Two young adults, a female in red top and jeans with bracelets, and a male in white polo shirt and jeans, outdoors near rocks and greenery under warm late afternoon or early evening light. 4:26
Mat and Savanna Shaw channel icon Mat and Savanna ShawOriginal creator 390K views Save

A dad and daughter's prayer for soldiers

In warm evening light among the rocks, a father and daughter sing a prayer for the soldiers who keep everyone else safe. more

They're Mat and Savanna Shaw, a father-daughter duo from Kaysville, Utah, who have appeared on Good Morning America and The Kelly Clarkson Show. This song is called 'Keep Us Safe,' and it opens on a hard world. "Deserts grow cold, rivers run dry," they sing, and "we give up on each other without thinking twice."

Then it turns. "When we get scared, let this be our prayer," and the prayer is a short one, "God keep us safe, safe tonight." It asks for "an army of angels to make us brave" and to be kept "strong and unafraid."

In between come the people the song is for. Some are soldiers in camouflage gear, smiling for a photo in the field. Others are coming home to the families who waited for them.

The second verse could be about any of them. It tells of walking "broken and bruised, wearing tattered shoes," and still "trying to get back home." Then comes the line that steadies it: "I know we don't walk alone."

Two young adults, a female in red top and jeans with bracelets, and a male in white polo shirt and jeans, outdoors near rocks and greenery under warm late afternoon or early evening light. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
In warm evening light among the rocks, a father and daughter sing a prayer for the soldiers who keep everyone else safe.

Mat knows this world himself, his fans say. Several thank him for his own service, and one viewer, watching again, finally noticed a photo of him in Army combat uniform holding Savanna.

Later the two of them stand on a mountaintop beside an American flag. The sun is going down behind them, and the land below opens out to water and far-off peaks.

Two people stand on a high lookout above a wide landscape of water and distant mountains at sunset. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Mat and Savanna Shaw look out over water and far mountains as the sun sets.

Military families filled the comments. One viewer has been married for 54 years to a Vietnam veteran, now 75, and wrote that he had big tears running down his cheeks. Another sent the song to a son in the military.

It closes on the same four words it keeps coming back to, "God keep us safe," in a harmony that a fan in Sydney called fantastic.

#reunions#singing