Sunrise Over Jordan-lyrics

This is the first song I ever wrote. I was 14 years old and getting ready to enter my freshman year of high school. One night, I was alone in my room thinking about the future and considering the paths that many of my friends were on. Some were stoners, some surfers, some jocks, and some geeks. I was wondering which group I might join and where they were ultimately headed. But I quickly realized that all these routes were just dead ends. So, I found myself praying, “God, if you’re really there and you’re the God the Bible describes, reveal yourself to me in some way, and I will devote my life to following you. No other choice makes sense.” After that, I went to sleep.

Later that night, I woke up with a phrase in my mind, “sunrise over Jordan.” I also found myself humming a melody. So, I got up, grabbed my guitar, and as quickly as I could play and write, I composed a song. And I instantly knew three things:

God had heard my prayer.
He knew something about me I had never told a soul – that I wanted to be able to write music.
I would devote my life to him.

Then, about two months later, I experienced the icing on the cake. I was at a campground alone in my tent singing my little song when a pastor who was passing by, heard me, stuck his head in, and asked me who wrote it. He then complimented me on the biblical symbolism of the lyrics. When I asked him what he meant, he said the Jordan river was the threshold the Israelites crossed to enter the Promised Land. It symbolizes the passage of believers from death into life. So, for Christians, there is a sunrise over Jordan.

Well, I had absolutely no idea whatsoever about any of that. And having a minister explain my own song to me was a remarkable moment that once again demonstrated to me the power of the loving God who had answered the honest, simple prayer of a sincerely seeking, young, teen-aged boy.

Sunrise Over Jordan

Words & music by Randy Boldt

Once you lived in darkness
But now Christ has set you free
Then He gave you hope and peace for everyday
Now you have the answer
Do you share it with the lost
How will they ever find the way
My friend

Well, it’s sunrise over Jordan
But the darkness still remains
In the hearts and lives of those who do not know
Friend, just look around you
How will they ever hear
Unless we can care enough to tell them so

You say, “Look at the world,
Is this where I should go?”
Christ said, “Go unto the world”
But do not stay
Friend, can you really blame them
For the things that they do
For they have never seen the break of day
My friend

The clock strikes eleventh hour
And the candle’s burning low
And the hourglass runs short of its sand
Christ died for you and me
And every man that walks the earth
Won’t you share His love
Reach out with your hand
My friend