When I was but a young man, I was wild and full of fire A youth within my teens, but full of challenge and desire I ran away from home and left my mother and my dad I know it grieved them so to think their only boy went bad I One night we rustled cattle, a thousand head or so And started then out on the trail that leads to Mexico When a norther started blowing and lightning flashed about I thought someone was calling me, I thought I heard a shout Then at that moment lightning struck not twenty yards from me And left there was a giant cross where once there was a tree This time I knew I heard a voice, a voice so sweet and strange A voice that came from everywhere, a voice that called my name I So frightened I was thinking of sinful deeds I'd done