Songfacts®:

• This story of a homeless man, who finds a kind place and face to help soothe his aching soul, is loosely based on Vince Gill's brother. According to Gill, "he struggled mightily in his life" and it's a song about forgiveness."
• Gill's brother never really recovered from a car wreck he had on an Oklahoma highway near El Reno at the age of 21, which left him in a coma for many months. Afterwards he lived the life of a hobo and his family didn't know where he was for long periods of time. They would find out that he'd been picking fruit somewhere, down in the mission, or working at the Salvation Army. Gill penned the song with Leslie Satcher and he recalled to The Boot how the opening line made him think of his brother. "I threw out this line: 'One night, he wandered into that old mission.' The first lines of songs are the most important part of the songs. If you really want to tell a story, that first line has to capture you. I said that line and then got a big lump in my throat and almost teared up. It reminded me of my brother."