Verse 7 should help make every lyricists day!
Jake, the rancher, went one day
to fix a distant fence.
The wind was cold and gusty
and the clouds rolled gray and dense.
As he pounded the last staples in
and gathered tools to go,
The temperature had fallen,
wind and snow began to blow.
When he finally reached his pickup,
he felt a heavy heart.
From the sound of that ignition,
he knew it wouldn't start.
So Jake did what most of us would do
if we had just been there.
He humbly bowed his balding head
and sent aloft a prayer.
As he turned the key just one last time,
he softly cursed his luck.
They found him three days later,
frozen stiff in that old truck.
Now Jake had been around in life
and done his share of roaming.
but when he saw Heaven, he was shocked--
it looked just like Wyoming!
Of all the saints in Heaven,
his favorite was St. Peter.
(Now, this line ain't needed
but it helps with rhyme and meter)
So they set and talked a minute or two,
or maybe it was three.
Nobody was keepin' score –
-- in Heaven time is free.
"I've always heard," Jake said to Pete,
"that God will answer prayer,
But the one time I asked for help,
well, he just plain wasn't there."
"Why does God answer prayers of some,
and ignore the prayers of others?
That don't seem exactly square --
- I know all men are brothers."
"Or does he randomly reply,
without good rhyme or reason?
Maybe, it's the time of day,
the weather or the season."
"Now I ain't trying to act smart,
it's just the way I feel.
And I'm wondering, could you tell me --
-- what the heck's the deal?!"
Peter listened very patiently
and when Jake was done,
there were smiles of recognition,
and he said, "So, you're the one!!"
"I remember the day your truck wouldn't start,
and you sent your prayer a-flying,
You gave us all a real bad time,
with hundreds of us trying"
"A thousand angels rushed,
to check the status of your file,
But you know, Jake, we hadn't heard from you
in such a long, long while."
"And though all prayers are answered
and God ain't got no quota,
He didn't recognize your voice,
and started a truck in North Dakota."
BETTER KEEP IN TOUCH
der laureate Brucer