"Britney" by Bebo Norman has captivated me like no other song this past year. It is my favorite song on Bebo’s new self-titled album.

I’ve been a huge fan of Bebo Norman for the past decade as he has written and sung some of my favorite songs including "The Hammer Holds," "Tip Of My Heart," "Great Light Of The World," "Nothing Without You" and "I Will Lift My Eyes." He’s a truth telling folk music style singer-songwriter like Rich Mullins, Derek Webb and Todd Agnew.

"'Britney' is a song about what our culture says and does to young women these days," said Bebo Norman in a recent conversation. "It's about the lies we tell them about fame and money and what's beautiful and what will give them life. It's an apology for those lies. But more than that, it's an invitation to the truth about a God who is bigger than the pain this world so often leaves them in."

I have three young daughters under the age of nine and I take my responsibility as a Christian father very seriously. My daughters’ sense of self-worth, love and knowledge of who they are in Christ is going to be most learned while they live in my home. As the primary spiritual leader of my family, one of my jobs is to teach my girls biblical principals about love and self-respect. This song really captures my true desire as a hurting father in this "cruel, cruel world" which is to put all of my hope in Christ’s love and affirm to my daughters that they are loved more than they can ever know by me and their Heavenly Father. A verse which gives me guidance is Psalm 39:7.

Psalm 39:7 (NASB)
And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.

Here is an excerpt from Bebo Norman's conversation with NewReleaseTuesday.com's Bill Lurwick on his New Christian Music PodCast:

Bill Lurwick: Let’s talk about the project and the first single which has a really ear-catching title, simply "Britney." Tell us what is behind this song.

Bebo Norman: You mentioned a minute ago how being a father might have changed the way I write and I think that song might be a great example. "Britney" was not a song I planned on writing at all, and that song kind of snuck up on me. The first question people ask is whether that song is about Britney Spears, and the answer is yes.

I was up really late one night and couldn’t sleep. My wife and my son were already asleep and I was flipping through the news channels and landed on this story about Britney Spears. It was a pretty tragic story about what was going on in her life. Britney was being taken away on a stretcher and she had a nervous breakdown or something. I don’t know, but my first honest instinct, and I hate this about myself, was to kind of write it off, scoff and view it as just another Hollywood story. I was pretty calloused.

I think suddenly there was this freeze-frame moment where they kind of zoomed in on her and I saw this look on her face that was just paralyzing to me. It was a look that was absolute devastation, and she was just lost and broken. There was this strange moment where for the first time I reacted the way Jesus calls us to react--with compassion. I was reminded that she is a child of God, and created by God, just like me and just like my son.

It really caught me off guard. I’ve not been a big fan of her music, hadn’t really kept up on what was going on with her like everyone else. But in this moment, I was absolutely blown away by this sense that if I was in my darkest moment, and I have been in many, what would Jesus say to me in that moment?

He’d probably turn to me and say "I’m sorry for what this world has done and for how hard this world is, and I’m here. Hope is here."

I thought, "Who if not the church is responsible to speak like Jesus would speak to this world and our culture and even Britney Spears," so I just picked up my guitar and wrote this song.

I want people to really hear this. We are all responsible for our choices, our poor choices we make and Britney Spears is no exception to that. I’m no exception to that. The bottom line is that this world is a hard place and our culture has been telling lies to young girls for a long time about what gives them life and what gives them hope and what gives them meaning in this world.

I feel like Britney Spears has fallen into those lies just like a lot of young girls have fallen.

It was a song I was proud to write and honestly, I didn’t know what to do with this song. It was a song that honestly I didn’t play for anyone for 3 months, because who writes a song about Britney Spears?

I played it for my friend and he said you need to record this because of culturally what it calls us to do as believers to live with compassion and we need to let the world know that we need to act with compassion.

Here are the lyrics:

Britney I’m sorry for the lies we told
we took you into our arms and then left you cold
Britney I’m sorry for this cruel, cruel world
we sell the beauty but destroy the girl

Britney I’m sorry for your broken heart
we stood aside and watched you fall apart
I’m sorry we told you fame would fill you up
and money moves the man so drink the cup

Chorus:
I know love goes around the world we know
and you never see it coming back
you never see it coming back
I know love goes around the world we know
and you never see it coming back
but I can see it coming back for you
yes coming back for you

Britney I’m sorry for the stones we throw
we tear you down just so we can watch the show
Britney I’m sorry for the words we say
we point the finger as you fall from grace

Chorus

yeah, its coming back for you, yeah, its coming back for you, yeah, its coming back for you, yeah

Britney I do believe that love has come
here for the broken
here for the ones like us

Chorus

I know love goes around the world we know
and you never see it coming back
you never see it coming back
I can see it coming back for you

its coming back for you... yeah
(repeat)

What an incredibly moving song. Bebo Norman is totally right about how hard our hearts can be sometimes. God loves all of us as His children, regardless of our choices. Thank you for this important reminder that we are all broken and culturally as Christians we do need to live and act with compassion like Jesus and not judgment and hypocrisy. When the song “Britney” comes on, I am reminded to put my hope in Christ. And I can sing this song to my daughters to remind them that they are loved more than they could ever know.

You can listen to the song here.