The Story Of The Three Nails Chords by Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper

_ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ Friends, I would like very much [G] to tell you the story of the three [C] nails. _
[C] It all happened
a long time [Am] ago in a faraway country.
_ [C] Now these three nails were not like the nails
we know so well today.
These were not made by machines [Ab] and were so much [E] larger, they
were called spikes.
[C] These three nails were born in a tiny shop in the city of Jerusalem _
[C] and lived in a small wooden [F] box on the very top [A] shelf in the shop.
[Dm] _
This pleased them no
end for [G] from their lofty perch they could see the [C] crowds that thronged the busy street.
Now about the time our story really began, there was a young man creating quite a commotion
in that part of the country.
It seems he had been going about from city to city, healing
the sick and raising [G] the dead, [D] while he had even turned the water [C] into wine. _
Yes, the
three nails had heard [Am] quite a bit about this man from conversations in the shop.
[C] _ And being
[Gm] intelligent and not [Am] at all like ordinary nails, [F] they had discussed among [E] themselves the question
as to what manner [C] of man this could be.
Some of the people they had [C] overheard said he was
a prophet, while others [F] contended that he performed [A] the miracles through the [Dm] power of
Beelzebub.
Now as we [G] said, these three nails were very intelligent, [C] so they agreed they
would wait for a chance to see and hear this man [G] before they should say [C] he is true or he
is false, _ which you must agree [Ab] was a very honest and [C] fair decision.
As the days passed
swiftly [G] into months, it became more and more apparent to the [C] three nails that the religious
[E] rulers and those [Am] in authority were becoming more [E] and more alarmed [A] at the many wonders
this [G] man did.
_ [Dm] In their little [F] box home on the top shelf, [E] the three nails hoped and prayed
that [C] this man would pass down the street so they could see him.
As they eagerly waited
for that day, [F] they began to tell each [A] other how each thought he would [Dm] look.
Tall?
_ No, [G] answered another.
I think he is no taller than Joseph, [C] the shopkeeper. _
Perhaps he is rather stout and jolly, ventured another.
[G] _ _ _ [C] No, answered the wisest of the three.
From all we have heard, he has no place to live
and not near enough to eat.
I am sure that he is neither stout nor jolly.
[G] _ [C] Now every year at this time the people [E] observed the Feast of the [Am] Passover in Jerusalem and
the three nails [C] knew there would be the usual [Dm] crowd with all the excitement [Am] of a great holiday.
[F] _ But this [E] year it was so different.
[C] There was a tension among the people.
The three nails
could feel something evil and sinister in many of the [F] faces of those who came into [A] the
shop.
_ [Dm] However, in a few faces the three nails [G] could discern fear and on some were [C] traces
of a tear.
How they wished somebody would buy them so that they might [G] be taken out into
the crowd [C] where they could learn what had caused all this unusual excitement.
Then it happened.
Suddenly a large rough hand dipped into [G] the box and [Em] grasped the three
nails tightly.
_ [C] Then very swiftly they were carried out [Am] of the shop and toward a hill
that stood just outside the [C] city.
The three nails [Dm] shouted with happiness, [Dm] free, free at
last.
_ [F] Now if fate [E] was kind, perhaps they would see and hear this [C] man called Jesus.
_ Then one of the nails, peeking between two very rough and firm [F] fingers, explained, I
[A] know this place.
[Dm] Who would build a house or a barn, [G] for that matter, on Golgotha?
[C] _ _
The hand slowly opened and there on the ground [G] lay a huge wooden cross.
[C] _ But it was not the
cross that made their little steel heart stand still.
No, it was the [C] man who was stretched
out upon it, ready for crucifixion. _
[G] Never in their life at [C] the shop, where all manner
of [E] man came and went, [Am] had they seen such a man as this.
_ How could you describe [Dm] all
the beauty and humility, the strength [F] and the goodness one [E] could see in this doomed
man?
_ [C] No, all the words in the world could never do him justice. _
Surely he must be the
son of [F] God. _
[A] Then like a bolt of lightning, the three [Dm] nails realized why they had been
brought here and the awful crime [G] that they were to be a part of.
_ In the last seconds
before they were driven [F] into his feet [C] and hands, the three [G] nails spoke to him in the
[C] language of nails, which I am sure he understood, [F]
and [A] asked him to forgive them [Dm] for their part
in this dreadful deed.
[G] And I am just as sure that had [C] you been there and could speak the
language of nails, [C] you would have heard him [Em] say with a smile, [C] I understand [F] and you are
forgiven.
_ And that, my friends, is the story of the three nails. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _