When at age six Steve Hindalong saw a painting representing Jesus at our heart's door, he told his mom, "I want Jesus to come into my heart." He wrote his first song at age 11, and later participated with youth music groups at his church, all the while wanting to become a lyricist.

A self-taught musician, Marc Byrd started playing guitar at age 13. After college and several years touring with a Christian band, he reached a crossroads. "I didn't know what the future held or where the next penny was coming from," he recalls. "So I grabbed my Bible and spent an entire weekend reading the Psalms, accompanied by my guitar. Those days restored my life to the place I was when I first came to the Lord.

"The beginning of 'God of Wonders' came out of the Psalms during that weekend. I had the music and a few phrases, one of which was 'You are holy.'"

Friends who are "as close as brothers," Marc and Steve had written many songs together. So it was natural that Marc would share his new music with Steve.

"When Marc strummed the chord progressions, the hair on my arms stood up," Steve says. "I told Marc, 'This song sounds as if it should be like,"God of wonders, beyond our galaxy."' That was my reaction to the feeling the music gave me."

It took several days, working together, to finish the song. 'God of Wonders' debuted in 2000 on the City On a Hill worship album. Since then scores of artists have recorded it. Spanning the globe, it's been performed in multiple languages. But perhaps most exciting, it even broke the bonds of gravity when Commander Rick Husband requested it be played on the space shuttle Columbia.

"We heard about them playing our song in space and thought, Whoa! that's really cool!" Mark says.

Little did they know that Husband's call for the song would become even more poignant when a few days later he and his crew were killed as the shuttle disintegrated when re-entering the atmosphere.

Yet no matter the location or circumstances, the lyrics remind us that we serve and are loved by a God of wonders. And though he created and controls all the galaxies beyond ours, we can call on him at any time.

Lindsay Terry is the author of The Sacrifice of Praise: Stories Behind the Greatest Praise and Worship Songs of All Time (Integrity).

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