Even though I am now a card-carrying Christian, while I was vaguely aware of the CCM chart-topper “I Can Only Imagine,” I had never actually heard it. Growing up in a brutally sequestered Catholic household, I missed out on all of the Bible Belt goodness my friends got to take part in, ranging from seeing Carmen’s Mission 3:16 tour at Frontier City to attending teen-friendly revivals with names like “Acquire the Fire” in Dallas to helping build morally questionable haunted houses come Halloween to impress a girl who’s not allowed to date.
Still, there I was, in the auditorium of my old alma mater, Harding Middle School, crammed desperately into one of those classic rickety wooden chairs and waiting for the director to call “Action!” on the set of the new faith-based feature film inspired by the writing of said hit song, made popular by the band MercyMe. I’m sure you’ve got a burned Wow! compilation with the tune on it somewhere in that CaseLogic on the floor of your car.