I can smell the death on the sheets  Covering me  I can't believe this is the end    But this is my deathbed  I lie here alone  If I close my eyes tonight  I know I'll be home    The year was nineteen forty one  I was eight years old and  Far far too young  To know that the stories  Of battles and glory  Was a tale a kind mother  Made up for her son  You see  Dad was a traveling preacher  Teaching the words of the Teacher  But mother had sworn  Went off to the war  And died there with honor  Somewhere on a beach there  But he left once to never return  Which taught me that I should unlearn  Whatever I thought a father should be  I abandoned that thought  Like he abandoned me    By forty seven I was fourteen  I'd acquired a taste for liquor and nicotine  I smoked until I threw up  Yet I still lit 'em up for thirty more years  Like a machine    So right there you have it  That one filthy habit  Is what got me where I am today    I can smell the death on the sheets  Covering me  I can't believe this is the end  I can hear those sad memories  Still haunting me  So many things  I'd do again    But this is my deathbed  I lie here alone  If I close my eyes tonight  I know I'll be home    I got married on my twenty first  Eight months before my wife would give birth  It's easier to be sure you love someone  When her father inquires with the barrel of a gun  The union was far from harmonious  No two people could have been more alone than us  The years would go by and she'd love someone else  And I realized I hadn't been loved yet myself    And there's your typical spiel  Yeah if life was a highway  I was drunk at the wheel  I was helping the loose ends  All fall apart  Yeah I swear I was destined to fail  And fail from the start    I bowled about six times a week    The bottle of Beam kept the memories from me  The marriage had taken a seven-ten split  Along with my pride the ex-wife took the kids    I can smell the death on the sheets  Covering me  I can't believe this is the end  I can hear those sad memories  Still haunting me  So many things  I'd do again    But this is my deathbed  I lie here alone  If I close my eyes tonight  I know I'll be home    I was so scared of Jesus  But He sought me out  Like the cancer in my lungs  That's killing me now  And I've given up hope  On the days I have left  But I cling to the hope  Of my life in the next  Then Jesus showed up  Said "Before we go"  "I thought that we might reminisce"  "See one night in your life"  "When you turned out the light"  "You asked for and prayed for my forgiveness"    You cried wolf  The tears they soaked your fur  The blood dripped from your fangs  You said, "What have I done?"  You loved that lamb  With every sinful bone  And there you wept alone  Your heart was so contrite    You said, "Jesus, please forgive me of my crimes  Sanctify this withered heart of mine  Stay with me until my life is through  And on that day please take me home with you"    I can smell the death on the sheets  Covering me  I can't believe this is the end  I can hear You whisper to me,  "It's time to leave  You'll never be lonely again"    But this was my deathbed  I died there alone  When I closed my eyes tonight  You carried me home    [Jon Foreman of Switchfoot sings, as the voice of Jesus:]  I am the Way  Follow Me  And take My hand  And I am the Truth  Embrace Me and you'll understand  And I am the Light  And for Me you'll live again  For I am Love  I am Love  I, I am Love