The Bible in the Drawer

Sometimes, the smallest things can bring back the biggest memories. The small, quiet town of Waverly, Tennessee, is home to just over 4,000 people. While modest in size, its neighborhood-friendly community reminds people of the years when times were much simpler. Activities such as back porch conversations, grilling out, going for a walk, and attending church are simply a way of life for people in towns like these.

In this rural area sits a little old country church—Glenwood Methodist. With no more than 40 members in the congregation, Daryl Mosley and his three sisters were raised on Southern Gospel hymns played by their mother’s fingertips at the piano. Daryl loved these songs and quickly discovered his passion for singing and playing guitar.

“I grew up in a world where I knew about Jesus until I was old enough to know Him,” says Daryl. In May 1979, as a 14-year-old young man, he started helping his mom with music at the church. Then Jesus got personal. “I felt the stir that something was not quite right,” Daryl remembers. “In the middle of an invitation, I laid my hymnal down and surrendered my life to Christ.”

Writing Songs that Matter

His love for music and lyrics grew stronger as he got older. In fact, he began to feel it was a calling and gift from the Lord. He soon found himself singing and playing music at a ranch owned by a prominent country musician. It was here this artist encouraged him to get into songwriting. “I had no idea how to write a song at this point, but I was eager to learn and develop,” he says. God was starting to reveal His next steps for Daryl’s life.

He met a couple who was forming a bluegrass Gospel group. Bluegrass was a new genre to Daryl, but he quickly fell in love with the guitar-picking, storytelling style of music. He also fell in love with a band member, the drummer named Sandy. The couple married a year later in 1986; she has been a steadfast foundation for him ever since.

The next three decades consisted of songwriting, playing, and touring in two bands. Additionally, Daryl had the opportunity to be the bass player and background vocalist for the Osborne Brothers at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. During his stay at the Opry, he wrote the popular Southern Gospel hit, “(Ask the Blind Man) He Saw it All.”

In September 2019, Daryl returned to his roots of telling stories behind a guitar as a solo artist. Still, to this day, he plays almost 150 shows a year.

It’s the songs and the stories they tell that mean the most to him. “As a songwriter, you have an opportunity to create a legacy. Even my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, whom I may never know, can still know me through these songs. It’s really important for me to write the right songs that instill the correct values.”

And the thing most important to him is and always will be his faith, which is grounded in the Word of God. “I’m not just trying to tell my story through my songs but write songs that people can hear their story in. Ultimately, I want my faith in God and strong family ties to shine through my songs.”

The Bible and a Song

One of the things he loves to do with his songs is tell them from the perspective of an inanimate object. As a fifth-grade student, he received a Testament from a Gideon who visited his school. Daryl kept that Scripture with him in his family’s car growing up. Years later, as a traveling singer/songwriter, he has stayed in countless hotels across the United States. “I always look to see if there is a Bible in the drawer, and many times there has been,” he says. “It always encourages me to see one there.”

This led him to write “The Bible in the Drawer,” which can be found on his latest album released in 2023, entitled A Life Well Lived. The song is written from the perspective of a hotel Bible and the many lives that Scripture has impacted time and time again. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. God’s Word changes lives—Daryl knows this and shares this truth with members of the Association. “Gideons and Auxiliary are sowers. They place these Bibles and may never know the harvest but are faithful to carry out their part,” he says. When he plays the song at shows, Gideons often come up to him and tell him they are a member of The Gideons and share how much the lyrics mean to them.

Daryl continues to write songs about the simple things that touch people’s lives. “People tell me my songs always bring them back to a memory they haven’t thought about in years.” He will always stay faithful to what God has called him to do by using his gifts and the opportunities before him. He encourages Gideons and Auxiliary to do the same.

Watch a Live Performance of “The Bible in the Drawer” Below!