Three Wooden Crosses

A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher
Riding on a midnight bus bound for Mexico
One's headed for vacation, one for higher education
An' two of them were searching for lost souls
That driver never ever saw the stop sign
An' eighteen wheelers can't stop on a dime

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows
I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

That farmer left a harvest, a home and eighty acres
The faith an' love for growing things in his young son's heart
An' that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children:
Did her best to give 'em all a better start
An' that preacher whispered: "Can't you see the Promised Land?"
As he laid his blood-stained bible in that hooker's hand

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows
I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

That's the story that our preacher told last Sunday
As he held that blood-stained bible up
For all of us to see
He said: "Bless the farmer, and the teacher, an' the preacher
Who gave this Bible to my mamma who read it to me"

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them, now I guess we know
It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway