Let Freedom Ring

On the eve of the celebration of our nation's independence, I thought it appropriate to share these lyrics. It was a visit to the Michigan City Correctional Institute with Chuck Colson that inspired Steven Curtis Chapman to write this song, simply titled "Free." During the visit, Chapman met with some inmates on death row, including some who had become Christians while in prison. On his visit with one of these men, Chapman said, "In some ways he seemed to be a whole lot more free in his prison cell than many of us who will never see the inside of such a prison." The visit, along with Chapman's reflection on Isaiah 42:5-7 and John 8:31-36, resulted in these words:

The sun was beating down inside
The walls of stone and razor wire
As we made our way across the prison yard
I felt my heart begin to race
As we drew nearer to the place
Where they say that death is waiting in the dark
The slamming doors of iron echoed through the halls
Where despair holds life within its cruel claws

But then I met a man whose face
Seemed so strangely out of place
A blinding light of hope was shining in his eyes
And with repentance in his voice,
He told me of his tragic choice
That led him to this place where he must pay the price
But then his voice grew strong as he began to tell
About the One he said had rescued him from Hell, he said...

I'm free, yeah, oh I have been forgiven
God's love has taken off my chains, and given me these wings
And I'm free, yeah, and the freedom I've been given
Is something that not even death can take away from me
Because I'm free, Jesus set me free

We said a prayer and said good-bye,
And tears began to fill my eyes
As I stepped back out into the blinding sun
And even as I drove away,
I found that I could not escape
The way he spoke of what the grace of God had done
I thought about how sin had sentenced us to die
And how God gave His only Son, so you and I, could say...

I'm free, yeah, oh I have been forgiven
God's love has taken off my chains, and given me these wings
And I'm free, yeah, and the freedom I've been given
Is something that not even death can take away from me
Because I'm free

And If the Son has set you free, oh if the Son has set you free
Then you are free indeed, oh you are really free
If the Son has set you free, oh if the Son has set you free
Then you are free, really, really free

Oh we're free, yeah, oh we have been forgiven
God's grace has broken every chain, and given us these wings
And we're free, yeah, and the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Because we're free, yeah, the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Because we're free
Oh, we're free, yeah
We are free
We are free, yeah
The Son has set us free

If the Son has set you free
You are free indeed

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