Paul Souldier

Grace Had a Plan

One family, one prayer, carried across four generations. Thirteen songs about a draft letter that comes on a Tuesday, a father on his knees on the kitchen floor, and the grace that carried them all home.

Listen to the album Read the story
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Isaiah 6:8
The story

It begins on a Tuesday

A draft letter comes in the mail for a veteran's only son. That night the father, who came home from his own war carrying dog tags and memories he never talks about, kneels on the kitchen floor and begs God: send me instead.

His son Paul hears him from the doorway. He answers the only way he knows, “Here am I,” and leaves from the depot with his father's dog tags in his hand. When Paul walks back up the gravel drive, his father finally finds the words he never could say, and points him to the Father who never left either of them.

Then the family book grows. A son is born at three in the morning, and Paul writes the fourth name. His wife, worn out and smiling, tells him, “Now you take care of him.” She is gone by morning, and Paul writes her name beneath their son's with the same date twice. The old hymns his granddaddy loved carry them through.

Thirty years later the letter comes again. Now it's Paul on the same kitchen floor, praying the same prayer, finally understanding his father. And in the end, the man who once begged “send me instead” is an old man at peace on the porch, watching a fifth name go into the family book.

The family book

Five names deep

Written in the front of the old family Bible
IGranddaddySang from a wooden pew and starred his favorite hymn in pencil.the hymnal
IIDaddyThe veteran. Learned the battle hymn in the barracks.the dog tags
IIIPaulAnswered the first Tuesday letter.“Here am I”
IVPaul's sonBorn at 3 a.m. Answered the second letter.born the same day
 His mamaWritten right below his name, in a hand that shook.same date, written twice
VA new nameThe ink still new.due by springtime
In the order it happened

Four generations

  1. Granddaddy's faith

    He stars his favorite hymn in pencil, and on his last night he sits on the porch at sunset, unafraid, while the family sings.

    Granddaddy's Hymnal · Granddaddy's Porch

  2. Daddy's war

    He comes home with a battle hymn, a set of dog tags and a silence his boy grows up inside.

    Marching On · Who Will Go

  3. The first Tuesday letter

    Paul is drafted. His father kneels on the kitchen floor and begs to go instead. Paul answers, “Here am I.”

    Send Me Instead · Who Will Go

  4. Paul comes home

    On the porch, his father finally says what he never could.

    What I Never Said

  5. A son, and a goodbye

    A birth at 3 a.m., a mother's last words, and a father raising his boy alone on the family songs.

    Four Names Deep · Take Care of Him

  6. The second Tuesday letter

    Thirty years on, Paul prays the same prayer on the same floor. His son goes to war carrying his granddaddy's tags and the only photo of the mother he never met.

    The Same Prayer · Somebody's Praying · Right Below Mine

  7. Grace had a plan

    The son comes home safe on a Sunday. Now an old man on the porch tells him the whole story as a fifth name waits to be written.

    Safe This Far · Grace Had a Plan
The album · 13 songs

Track by track

  1. 01

    Send Me InsteadPt. 1

    4:02

    The draft letter arrives. A veteran father kneels on the kitchen floor and begs God to take him instead of his son.

  2. 02

    Who Will GoPt. 2

    3:49

    Paul overhears from the doorway and answers the call himself, leaving from the depot with his father's dog tags.

  3. 03

    What I Never Said

    4:07

    Paul comes home. On the porch his father finally finds the words, and points him to the Father who never left.

  4. 04

    Granddaddy's HymnalHymn

    3:17

    The hymn Granddaddy marked with a penciled star, sung bright and joyful, now with Paul's own boy by his side.

  5. 05

    Granddaddy's PorchHymn

    3:54

    Granddaddy's last evening, unafraid at sunset, with the family singing the old evening hymn around him.

  6. 06

    Marching OnHymn

    2:29

    The battle hymn Daddy learned in the barracks, stomped and clapped out with a little boy on Paul's knee.

  7. 07

    Four Names Deep

    4:54

    A son born at 3 a.m., a fourth name in the family book, and his mother's words: “Now you take care of him.”

  8. 08

    Take Care of Him

    4:08

    She is gone by morning. Paul writes the same date twice and raises their son alone.

  9. 09

    The Same PrayerPt. 3

    4:04

    Thirty years later the letter comes for Paul's son. Same floor, same prayer, and the dog tags passed on at the depot.

  10. 10

    Somebody's Praying

    3:34

    Nights in the desert, wearing his granddaddy's tags, the son can feel his father praying on that kitchen floor back home.

  11. 11

    Right Below Mine

    4:27

    The mother he never met, her name just below his own. He grew up thinking he took her, until his father tells him grace had a plan the night he was born.

  12. 12

    Safe This FarHymn

    3:46

    Home on a Sunday. Father and son drive out to his mama's white stone on the hillside and sing the old hymn of grace together.

  13. 13

    Grace Had a Plan

    3:23

    The old man on the porch tells the whole story while his boy paints a nursery. Every road he never would have chosen led him here.

13 songs49:59
Where it started

Here Am I · EP

The first three chapters, released on their own: Send Me Instead, Who Will Go and The Same Prayer. A father's prayer, a son's answer, and the twist that the son who answered becomes the father who prays.

Four hymns, a new generation

The old songs, brought back to life

Four tracks build new songs on public-domain hymns the family sings through every chapter, with upbeat orchestra, a big choir and a steady beat in place of the church organ.

Paul's porch, in another story

Years later, a young musician who has lost everything walks a back road in the rain and sees the light on Paul's porch. Paul takes him in for one long night and sends him home at dawn with four words: grace had a plan. That night is the song The Porch on Samuel Dustin Younger's album Neon & Dust.

Read the Neon & Dust story

Dedicated

To the American service members who answered “Here am I,” and to the families who prayed them home.