Chords for Ron Hamilton's Testimony of How He Became Patch the Pirate

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_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Cm] Ahoy, mate!
_ [Gm] Have you ever wondered how I became [G] a pirate?
When I was growing up, [E] I dreamed of being [Cm] somebody really dangerous [Ab] and exciting.
I even tried to start several [Eb] nicknames on my own.
I [Bb] remember telling all of my [Gb] friends to call me Buck, but [Db] never really caught on.
And I grew up as just plain old Ron Hamilton. _
But [E] all that changed when I went to the eye doctor for what [B] I thought was going to be a routine eye checkup.
The doctor looked into [Am] my right eye and [D] everything checked [Fm] out fine.
But when he looked into my left [Bb] eye, he found a little tiny speck, and he [Gb] didn't know exactly what [Dm] it was.
So he sent me to [Cm] Atlanta, Georgia for [Fm] testing over the next few months.
[F] Every time I went back to Atlanta, the test got a little more serious.
[Gm] _ _ [A] _
[Ab] Everything culminated when the doctor rolled me into [C] the operating room
and told me he was going to have to go inside my left [Em] eye to find out [Bb] what was going on.
He said if it [A] were a popped blood [C] vessel or something [Fm] I'd inherited, I'd simply wake up [Gb] with a sore, bloodshot left [Ab] eye.
But if it were cancer, [Fm] when I woke up, my left eye would be [Eb] gone.
_ _ _ [F]
Well, it was a little suspenseful [Eb] that day.
And when I finally [Cm] came to, _ [Ab] Shelly told me that the doctor had taken [Bb] out my left eye.
It was completely [Eb] gone.
[Dm] But we were both [Cm] very aware that God's peace [Fm] had come to take its place.
[Bb] _ I stayed in [Cm] the hospital for about a week recovering.
[Gm] [Bb] And when it came time to go home, [G] they rolled me out the front door of the [Fm] hospital.
[Abm] Well, I met a young [F] boy being [Eb] brought in by his mother.
He pointed at me and yelled out,
Look, Mommy, there's a pirate.
[Bb] His mother jerked him [Eb] in the hospital lobby [Ab] and told him never to say anything like that again.
And [E] everywhere I went, kids called me a pirate.
In [A] fact, when I got back home to our home church [E] the following Sunday morning,
a little five-year-old friend of mine came [Gbm] running down to the front _ and asked me,
Where have you [Abm] been?
What's going on?
What [Dbm] in the world is that on your left [Gbm] eye?
Well, I told him [Bm] it's called a pirate [E] patch.
His eyes [Dbm] got big, his mouth dropped open, [A] and he said,
Are you [B] a pirate?
_ [E] I [A] said, Well, I guess I [B] am now.
You can call me [E] Patch the Pirate.
[Gb] Well, he thought that was great stuff.
[E] He ran back and told a bunch of his little [Dbm] friends.
Moments later, about 20 little [Gbm] kids came running down to the [B] front of the church yelling out,
Ahoy, [E] Patch the Pirate!
And [Dbm] my childhood dream came true.
I [Gbm] finally got my nickname.
[B] Not quite the way I'd planned, [Dbm] but that was God's perfect plan.
_ _ [Abm] Well, the [A] name stuck.
And everywhere I went, kids began to call me [B] Patch the Pirate.
They also began to [G] ask if we couldn't [Gb] write some music for them.
So I talked to my [Em] wife, Shelly, and my father-in-law, [F] Dr.
[A] Garlock,
and we came up with the idea of [E] writing 16 songs,
stringing them together with a storyline.
[A] Maybe I could be Patch the Pirate.
[Db] I could also be Wally Whale [Em] if we did it [E] early enough in the morning.
Shelly had laryngitis, so we made her [Gbm] a seagull,
since she could just squeak and squawk [B] anyway.
And then we also [E] had Uzi, Ozzie, and [Dbm] Ornery Oyster.
Well, that was [Gbm] our first recording.
[B] It wasn't long before kids began to [Dbm] ask for another one.
And parents [Abm] began to say, We're [Gb] sick and tired of this one.
[A] Please give us another one. _
[Am] So for the last 25 years, we've done about one a year.
[Ab] [Gb] And God has taken something that looked like it was going to be a [Eb] tragedy [A] in my life,
losing my left eye to [B] cancer,
and has [Gb] literally changed it into [B] one of the greatest blessings of my life.
_ _ [G] When I got out of the hospital,
I wanted to write a song to tell others how good God had been.
So I sat down at our kitchen table with my Bible open to the book of Philippians
and also spread out the cards [Gbm] that people had sent [B] to be a blessing to me
and began to weave [G] together all these ideas into a song.
[F] And we called the song, _ [Am] Rejoice in the Lord.
_ [Dm] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ [D] _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ God [Am] never moves [F] without purpose [G] or plan
When [Em] _ trying [E] his servant [Am]
and [C] _ [Dm] _ molding a [G] man
[Em] Give thanks to the [A] Lord, though [Dm] your testing seems [G] long
[F] In darkness [A] he giveth [C] a _ star
_ _ _ _ _ Rejoice in the [Am] Lord, he [Dm] _ makes [G] no mistake
[C] He _ knoweth the end of [Dm] each path that [G] I take
[Am] For when I am [Em] tried [F] and _ _ _ [D] _ _
purified
_ [C] I shall come [G]
forth [F] as _ [C] gold _ _
_ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Dm] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
[Am] I could [G] not see [C] through the [Dm] shadows _ [E] ahead
So I [Am] looked [G] at the cross of my [Dm] Savior _ [Gb] instead _ _ _ _
I [Am] _ bowed for [Em] the will [F] of the Master _ [Fm] that day
When [C] peace came [G] and tears [C] fled away
_ [Ab] _ _ _
_ [Db] Now _ I can [Fm] see [Ebm] testing comes from _ above
[Fm] God _ _ [F] strengthens his children [Ebm] and _ purges [Ab] in love
[Fm] My _ Father knows [Bb] best [Ebm] and I trust in his [Bb] care
[Gb] Through _ purging [Ab] more fruit I [Db] will _ _ _ bear
[A] _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
Rejoice in [Bm] the _ _ Lord, [G] he _ _ _ makes no [A] _ _
mistake
_ He [D] _ _ _
knoweth [Bm] the _ _ end [Em] of each _ _ _ path that [Gb] I take _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ _ [Gbm] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ [D] I shall come [A] _ forth
_ _ [Bm]
I shall come [E] forth _ _
[D] I _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
shall [Em] come forth _ _ _ _
_ _ _ As [D] _ _
gold
_ I shall come forth as _ gold _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _
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