The funeral for a mother in our church (who died of cancer) took place on the day this poem was written. When I got home afterwards, I was thinking about something that was said during the funeral, and was really burdened for the family. I prayed for wisdom to comfort the family and claimed 2 Corinthians 9:7, one of my favourite promises when it comes to offering comfort and hope to others. This poem was the result. I remember phoning this family and reciting the poem over their answering machine - later Angela Trenholm made up a beautiful picture for them with this poem on it. The family asked me to share it with others. (Up until that point in time, I had never kept copies of most of the poems I had written to comfort others - but once this poem was passed on to others, many encouraged me to keep and pass on my other poems as well. They felt these poems were meant to be shared, which is why I have never copyrighted any of them - I want people to be able to freely use and distribute them, as long as the author's name and date written are kept with the poem.)
I contacted several websites online (that had awesome webpages - which I had no clue up until then how to do), and emailed the poem to them. No replies, so I forgot about it. Until about one or two weeks later when the owner of one website contacted me and gave me the link to her page. It was wonderful. She put my email address on the page, and the emails starting flooding in - hundreds each week (for the first few months I probably had thousands of replies each month). In three weeks there were 16 thousand hits to that one page, and others wanted to use the poem for their sites. I can truly say that one poem has literally gone around the world by the Internet! Due to this poem, I started some very good friendships with many people that contacted me through these various sites. And since then, some of these same friends have gone home to be with the Lord, and this poem is now a comfort to their families too. My brother also read this poem at my Dad's funeral earlier this year.
The woman (whose site no longer exists now) who first put this poem online taught me how to add music and backgrounds to my pages (for 2 1/2 years prior to this time I had my own websites, but they were basically plain pages). I knew basic html by this point in time and was able to quickly adapt what I was taught into my pages - and then I taught Angela how to do likewise. She certainly is artistic! (P.S. You truly should check out her free computer background site: Looking Unto Jesus Backgrounds And Prints)
Of course, learning how to spruce up webpages created a lot more interest - and also expanded the influence of the poems and studies on these websites. God has truly used those sites and poems to encourage and comfort so many.
My friend Angela also put this poem to music, adapting the tune from a well-known hymn. We used the first stanza as the chorus, adding it after every two stanzas - and finally using an adapted form of the first stanza as the final chorus (see below):
I contacted several websites online (that had awesome webpages - which I had no clue up until then how to do), and emailed the poem to them. No replies, so I forgot about it. Until about one or two weeks later when the owner of one website contacted me and gave me the link to her page. It was wonderful. She put my email address on the page, and the emails starting flooding in - hundreds each week (for the first few months I probably had thousands of replies each month). In three weeks there were 16 thousand hits to that one page, and others wanted to use the poem for their sites. I can truly say that one poem has literally gone around the world by the Internet! Due to this poem, I started some very good friendships with many people that contacted me through these various sites. And since then, some of these same friends have gone home to be with the Lord, and this poem is now a comfort to their families too. My brother also read this poem at my Dad's funeral earlier this year.
The woman (whose site no longer exists now) who first put this poem online taught me how to add music and backgrounds to my pages (for 2 1/2 years prior to this time I had my own websites, but they were basically plain pages). I knew basic html by this point in time and was able to quickly adapt what I was taught into my pages - and then I taught Angela how to do likewise. She certainly is artistic! (P.S. You truly should check out her free computer background site: Looking Unto Jesus Backgrounds And Prints)
Of course, learning how to spruce up webpages created a lot more interest - and also expanded the influence of the poems and studies on these websites. God has truly used those sites and poems to encourage and comfort so many.
My friend Angela also put this poem to music, adapting the tune from a well-known hymn. We used the first stanza as the chorus, adding it after every two stanzas - and finally using an adapted form of the first stanza as the final chorus (see below):
I've Gone Home
I’ve gone home to see my Father,
I’ve gone home, so don’t you cry
I’ll be waiting for you in Heaven,
In my mansion prepared on high.
No more sickness, no more sorrow,
No more pain, and no more grief.
I’ve gone home to be with Jesus
Though my sojourn here was brief.
I’ve gone home to live in Heaven
With all the blessed saints of old,
Here with Abraham and David
To stroll through streets of gold.
I’ve gone home to be in Heaven
Where there’s no sadness, and no night.
There is joy and peace unending,
In this blissful land of light.
But there’s something else more beautiful,
So precious, beyond this crystal sea,
As I wander through realms of glory
I find my Saviour walks with me.
I’ve gone home to be in Heaven,
Though you miss me, and tears abound,
Just keep believing in God’s promises,
And listening for that trumpet sound.
Because one day in God’s timing
When the Lord calls out your name
Look to the skies in awe and wonder -
We’ll see each other again.
August 1st, 2000
Jerry Bouey
An adapted final chorus of this poem:
I’ve gone home to see my Father,
I’ve gone home, so don’t you cry
I’ll be waiting for you in Heaven,
Where no tears will dim the eye.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of His saints.
Psalm 116:15
I’ve gone home to see my Father,
I’ve gone home, so don’t you cry
I’ll be waiting for you in Heaven,
In my mansion prepared on high.
No more sickness, no more sorrow,
No more pain, and no more grief.
I’ve gone home to be with Jesus
Though my sojourn here was brief.
I’ve gone home to live in Heaven
With all the blessed saints of old,
Here with Abraham and David
To stroll through streets of gold.
I’ve gone home to be in Heaven
Where there’s no sadness, and no night.
There is joy and peace unending,
In this blissful land of light.
But there’s something else more beautiful,
So precious, beyond this crystal sea,
As I wander through realms of glory
I find my Saviour walks with me.
I’ve gone home to be in Heaven,
Though you miss me, and tears abound,
Just keep believing in God’s promises,
And listening for that trumpet sound.
Because one day in God’s timing
When the Lord calls out your name
Look to the skies in awe and wonder -
We’ll see each other again.
August 1st, 2000
Jerry Bouey
An adapted final chorus of this poem:
I’ve gone home to see my Father,
I’ve gone home, so don’t you cry
I’ll be waiting for you in Heaven,
Where no tears will dim the eye.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of His saints.
Psalm 116:15
Angela Trenholm has put this poem to music, adapted from the hymn, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow: Download the pdf file of the sheet music.
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