Wayfaring Stranger
I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger
a’travelin’ through this world of woe
But there’s no sickness, toil, nor danger
In that bright land to which I go
I’m going there to meet my father
I’m going there no more to roam
I’m just going over Jordan
I’m just a going over home
I know dark clouds will gather round me
I know my pathway is rough and steep
But beauteous fields arise before me
Where God’s redeemed their vigils keep
I’m going there to meet my father
I’m going there no more to roam
I’m just going over Jordan
I’m just a going over home
Song notes:
This is a traditional spiritual, and it has many variations. I chose to keep the chorus the same each time, “I’m going there to meet my father,” rather than moving through different family members because the most beautiful and most essential thing about our someday destination is seeing God, our Father. I love how it describes that place as “beauteous fields.” On a trip to see my grandparents in Idaho a few years back we drove up a mountain road until we reached a mountain top plain with golden wheat fields spreading far in front of us, and the sunset turned the whole broad plain into a great big shimmer. That is the picture I have in mind when I think of “beauteous fields.” But of course we’re not there yet, and meanwhile we still have a steep pathway to go.