Jesus Take The Wheel

Author's Note: I did this point of view piece on a song, Jesus Take the Wheel, by Carrie Underwood. I wanted to write about this song because it has a lot of meaning to it. I also thought it would be neat to write the alternate point of view through Jesus' eyes. 

Imagine yourself driving home on Christmas Eve on a highway. The road is like a thin, black sheet of glass and the winds are fierce. You have so many thoughts going through your head about everything that has gone on in the past year, and you realize you are going way too fast for the icy conditions. This scenario is what you might picture while listening to the song “Jesus Take the Wheel”, by Carrie Underwood. While Underwood sings the song, she tells her listeners a story. She paints a picture in your mind of woman driving home on a cold, blizzard night “with her baby in the back seat” to visit her parents for Christmas. While this song is written and sung mostly in third person with Carrie Underwood telling this story from her point of view, the song switches during the chorus, from third person to first person and the listener feels the woman’s terror of spinning out of control in her car on the black ice.

In the song you hear the lyric “Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy with the baby in the back seat. Fifty miles to go and she was running low on faith and gasoline. It’d been a long hard year”. This lyric leads the listener to believe that the woman is sad and she wants to give up because of the difficulties that she has experienced in the past year. Which leads us into another quote from the song. “She had a lot on her mind and she didn’t pay attention, she was going way to fast, before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass, she saw both lives flash before her eyes.” This lyric from the song is so powerful.  It gives you the feeling that at the last second she snapped out of her daze, and she realized that her and her baby might die. Her faith in Jesus took over during this time of helplessness, and she came to the conclusion that her life would not turn around without his help.

The chorus that is repeated throughout the song: “Jesus take the wheel, take it from my hands, I can’t do this on my own, I’m letting go, so give me one more chance, save me from this road I’m on, Jesus take the wheel” is so powerful! The woman wants a second chance and unconditionally asks Jesus for help. It is also a very powerful quote because in the next verse it says: “And the car came to a stop, she saw that baby in the back seat sleeping like a rock, for the first time in a long time she bowed her head to pray, she said I’m sorry for the way I’ve been living my life.” This lyric is meaningful to her because she wants to thank Jesus that they both escaped a tragedy due to her faith and belief in the higher power. She wants to create a better her life for her and the baby and she realizes that it won’t happen without her faith in Jesus.

Jesus’ Point of View:

As I listened to her thoughts, her faith in me diminished: “He is such a jerk, I hate him! I can’t believe he left me by myself to raise our beautiful child!” “Now, I am a single mom without a job heading home for the holidays.” I couldn’t help but wonder why she’s lost faith in me this past year. No prayers. No belief that it can get better. Before I knew it, I heard a cry for help.  I saw a woman so terrified and so lonely. Her hands let go of the wheel, and I heard hear scream my name and plead with me to take the wheel and save them. I had to help her, it wasn’t her time to die, nor was it the newborn baby’s time to die. This was a real cry for help and I never disappoint. As they were about to crash I swerved the car onto the shoulder of the road. I heard her speak to me. She prayed. That was something she had not done in a long time. She stated that she was going to change her life, and now she has made me proud. Never lose faith in me. I am here for you…to guide you, to protect you.