This song was written by the other guitarist in Caelus -- my friend, Mark -- shortly before our first recording project became reality. Mark and I knew each other well, as I had been a major influence in his life since he first started attending the evangelistic youth group I led between 1974-1978. He followed my footsteps by enrolling in the same Bible college I had graduated from, which means that he was very aware of every single difference in my new teachings. Our former indoctrination (especially what he learned from me) provided the basis upon which he objected to even the smallest points of "heresy" I was teaching. :) Something he couldn't deny, though, was the difference in the basis of acceptance, for he was well acquainted with rejection based upon a lack of performance ... and this is what drew him to the grace he was now hearing from me and receiving from those who believed it. But he continued to drastically struggle, often bouncing back and forth. On the night before our recording date he had decided not to join us because of the "false doctrine" I represented, but after a long intense phone call he realized once again that his main objection was centered not in me, but in his own long-standing sense of inferiority and need to perforrm. When we recorded the tune he was filled with a renewed sense of freedom.
There goes the lonely brother walking down the road
His back is bent and his steps are weak, bearing up the load
Performing for everyone he meets to get their temporary smiles
Oh if only the lonely brother could learn he's been freed from all those trials
Hey there, lonely brother, your wandering days are through
We're not sitting behind our Bibles judging down on you
We accept you the way you are, the way the good Lord looks at you
'Cause when I look at you through Jesus I see that you are perfect, too
When the lonely brother heard those words it lifted up his head
And he realized for the first time that his sin nature was really dead
The message of grace and love he heard really turned his life around
His back grew straight and his step got firm and his eyes were off the ground
I guess by now some of you say I know him pretty well
I must have been real close to him so his story I could tell
For I know well the burden from which he was freed
It all becomes clear when you realize the lonely brother, friends, was me!
©1980-2003 Mark Lautenschlager
words and music written by Mark Lautenschlager 1980
