The Blue Couch
As a thirteen year-old preacher’s kid, I remember thinking to myself, I bet I’ll make it into heaven because of my family connections. But one afternoon while flipping through the television channels in search of a baseball game, I accidentally stumbled upon a Billy Graham crusade and my life changed. I can still remember the details of that moment when I travel back there in my mind. I can see the family room of that little house on Janes Ave. I can see my mom walking by with her laundry basket. And I can still see that blue couch. With the voice of Billy Graham in the background and the choir singing “Just As I Am,” my mom dropped her laundry basket and sat down beside me on that blue couch and asked, “Do you want to pray?” I held my mom’s hand and asked Jesus Christ to be the author of my story.
Several years later after my music career sort of took off, my record label did a promotion that flew radio contest winners to my home city of Chicago to spend a weekend with me. We drove around in my tour bus and visited my old stomping grounds. One of the stops we made was to my childhood home that, much to my surprise, had been turned into a Matthew West museum by my mother. And the grand finale of that little walk through my life? My guests and I walked down into that old basement to see a velvet rope in front of a blue couch and with it a sign that read “This is the couch where Matthew asked Jesus into his heart.” I know, my mom is the coolest.
Many chapters of my story have been written since then, and I sometimes feel so far removed from the beauty of that blue couch moment. I find myself longing to return - return to those days. Those days when my faith in Christ was fresh, new, and alive. Those days when I had fewer mistakes under my belt. Those days before I knew how harsh the world can be. Those days when I had my whole life in front of me.
I wonder if you know the feeling. What I’m trying to say is, even a “Christian” singer can start to wonder if his faith is still real, or if maybe, there are just too many miles and too many mistakes between the me I’ve become and that boy on the blue couch who first cried out to Jesus.
So, that blue couch you see on the cover? Now you know why it’s there. These songs are written in the hopes that you too might once again find your “blue couch.” These songs represent the discovery that He is just as close to me now as He was when I first felt Him knock at the door of my heart. And no matter how far away I feel from the innocence of a kid on a blue couch crying out to Jesus, He still looks at me and sees that kid. HIS kid. HIS beloved child.
There’s a line in the song “Brand New” that sums up what I hope you’ll take away from this record. “Anyone in Christ is now a new creation, every day you’re closer to the you He’s making.” God’s promise is that in Him we are new creations, but He also knows we are works in progress. He promises to complete that good work. From our blue couch moments until our last second on earth, He is making us Brand New. -MW
P.S. If you don’t have a blue couch moment yet, you can have one right now by praying this prayer with me. “Dear God, I need You. I believe You sent Your son, Jesus, to die on a cross for my sins because You love me that much. I ask You to come into my heart and make me a new creation. I am placing my story in Your hands and from this day forward I want to live knowing that I am forgiven, I am free, and I am Yours, Amen.
