The Official Stanley Porter Website
| Every Song Has A Story |
| I wrote my music, and particularly this song, for my community. I wanted to tell them that no matter how life seemed, God still loved them. No matter if they fell under the weight of addiction, God still loved them. The message of this song was lived out when my wife and I would buy homeless addicts a meal and pray with them (not all homeless people are addicts, though there is a correlation between addiction and homelessness). We wanted them to know that an addictive lifestyle was a life of running and never finding rest. We couldn’t offer a bed or a counseling session to everyone, but we did have a message. Most everyone who lived in Roxbury at the time knew Shaky. He was dark-skinned, had one eye, very few teeth, and had a terrible case of the shakes. I didn’t know his story, but I knew he was addicted to something. He was always in Dudley Square trying to hit people up for some change. One day, my fiancée (who is now my wife) and I were just hanging out in Dorchester, and we saw Shaky near the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Washington Street. True to form, he asked us for money. I had learned to stop giving out money as a first resort in the hood. I’d realized that too much of my money was going to buy alcohol and drugs even if the person had asked for money to buy something to eat. In this environment, I had to use wisdom. We invited Shaky to sit with us, and we bought him a meal. Shaky actually talked to us— a little louder than the restaurant customers would’ve liked—but we were sharing some quality time with this brother. I don’t get a lot of What Would Jesus Do moments right, but this is one of my fondest memories. My wife and I shared the goodness of God with the man, and we prayed with him too after the meal. Shaky has since passed away, and I don’t know how his life may have been changed that afternoon at KFC. I do believe, however, that the Lord did reveal his love for Shaky that day. I thought: what if God spoke to us about his love in contemporary terms? What would he say and how would he say it to the people in my community? After attending a gospel concert and hearing the headlining artist share the story of how his son ran away from home, the words began to come to my spirit. Within a week, the words of this song were written: Please Don’t Run I know you’ve been unfaithful to me time and time again I know you’re disappointed with the way your life has been I know you feel unworthy to receive my love again But I swear to you this day I’ll never leave you till the end. I just want to shower you with my love from above Please don’t run from me I see you in the morning trying to smoke your life away Trying to escape the pain, and the worries of the day Days go by and I never hear from you But my love is based on grace, not the things that you do. I just want to shower you with my love from above Please don’t run from me Hear Stanley Play This Song On Piano Live! * * * * * * * * |
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| Excerpt From Chapter 2 |
| REVIEWS |
| Excerpt From Chapter 4 |
Recently I was at a church service where the Spirit of God was so high that we could not have service as usual. The soloist preacher, when he finally made it to the pulpit, was on fire, and his wife was too! She was interceding in the Spirit while playing the keyboard for her husband. I had already led the praise and worship and directed the choir. When the sermon was over, the preacher asked us to close with a worship song, and the whole church erupted in praise. I didn’t remember all the words to the song that the guest minister had asked me to sing, but his wife and the congregation chimed in—and the Holy Ghost made it happen! The Spirit was so heavy in that place, that even after the service had concluded, people were still receiving prayer and words of prophecy. I went over to thank the visiting pastor’s wife for helping us in worship, and she laid hands on me and started to pray. “Lord this young man’s ministry has so many details and layers. I pray that he still finds time to build intimacy with you.” Wow! Not “increase his territory” or “give him the new house that he and his wife are looking at,” but “help him spend time with you.” I immediately thought of this song. Although I had written it over ten years prior, God had recently been dealing with me about spending more time with him. Here is the life story behind one of the songs dearest to my heart. Sitting still never came easy for me. I’m kind of wired that way. Plus, as a young man, I was a wanderer. For many reasons I felt my house was not a home, so I would hop on my bike late at night and just ride. I’d ride to downtown Boston and see all the night life: people waiting in lines in front of clubs, couples laughing as they left bars, pedestrians dropping a few dollars in the buckets of street performers. One night I even played a set with some street musicians. We had fun, and they split the money with me. I remember riding home with this huge stack of one dollar bills in my pocket…I felt like the king of the world! Not bad for forty-five minutes of having fun. If I wasn’t riding my bike, I spent a lot of time at friends’ houses and found myself walking home at one in the morning. You know what? I didn’t mind. There was so much pain waiting for me at home, I just felt better away from all of that. I also kept myself very busy at church. I taught Sunday school, served as the youth choir director, church musician, and a junior usher all at the same time. My church work extended beyond my local house of worship, because I also represented our church at major out-of-state conventions. My first pastor enthusiastically supported young people and encouraged our participation in church work. I’m not at all putting this part of my life down; I believe God does endow some young folks with multiple gifts and talents that should be put to use at an early age. However, it is often hard for multi-gifted people who are very passionate and active to find balance in life. You can’t pour out all the time, without replenishing your own supply. On the one hand, working in the church so early in my life kept me off the streets and prepared me well for a life of commitment to Kingdom work. On the other hand, I became so accustomed to doing church work, without a deeper spiritual relationship, that I established a pattern of entrenching myself in church duties, while only scratching the surface in my personal walk with Christ. There is a difference between connecting with church work and connecting with God! * * * * * * * * |
| Using his songs as stepping stones for some amazing stories, Stanley Porter gives his personal testimony about overcoming Racism, Poverty, also includes powerful insights found in the Scriptures that will illuminate your own path to healing and deliverance! |
This Song Available
on the album SQUARE ONE!
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Artist: Stanley Porter
on the album SQUARE ONE!
BUY IT: iTunes
Artist: Stanley Porter
Author, Singer, Songwriter,