The Story Behind “How He Loves Us” - Watchman Research Media

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L4FbKbyIeA?rel=0]

“How He Loves” is a song by independent artist John Mark McMillan for his second studio album, The Song Inside the Sounds of Breaking Down.

McMillan wrote “How He Loves” following the death of his best friend, Stephen Coffey. Coffey was a youth minister for MorningStar Ministries.

On November 1, 2002, during a church prayer meeting, Coffey prayed out loud:

I’d give my life today if it would shake the youth of the nation.

That very night, he was in a multi-car accident and died of serious injuries.

Meanwhile, McMillan was recording in a studio in Jacksonville, Florida when he received a call that two of his friends had been critically injured in a car accident. Later that evening, he received another call from his father who informed McMillan that Coffey had died.

The next day, McMillan wrote “How He Loves” as a tribute to Coffey and out of a need “to have some sort of conversation with God” where he could speak to his frustrations and emotions over his best friend’s death.

According to McMillan, the love that he’s singing about in “How He Loves” is not a pretty, “Hollywood hot-pink” love. It is a kind of love that is willing to love even when things are difficult and messy.

He says,

This song isn’t a celebration of weakness and anger. It’s a celebration of a God who would want to hang with us through those things, who would want to be a part of our lives through those things, and, despite who we are, He would want to be a part of us, our community, and our family.

How He Loves Us

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy

When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflications eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful you are
And how great your affections are for me

And oh, how he loves us so
Oh how he loves us
How he loves us so

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy

When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflications eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful you are
And how great you affections are for me

And oh, how he loves us so
Oh how he loves us
How he loves us so

Yeah he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves
Yeah he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves

We are his portion
And he is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
If grace is an ocean we’re all sinkin’ (haha)
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

He loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves
Yeah he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves Yeah yeah!

Yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah

Yeah he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves Yeah yeah!
Yeah he loves us
He loves us
He loves us