first song on my first record I put out is called, Grace. And that whole song was inspired by, well actually the Gospel of Luke, and in the Gospel of Luke specifically the character of Peter. And reading through that Gospel and seeing him and actually seeing myself in him. I grew up a very Christian home. And I was a part of, I was leading worship by the time I was in junior high and in ministry and kind of in student leadership and all that, and so I had some really, really great opportunities. But I think with that and just with who I am came this very real realization of my own unworthiness to be there and my own kind of sin. And just kind of always asking God, like, Lord why would You even want to use me, why this, why that, I’m just so unworthy, you know. And kind of listening to lies of the enemy and just letting him just condemn me instead of letting the Lord convict me. You know what I mean?

And I think when I was reading through, I remember being 16, I was reading through the Gospel of Luke just, and the character of Peter stood out so much to me ’cause he was this guy that Jesus saw so much potential in. He was this guy that Jesus kept on for three years with, He was the, He discipled him, you know, and He taught him, and He showed him signs and wonders, and He spoke to him. And I’m sure He hung out with him, and [unintelligible], and laughed with him. And Peter still he would say these great things and you know the next day or an hour later he would totally do the opposite.

And it reminded me so much of myself even when you read that incredibly sad story when Peter, you know Jesus says, hey, you guys will, someone’s going to deny me three times, Peter you’re going to deny me three times before the rooster crows three times. You know. And Peter’s like, Jesus I’ll never deny you, you know. And later that night just in, because of fear and because of pride you know just the servant girl comes up to him and he’s like, and he totally denies that he knows Jesus, he denies that he follows Him. And then that you see, it says they meet eyes, you know, and he just weeps bitterly and runs away.

And I just saw myself in that as a songwriter and as a worship leader. You know just doing my best to write these songs and to live these songs out. You know? Sings these songs like, you know, Lord I give you my heart, I give you my soul, and stuff like that. But then just, even that day just living differently, you know, and just realizing, gosh, Lord, I’m just so unworthy of this. But then I was just, ’cause I was so impacted by that character of Peter I read through the Book that he wrote, you know 1st and 2nd Peter.

And it’s so amazing to see the difference in Peter in the Gospel and then in the 1st Peter. ‘Cause he gives this, he says, you know be ready to be, in season and out of season always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you. And it’s so cool to hear that heart coming from this guy who like, who just to young girls was afraid to say that he knew Jesus. You know what I mean? And then all because of the grace of God and through Jesus affecting his life and Jesus changing his life he got to his place of realization of what is important and that there is so much courage and there is so much strength and there is so much grace in the relationship that we share with Jesus.

And so it’s so cool to see at the end of even the Book of John where it talks about the awesome confrontation that Jesus has with Peter after Jesus comes back to life and they eat together. He’s like, Peter, do you love Me. And Peter’s like Jesus, You know that I love You. And He says well then feed by sheep, you know and just that reenlistment you know in the army, just like Peter I know you denied Me and I knew you were going to, but that doesn’t make any difference ’cause I want to use you. And I see potential in you, just surrender to me, you know.

And so that’s when I wrote the song called Grace. And it’s like, it’s very, it has a lot of allusions to that story of Peter. It’s, you know, it talks about, you know, the sky is grey and the light is far, the seas a rage within my heart. I turn my sight to the crashing waves and I cry in the night just to be saved. And it’s all about, you know, grace, I call Your name, won’t Your smile fall over me. Just kind of that allusion to Peter you know walking out on the water, not having the faith to run but realizing you’ll never have enough faith, you know, just it’s all about the grace of God that supplies what we need.

PHIL WICKHAM: Well, my favorite verse, almost every show people are like, “Can you write your favorite verse when you sign?” and stuff like that, and it’s always hard because it’s a different one every time, because it’s like what I read that day, you know what I mean? Because today I’ve been reading through John, and I just read when Jesus—I’ve actually been reading through the Message Bible. Someone gave it to me and I picked it up, and it’s been really cool, kind of a refreshing change and take on everything.

Jesus says, “I give you a new Commandment,” and it talks about love. It’s like this is the new Commandment, more than all those other Commandments I gave you a lobby for, but this is the new one, I’m going to go die and I’m going to change it all, and things are going to change and it’s all about love. I want you to love each other, and I want people to know that you know me through how you act towards each other.” It’s just a cool reminder in the midst of this whole GMA [Gospel Music Association Awards Week] thing, you know, where it’s like, you know, you’re meeting people and you’re saying hi to people and you’re doing all this stuff, and you realize in the midst of it all it’s just like, “Am I loving the person in front of me? Am I looking them in the eye?” And that’s just such a cool reminder to me.

So that today is my life verse, you know what I mean? I’ve never had like a life verse. Well, if I’ve ever had one, it’s probably, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” If I could pick a verse that’s a life verse, ‘cause that’s the heart I want and that’s the heart I desire, and many days I don’t have that heart, you know, but it’s what I want to attain to, you know. But today, my day verse is kind of more what I have as that, just love one another and let people know that Jesus is in us by our love and by how we act towards each other.