17Thousand Songs
A podcast where we explore the stories behind our inspired Latter-day Saint hymns to refresh, rekindle, and restore your faith.
17Thousand Songs
17KS Ep 1 - "When the Savior Comes Again" with Lane Johnson: A Joyful Day
Join our conversation with Lane Johnson, songwriter of "When the Savior Comes Again," to hear the inspiring story behind the song selected from 17,000 submissions to be included in the new hymnal by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Years of music study, a prophetic dream, and a lifelong prayer to use his musical talents to build the kingdom, yielded in a beautiful children's song about the Second Coming. Hear also how a poignant tragedy forever altered the composition of Lane's family and gave him added perspective and hope for the return of our Savior and future resurrection.
Watch the video version of this episode on our YouTube channel.
youtube.com/@17thousandsongs
SHOW NOTES
00:36 – One of 17,000 Songs
01:12 – Singing Harmony at 2
02:44 – Music and Computers
05:17 – Writing Choral Music
08:10 – A Prophetic Dream
10:34 – Sacrament Meeting Revelation
12:06 – The Wolf and the Lamb
13:49 – Reviewing the Text
15:06 – I Will Rejoice
17:00 – A Poignant Family Situation
18:16 – You’ve Got to Take My Kids
19:02 – 5 Injured Kids with 6 a Home
20:38 – An Outpouring of the Spirit
22:29 – Coping Through Music
24:47 – Teens and Disneyland
26:17 – The Joy of Growth
28:05 – The Day and Hour
29:04 – A Life-Long Prayer
30:24 – Look Forward with Joyful Anticipation
31:12 – When the Savior Comes Again
Other Music by Lane
See other songs written or arranged by Lane Johnson on the Church's website at bit.ly/lanejohnsonchurchmusic or on his own website at lanejohnsonmusic.com
Apply to Be on the Podcast
If you are a Latter-day Saint music expert, hymn historian, or Church Music Committee member who could comment on older hymns and songs added to our new hymnal and would like to be a featured guest on our podcast, please apply!
Application Form: 17thousandsongs.org/submit-a-guest/
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Disclaimer
17Thousand Songs is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The views, opinions and thoughts of our host and guests are our own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Church.
[Podcast Intro]
Alaina Larsen: Welcome to 17,000 Songs, a podcast where we explore the stories behind our inspired Latter-day Saint hymns to refresh, rekindle, and restore your faith. I'm your host. Alaina Larsen.
[One of 17,000 Songs]
Alaina Larsen: Welcome to 17,000 Songs. Today in the studio we have Lane Johnson who is the songwriter of "When the Savior Comes Again.” We're so excited to hear from him and we're really excited because actually his song is one of the 17,000 that was submitted in 2019. Many of the songs in this first batch of 13 had been submitted previously in other song submissions or are old songs that we're now bringing into our repertoire, but this is one of the 17,000. So, I think that's perfect for our pilot episode. So, let's get right into it. Thank you for coming Lane. Thank you for being here.
[Singing Harmony at 2]
Alaina Larsen: And let's start with, um, just your musical experience. You know, why did you even get into music? And what you've done with your life music-wise.
Lane Johnson: When I was really young, we have a recording of me and my dad singing a duet together, like two years old or something like that. And I was singing the harmony part.
Alaina Larsen: At 2?
Lane Johnson: At 2. And so, my mom always saved that and talks about it. If you ever get with my mom, she's going to tell you that story. And then, when I was young, I took the Music Merit Badge for the Scouting Program, and for part of it, I wrote a song. I don't remember what it was, and it wasn't very good, but that was probably my first actual song where I wrote the music down on a piece of, you know, a piece of staff paper.
And then I sang in a barbershop quartet when I was in high school and started making some arrangements for that quartet. Then I started making some arrangements for my high school choir.
Alaina Larsen: That's pretty impressive that your choir director, I mean, even acknowledged that and let you be a part of that.
Lane Johnson: Yeah, it really is amazing. In fact, I did a video not too long ago about it because when I look at the music now, it's got a lot of problems with it and a lot of writing errors and things like that. But I handed it to her and she just, you know, she said, “All right, we're going to do it.” And she told me I'd be the next Norman Luboff, who was a famous choral composer back in those days.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, that's so great.
Lane Johnson: So, that really kind of, you know, gave me some more drive to, to keep working that direction.
[Music and Computers]
Lane Johnson: By the time I got done with high school, I pretty much knew that I wanted to, uh, at least investigate music. And so, I took some music classes in college at BYU. And within the first semester, I was like, yeah. This is what I want to do.
Alaina Larsen: Yeah, that's great.
Lane Johnson: So, then I got a degree in music composition and theory and, uh, then I went straight to Indiana University and started working on a master's degree in music theory. And after one semester I bailed out on that because I realized it wasn't really the theory part that I liked so much as the composition part.
Alaina Larsen: That's not the fun part.
Lane Johnson: Right. Anyway, I came back to Utah Valley and, uh, over a period of time, I ended up working my way to get ready to do a master's degree at BYU in composition. And then in June, before that semester would start at the end of August or early September, I got a letter from the BYU music department stating that they weren't able to offer that degree anymore.
Alaina Larsen: I can't believe that.
Lane Johnson: Yeah, it was very disappointing.
Alaina Larsen: Was there any good purpose in that?
Lane Johnson: I, I think eventually yes. And maybe we can talk about that a little later with the situation with my family. Because it probably ended up being the right thing for my family down the road.
Alaina Larsen: Okay, great. Yeah, let's discuss that.
Lane Johnson: But, um, anyway. So, yeah, it set me down a different direction. I ended up eventually, uh, going back and getting a teaching certificate at BYU. And then I taught high school and junior high choir. I ended up, um, walking away from that after a few years and, uh, getting into a computer career.
The way that transitioned was I, I had a part-time job at a music store. And it was right when MIDI was coming out in the 80s. I ended up trying to help customers write some code that would allow them to control their MIDI hardware from a computer.
Alaina Larsen: Well, honestly, computers have made songwriting so much more available for everybody.
Lane Johnson: And in fact, when I was working at that store is when Finale came out.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, my goodness.
Lane Johnson: So, I bought one of the very first copies of Finale, and uh, I also took Finale into BYU and sold a copy to Merrill Bradshaw. So, the first copy of Finale that went into BYU, I sold it to him.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, my gosh, that's so awesome.
Lane Johnson: So, that's kind of how I transitioned from music into computers.
[Writing Choral Music]
Lane Johnson: And then in terms of, you know, writing music. I continued through that whole time, even though I went into a career of computers, I continued to write music. And I started to gravitate toward writing choral music. And so, in the early 2000s, I had this, um, desire, I guess you could call it, to try to challenge myself to write something that the BYU singers would be able to perform. And so, I did that. I, I, I wrote something and took it to Dr. Staley at BYU.
Alaina Larsen: So, your first piece that you submitted to him, though, they used?
Lane Johnson: They did.
Alaina Larsen: That's impressive. That's awesome.
Lane Johnson: It's called “Mine Arm Is Lengthened Out.”
Alaina Larsen: Mm, beautiful.
Lane Johnson: And, uh, it's compiled from various scriptures in the Old and New Testament and Book of Mormon.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, wow. That's really neat. Um, but then you did start writing some specifically religious things and submitted those to the Church, right?
Lane Johnson: I did. I didn't even know that the Church had these contest things that they do every year, but somebody pointed that out to me one year. And so, I had done an arrangement of "Thy Holy Word" by Robert Cundick and Marv Gardner and . . .
Alaina Larsen: Was this like a choral arrangement?
Lane Johnson: Yeah, I did an arrangement for our ward choir, and I submitted that, and it won an award that year. And so, then I did a few more. I didn't do a lot. I, I think maybe five or six over the years that I've submitted. And they all got some kind of an award for it. But, uh . . .
Alaina Larsen: But even to be in that batch, even if it's not like the first place winner in a category, to be selected at all, is still pretty big because there's a lot of submissions that don't get recognized. And, and when you do win an award, it gets put on their website, you know, other people can use it for their ward choirs, right? So, all those works would then be on the Church website?
Lane Johnson: And I actually didn't even know that for a long time until my sister pointed it out to me. She said, “Hey, Lane, did you know that your stuff is out on the, on the app from the Church?” And I'm going, “What?” So, I looked it up and sure enough, there's a whole bunch of them out there, because some of the BYU Men's Chorus pieces that they performed for their, uh, "Set Apart" album that they did. Um . . .
Alaina Larsen: Yeah, there’s a lot of recordings.
Lane Johnson: The recordings are out there and some of the music. Like I did an arrangement of "I am a child of God" for piano and trumpet, and that one's out there. And I didn't even know they were there. So, I've been selling them on my website.
Alaina Larsen: They could have all gotten it for free.
Lane Johnson: They could have got it for free. So, I'm fixing that but . . .
Alaina Larsen: Well, and I do think like, um, previously, it was kind of hard to find them on their website. I think it was a little more hidden.
Lane Johnson: Yeah, that's possible.
Alaina Larsen: And I know, you know, with now they've been revamping the sacred music app and now I mean you can get on your phone, and you can pretty much see everything and it's so much easier to find all those which I think is really great.
Lane Johnson: Yeah, that is good.
[A Prophetic Dream]
Alaina Larsen: So, I'd like to pivot now and just go right into talking about the song and what prompted you to write a song specifically about the Second Coming?
Lane Johnson: Yeah, this is a bit of a crazy story because many years ago, probably at least 10 to 15 years ago, I had a dream that I was going to write a song for the Second Coming. And I don't usually remember dreams. In fact, I don't really remember this dream very much, but I do remember very vividly that I woke up the next morning saying to myself, I'm supposed to write a song for the Second Coming.
And unlike any other dream that I had, which I don't really remember -- they never come back, right? This one would come back to my head all the time. Like not every day or every week, but, you know, every so often every few months it would be, "Oh, remember that? You're supposed to write a song for the Second Coming," and then I would always go, "Okay. Well, what? You know, am I supposed to wait till he's here and then write it or, you know, do I write it to anticipate it?" And I, I, I just didn't really feel any direction and I had nothing that was kind of driving me to do it right away. And so, I just kind of put it away in the back of my mind. And then of course in 2018 when they announced that they were planning to revise and put out a new hymn book, then I thought, okay, well this must be it.
So, I immediately thought, all right, I'm supposed to write a hymn for the new hymnbook about the Second Coming. And I submitted some others too, but this is the one that I was like, "No, I know I'm supposed to do this one." And so, I would study the scriptures, I'd write them down, I'd try to look for lines in there that could be used in a lyric. And, man, it was a struggle. I just could not get it to work. And the music that I was coming up with, I just didn't like. It was just like brick wall after brick wall.
So, I was just really getting frustrated because the deadline was coming up and, unfortunately, I had procrastinated getting going on this. And, uh, I probably didn't really start actually trying to write until about May of 2019.
Alaina Larsen: And the deadline is July. July 1st.
Lane Johnson: Yeah, it was early in July, and I knew it was coming up. So, I was getting really frustrated.
[Sacrament Meeting Revelation]
Lane Johnson: So one day, um, in sacrament meeting and during the sacrament, I was just pondering on this whole thing and pondering on the Savior, and very clearly something came to me . . . that it was supposed to be a children's song, not a hymn. And I just went, “Oh my gosh!” I had just not thought about that perspective at all. It had just been hymn, hymn, hymn, right? I got to write a hymn. And all of a sudden, I went, “A children's song. Okay.” So, I went home that afternoon right after church and started looking at the lyrics again. And, man, it just flowed like it had just been waiting.
Alaina Larsen: Well, it's just so amazing how the Spirit can remove those roadblocks for us.
Lane Johnson: Yeah.
Alaina Larsen: And I think the Lord lets us struggle for a while and then it is even more dramatic when that comes and you just know, "Okay, this is what I was missing."
Lane Johnson: That was exactly what I was missing, because as soon as I went that path, because I had already done all of that study and had all of these words and potential things, within a couple hours I think I had a pretty solid base for the words. And then I started saying, “Okay, let's get some music to this.” And the music just flowed out.
Alaina Larsen: Wow.
Lane Johnson: And so, yeah, I really feel like there was some divine guidance there for sure.
Alaina Larsen: That's so amazing. And it's really such a beautiful song.
[The Wolf and the Lamb]
Alaina Larsen: And I want to ask in all your researching of the Second Coming, all that struggle that you did beforehand, um, is there anything that you learned that was new or interesting about the Second Coming?
Lane Johnson: Yeah, I think. I think there's two things that kind of stick out to me. Um, the first one is kind of interesting because I originally had thought that I wanted to put a line in there about the lion and the lamb lying down together. Because, you know, “The Spirit of God, like a fire is burning,” there's a line in there about the lamb and the lion, right? So, I thought, okay.
Alaina Larsen: I've seen the painting.
Lane Johnson: Yeah, I've seen the paintings. And so, I thought, alright, I'm going to find that scripture. So, I looked, and looked, and looked, and looked, and guess what? That scripture is not in the scriptures, right? There is no scripture that says the lamb and the lion are going to lie together.
Alaina Larsen: That really surprises me.
Lane Johnson: Now, it can be inferred, I think, and there are scriptures that talk about a lamb and a lion in the verse, right? But there isn't any. But guess what? It's the wolf and the lamb. That's in there a few times.
Alaina Larsen: Wow, that's so interesting.
Lane Johnson: And in fact, the one that I used is from Isaiah. I think it's Isaiah 65 . . . Yeah. So, it says, "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock." So, it does mention the lion.
Alaina Larsen: Yeah, the lion's in there.
Lane Johnson: So, it can be inferred, but it's the wolf and the lamb that will be together. And there's others, right?
Alaina Larsen: Well, and I really love that because I just really think you're bringing in the real scriptures into that song. I mean, it's packed with quite a bit of doctrine about the Second Coming. Without, I don't think, without feeling like there's too much going on, you know? But there's still a lot in there, and I just love that you included that.
[Reviewing the Text]
Lane Johnson: Another interesting thing, um, just about the process. Once I was notified by the text committee, because these are all reviewed, right?
Alaina Larsen: Right.
Lane Johnson: Um, to make sure that they're doctrinal. And I had a couple different lines in there to start with. Um, one of them was "watch for the signs." And they said, "Yeah, watch for the signs is great. It's good doctrine. And it's, it's talked about in adult curriculums, but not in the children's curriculum." So, they're really focused on making sure that all of the lyrics that are in these children's songs are supporting the curriculum that they have for the children as well.
Alaina Larsen: That what we’re teaching, for the children . . . Oh, that’s interesting.
Lane Johnson: So, they asked me if I wouldn't mind changing that and so I came up with a couple different options. They had a couple options and eventually, you know, we agreed on "Learn of the Lord" for that spot.
Alaina Larsen: Well, that's so interesting. And it just shows kind of the unique relationship of these hymns, because there's so much wonderful Christian music out there. And those Christian songwriters don't have, you know, someone really over them saying, "Hey, this one word or this one sentence isn't 100 percent doctrinally correct." And that is so important to our Church. So, that really is something that's unique about these hymns -- that they've really been vetted for accuracy.
Lane Johnson: Yeah.
[I Will Rejoice]
Lane Johnson: The other thing though, that was for me really, I don't know, it was kind of like a breakthrough in some ways for me personally. Because I think as I thought about the Second Coming growing up, you know, you always hear about all the terrible things that are going to happen in the world . . .
Alaina Larsen: Oh, for sure.
Lane Johnson: . . . before the Second Coming. So, I was always like afraid, you know, like, "Oh my gosh, do we really want the second coming?”
Alaina Larsen: Like, "I don't want to be around!"
Lane Johnson: “I don't want to be here for all that stuff,” you know. And, and yet, as I researched and looked through scriptures, I found a couple. And there's one in Alma that talks about, we're now waiting on the words of the angel. We're waiting for his coming, right? We don't know when it's going to be, but whether it's sooner or later, “I will rejoice in it." That's the line that Alma says. And that one was like, "Okay, you're supposed to prepare and anticipate with joy, right?" And so, I thought I really want to structure the song so that it's, you know, that that element is in there. And so, the way I wrote it was the verses are what is going to happen when the Savior comes. And the chorus is all about preparing in joyful anticipation.
Alaina Larsen: Yeah. I mean, your line where you say, "It'll be a joyful day." I mean, and there's even a fermata on that, right? Like, you know, would you say that is your, is the most important lyric? I mean, that's what kind of sticks out to me as like the highlight of the song.
Lane Johnson: Yeah. I think, I mean, it should motivate us, right?
Alaina Larsen: Yeah.
Lane Johnson: It should motivate us to, you know. I mean, when you think about it. Yeah, all these things are going to happen. We know they're going to happen. In fact, we're seeing them all around us, right? But, um, that doesn't mean that we can't be anticipating with joy, because we know it will be a joyful day when it gets there.
[A Poignant Family Situation]
Alaina Larsen: I did want to ask about your personal life. Your family situation is rather unique because of a really poignant situation that happened in your family. And I was wondering if you could share that because so many of us are maybe not looking forward to the Second Coming because of the hard things that are going to happen on the earth and, and people are living difficult situations even right now. So, could you tell us a little bit about that?
Lane Johnson: Yeah, so in November of the year 2000, uh, my brother and his wife and their family of five um, had just moved from Boise, ID to McKinney, TX, just north of Dallas. They had moved into their new house, been there maybe a month, and it was Thanksgiving time. So, they got in the car and headed toward Austin, TX to visit my sister-in-law's sister.
And they, just five miles out of town or very close to their home, they were involved in a car accident where they were hit by a semi-truck. And, uh, Nancy, my sister-in-law, died on impact, and my brother had severe injuries and died the next day. And all five kids were in the car. And, uh, yeah, all of a sudden, those five kids were orphaned.
[You've Got to Take My Kids]
Lane Johnson: We immediately got flights. And then my wife, she immediately, um, just felt very strongly, like almost a presence from Nancy, that, "You've got to take my kids. You have to take my kids."
Alaina Larsen: Was this something that was in a will they had created? Or no, they hadn't really outlined this?
Lane Johnson: A year before this had happened, her sister's husband, Doug, was diagnosed with leukemia.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, my goodness.
Lane Johnson: So, they had, with pencil, scratched out Becca and Doug and replaced us as the primary.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, wow. Yeah.
Lane Johnson: And there was no doubt, you know, we had no qualms whatsoever, "'Yes, we will take the kids."
[5 Injured Kids with 6 at Home]
Lane Johnson: Um, the oldest was a 14-year-old. She broke her femur and her arm. There was a 5-year-old in there that broke both femurs. And the baby, 1-year-old baby, that had severe head trauma, pretty much died on the side of the road, and by some miracle they were able to revive him. And uh, the other two kids were in the back. And they were bumped around but not severely injured.
Alaina Larsen: And what were your children's ages at the time, and how many kids did you have?
Lane Johnson: We had six kids.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, my goodness, wow.
Lane Johnson: They had five, so we almost doubled overnight. And, uh, our oldest was a senior in high school and then a sophomore in high school. And then their oldest was a ninth grader. And then after that, it's just every other one down to the bottom two.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, my goodness.
Lane Johnson: So, we had the oldest two. They had the youngest two. And then everybody else is just every other one.
Alaina Larsen: In the middle, yeah.
Lane Johnson: So, yeah, we had . . . it was crazy. For a little while, we had six cars on insurance.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
Lane Johnson: Our grocery bill was just like, off the charts.
Alaina Larsen: I'm sure just that first year or two was survival.
Lane Johnson: It was survival. Everybody in counseling. You know, we had injuries and hospital bills and all kinds of stuff. My mom and dad pretty much full-time dealing with all of the hospital and other things. We had, uh, two of my cousins who were lawyers were handling insurance claims. And, yeah, it was just nuts.
[An Outpouring of the Spirit]
Alaina Larsen: I've heard from other people who have had, um, really tragic things happen in their family and, you know, some will report that they had an outpouring of the Spirit. Was that something that happened in this case?
Lane Johnson: We had an outpouring of love and help from all kinds of avenues. So, that was really great and that helped us get through it.
And another couple things that are just really interesting is they had talked to their kids, you know? They had one daughter that was like, "Mom, I want to know what's, what would happen if, you know, you guys died? What would happen?" She's like, "No, we're not going to talk about that," right?
Alaina Larsen: And what kid asks that? You know, they don’t even want to imagine it.
Lane Johnson: She's 12. She's 11 or 12 when this is happening. And she just kept bugging her, and bugging her, and bugging her. And finally, she said, "Okay, I'll just tell you. It's going to be Lane and Marsha. They're going to take you guys." And she's like, "Okay."
Alaina Larsen: So, they had had that conversation.
Lane Johnson: They had had that conversation.
And I think my faith in the Savior, and what I know to be true, really is what helped us get through that. And I, I think that it, you, that could be said for probably nearly everyone in the family. I think there have been some in the family that have doubted, but I think that it is our faith, um, that helped us get through that.
You know, there was a lot of effort put into trying to have everyone in the family grieve and get, you know, you don't really get through something like that.
Alaina Larsen: Yeah.
Lane Johnson: You . . . some people say that word, you know, "get through it,” but it's not the right word. You don't get through losing your parents, losing your brother and sister-in-law.
[Coping Through Music]
Lane Johnson: And you just, you know, you learn how to cope with it. You learn how to, to move on, but you don't get through it.
Alaina Larsen: And what did you do, Lane, to be able to cope . . .
Lane Johnson: So . . .
Alaina Larsen: . . . with that?
Lane Johnson: . . . for the first few years, I mean seriously, I, I don't think I grieved. I just swept it under the carpet. And I was the one that was trying to be, you know, firm and strong and hold everything together. Which was probably not a great, you know, choice on my part, but it was what I did. And I probably didn't actually even know that I was doing that. But I was just mainly trying to help everyone else go through their process, and so I really didn't take much time to grieve myself.
So, that was November of 2000, and by about 2002 or 2003, I think that's when I started writing, um, um, "Mine Arm is Lengthened Out." And really, music and writing this, this, you know, choral music and this more advanced choral music with these texts that were really deep, profound texts, um, that's when I really kind of was finally able to do some grieving of my own.
Alaina Larsen: Yeah.
Lane Johnson: And so, music was a huge part of helping me to heal and get through that.
Alaina Larsen: Well, I think that's really beautiful because I think, you know, the timing of redoing the hymnal and adding hymns that are . . . They said they specifically wanted hymns that would comfort the Saints and, and, as we're talking about the things that may happen around us leading up to the Second Coming, how important really encouraging, um, comforting music can be for our congregation as we're going through, you know, just normal life challenges or big life challenges or tragedies, um, but then all the things that we're going to see leading up to the Savior's Second Coming.
Lane Johnson: Right. So, just so you know, everybody is, you know, it's amazing that, we're all around. We have 28 grandkids out of that group now.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, my goodness.
Lane Johnson: And we get together quite often, once a month usually. And they love each other, and they support each other. So, that's an amazing thing to me.
[Teens and Disneyland]
Alaina Larsen: What would you say are maybe some experiences during that time that were joyful?
Lane Johnson: We had a lot of teenagers for a lot of years. And a lot of people say that, you know, teenagers are hard and this and that. And I'm not saying that they're not. But man, I loved my teenagers. It was a blast.
For example, the first year after we, you know, put the two families together and had gone through so much grief and trial and just gunky stuff, um, we were like, "What, what can we do to, you know, brighten things up?" And we just said, "Let's go to Disneyland!"
Alaina Larsen: Great choice.
Lane Johnson: So, spur of the moment, we just figured out, bought tickets, got in a car. Somebody had, um, donated a lot of money for us to go buy a big 15 passenger, Dodge, white . . . we called it "the bus."
Alaina Larsen: Yeah, right.
Lane Johnson: And, uh, so we had, uh, we had that. So, we just piled all of our stuff in there, spur of the moment, and we drove down to Disneyland and spent a few days at Disneyland.
Alaina Larsen: Okay. I love that, like, one of your most joyful moments is at the "Happiest Place on Earth."
Lane Johnson: And then, because of that, as we started cycling through, you know, more and more teenagers, I would look for opportunities to just take a few of them. So, we had two or three trips where we would just say, "Okay, we're going to take you three or four, and we're going to go to Disneyland for the weekend."
Alaina Larsen: Oh, that's so fun.
Lane Johnson: And we did that a few times.
[The Joy of Growth]
Lane Johnson: Anyway, so, one thing that has always kind of been interesting to me as I look back at all those years, and think about all the grief and difficult times that we went through, um, it is joyful to me to see the growth that all of those kids ended up having because of all of those difficult times. And to me, that's joyful. They're, they're, great people. They all, you know, just . . . they're joyful to be around. And I think, you know, not that they wouldn't have been otherwise, but I think that those experiences that we all went through just created a bond and a depth that obviously wouldn't have been there without it.
Alaina Larsen: Oh, that's so great. And I mean, isn't that like the point of life? Like we came here to grow, to develop, um, quality relationships, especially in our family. So, even though there was obviously things you would not have preferred to happen, or that they would've wanted to have happen, to see the good that came out of that is pretty inspiring.
And I think, you know, when we think of, leading up to the Second Coming and maybe some of the things that we won't like as much, you know, maybe we could ask ourselves the question like what is this going to do for us in our growth? You know, individually, or even as a church. You know, what, what is going to be these things that help us grow and develop, that when we would look back, like, we'll think, "This was worth it that we all went through this."
Lane Johnson: Yeah, I think we all have some compassion that we wouldn't have had otherwise. And I think a lot of the things the world is going through right now, I hope, will give us compassion for one another.
Alaina Larsen: That's so true.
[The Day and the Hour]
Alaina Larsen: Okay, you, you do have the line that “no one knows” the hour or the day, “the day or the hour,” when He's coming. But I just have to ask, when you're writing this song, did, did you feel like it's imminent? Like, I know you can't tell us, “Okay, it's going to happen tomorrow or in five years,” but . . .
Lane Johnson: Yeah, I've got some inside information.
Alaina Larsen: Yeah, I know, do you have some insider information for us now?
Lane Johnson: Yeah, no.
Alaina Larsen: But, did you feel like, like this is soon?
Lane Johnson: I mean, you can look around and see that it feels like it's getting closer and closer, right? Um, but as far as how long it's going to be, I, I don't really have any, you know, any insight into that any more than I did before I wrote the song. But I do know that I feel way more drive in my personal life now to prepare, uh, myself for it, right? And, and when you're prepared, you don't need to fear.
Alaina Larsen: That's so true. And I think that's really beautiful.
[A Life-Long Prayer]
Alaina Larsen: And Lane, I have a question that I want to ask, and it's a two-part question. And that is, why, you know, in light of the experiences that you've gone through in your life journey, why is it that you think the Lord chose you to contribute this song? And what would you . . . what do you hope that others will be left with after hearing it?
Lane Johnson: Well, as far as choosing me, I don't even know if that's the right word. Um, I mean, there were 17,000 plus submissions, right? I'm positive out of that 17,000 plus submissions, there are so many awesome pieces. And maybe there's others about the Second Coming in there that are great.
But what I do know, is that I have personally prayed for many years for opportunities to use musical talents that I've been blessed with to help build the kingdom, and help, um, people come closer to our Savior. And so, I feel like even if the song hadn't been chosen, just the process of going through that and writing it was an answer to that prayer, or to those prayers that I've had all these years.
[Look Forward with Joyful Anticipation]
Lane Johnson: And, what I hope that people will get out of it is, I hope that they'll look forward with anticipation and joy to the Savior's Second Coming, because it's coming.
Alaina Larsen: And it's exciting!
Lane Johnson: It is exciting. And, you know, to prepare and, and do everything you can personally to be ready for it, but not worry too much about it, right?
Alaina Larsen: Yeah.
Lane Johnson: And, you know, look forward to it with joyful anticipation.
Alaina Larsen: That's great. I think that's great advice.
Lane, thank you so much for being on this episode. It has been such a joy to talk to you. And I know for myself, I'm going to be much more joyful looking forward to the Second Coming. So, thank you for your contribution and your beautiful song.
Lane Johnson: Thank you. You're welcome.
[When the Savior Comes Again]
When the Savior comes again, He will cleanse the earth and then, in glory He will reign as King of kings among all men. Hate will cease and war will end. Peace will dwell throughout the land. The wolf shall feed together with the lamb.
Lift up your voice! Rejoice! And prepare for that day! Learn of the Lord and keep following his way. No one knows the day and hour when he will come again, but he'll return, as scriptures say. It will be a joyful day when our beloved Savior comes again.
[Podcast Outro]