He Knows My Name (Song Story)

We sing a lot of music at Saint Matthew but we don’t often get to hear from the folks who write the songs that we sing. Tommy Walker has written many of the songs we sing on Sunday mornings and I wanted to share an excerpt from an interview with Tommy about how the song “He Knows My Name” came to be written.

- Jason

"He Knows My Name" by Tommy Walker

The first time we went to the Philippines we stayed in an orphanage and there was this little boy who came running up to me and he introduced himself as Jerry. About an hour later he ran up to me again and he said, “What’s my name?”

I said, “You’re name is Jerry."

He said, “We’re friends, right?”

An hour later, he comes up to me again and says, “What’s my name?”

“Jerry.”

“We’re friends, right?”

“That’s right buddy, you got it.”

The next morning he runs up to me and says, “What’s my name.”

I said, “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. You know I know you’re name.” Then I said to him, “We’re friends, right?”

I realized that Jerry, one of the forgotten people, one of the poorest of the poor, was literally abandoned by his parents on the streets as an infant. I don’t think he even knows his last name. He just wanted somebody to know him, to know his name. And it was so important to him that I knew his name. And then I was able to tell him, “Jerry, it’s great that I know your name, but your Heavenly Father, though you have no earthly father, knows your name and He’ll never forget you.”

I get to share that story all over the world because there are so many people who feel so alone. Alone in their marriage and their family and their job…in their life! God just lets me remind people that in this moment He knows your name. He’ll never forget you, He’s seen every tear and every time you call, He hears you.

Visit this URL to hear Tommy tell this story

http://www.theheartofworship.org/stories/Story-301-HeKnowsMyName-Walker.mp3