Somebody's Daughter - Story Behind The Song

Somebody's Daughter

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A couple of years ago, Cyndi and I took our first trip New York to celebrate our anniversary and see a Yankees game before they tore down the old stadium. We were absolute tourists and I'm surprised we weren't mugged! Everything was moving so fast and we were trying to take it all in. 

When we went to Times Square, we got caught in a sea of people as we were walking down the sidewalk. At one point , I noticed this young girl setting in the entrance to an alley. Now I'd seen several homeless people since we'd been in New York and usually, I'm ashamed now to admit, I would do my best to pretend not to see them. 

This girl was different. She wasn't asking for money…she wasn't promising that she would "work for food"…. she was sitting there crying, holding a cardboard sign that simply said, "I want to go home."
In the hustle and bustle of the moment, Cyndi didn't see her. The crowd of people around us quickly swept us away with them away and before I knew it we were blocks away. I never saw the girl again.
New York City is an amazing place but it can also be very scary. There were times when I felt very uncomfortable and couldn't wait to get back the the safety of our hotel room. I can not even imagine what it would be like to have no money and no place to go there. To have to sleep in the streets with no protection.

As the horror of what this girl must be going thru fully hit me, i felt numb. I was ashamed and disgusted with myself knowing that I could have easily put her on a bus and saved her from only God knows what, but I did nothing.

That's where this song came from.

God had taught me something. But by His grace, go I.
I will never be able to help the girl in New York but I pray for her often. I will never again "pretend" not to see someone in need.

The homeless are people, no different than myself, with fears, hurts and needs. My attitude used to be that they were there because they wanted to be…and I've since found out that it is true in some cases.
I've now been working with the homeless for a while and I'm finding that many of them are actually ex-military that can't find jobs for whatever reason are doing exacting what that were trained to do…survive.

Many are people that have lost their jobs, then their homes, then their pride and sanity.
Yes, I've also found many that are drug addicts, alcoholics, you name it, but at the end of the day they are still people that are in the worst kind of need.
God is the only answer for a problem this big. I'm humbled that He allows me to be a part.