Last Day On Earth

A roadside funeral procession begins the song. The singer pulls over, watches "the headlights and the black limousines," and prays, "Father, comfort their broken hearts." As he drives away, one thought follows him that he "cannot escape." Steven Curtis Chapman builds the rest of the song around that thought, repeated as a question.

The refrain asks it directly: "If this should be my last day on this earth, how then shall I live?" The answer is aspirational, a wish to live "with abandon to the only thing that remains" before he breathes "the air of Heaven." The second verse repeats "if this should be my last day here on earth" with growing urgency, stretching the phrase to "my last, last day."

It ends with an imagined meeting: "if tomorrow comes to find me looking in the face of Jesus, will I hear Him say the words 'well done'?" Matthew 25:21 supplies those words from the parable of the talents, Psalm 90:12 asks God to teach us to number our days, and Ephesians 5:15-16 urges making the most of the time. The loop of the final lines keeps the unanswered quality of the question.