I Can Only Imagine 2 tells the story behind the hit MercyMe song “Even If,” and it’s centered around another challenging—but redemptive—father-son relationship. There’s some peril here related to significant illnesses, and there are ruminations on grief. But the film gives families plenty to cheer about, including powerful messages on gratitude, familial love and trust in God.
Bart Millard chased his dream. More than that, he caught it.
He makes music for a living and gets to sing about Jesus. His band, MercyMe, found huge success following the release of their smash hit “I Can Only Imagine,” which Bart penned and performed. He married his high school sweetheart, Shannon. They have five beautiful children, a chance for Bart to be the good father his own dad often wasn’t.
To the outside observer, Bart has reached the pinnacle of success, personally and professionally.
But what comes after you catch your dreams?
Short answer: Life. With all its ups and downs.
Bart has been living in those downs for quite some time now. It’s been years since his son, Sam, was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, but it’s been a constant struggle that’s put a strain on their father-son relationship. Things with Shannon have been rocky, too. The band is still touring, but they haven’t had a hit in some time—and everyone is looking to Bart to come up with the next “Imagine.”
Amid the turmoil, Bart begins to wonder: Where is God? Why does everything have to be so hard?
Maybe the band’s new tour will help, Bart thinks. A chance to get some distance from the chaos and clear his head. Maybe even come up with a new song.
But Bart will need to navigate a few curveballs along the way: For starters, Sam is coming on tour with him, putting even more strain on their relationship. But Bart also isn’t clicking with the band’s new opening act, Tim Timmons, a good-natured but quirky musician obsessed with a Horatio Spafford-penned hymn.
Then again, having Sam and Tim on this tour might be just what Bart needs to move forward—to learn the balance between grief and gratitude.
Though I Can Only Imagine 2 shows the Millards during a difficult season, it’s obvious that they love each other.
Bart is particularly hard on Sam as he tries to help manage his son’s illness, which creates a rift between them (more on that later). But Bart’s actions are driven by a desire to keep his son alive and well. He strives to be a “good father.” The first time a young Sam has to check his blood sugar, Bart helps distract the boy and even pricks his own finger so that his son won’t have to suffer alone.
Shannon is the bedrock of the Millard family, caring for the kids while Bart is on tour. She is supportive and understanding but unafraid to challenge her husband when needed. She does her best to help bridge the divide between her husband and son. When Bart voices concern that he might be “the wrong dad” for Sam, Shannon reminds him, “You don’t have to be perfect; just be there for him.”
Tim faces a significant challenge of his own—a rare and terminal cancer. Even still, he remains a consistent, positive presence. He pursues songwriting in the hope that his music will help people. Tim is Sam’s biggest supporter on the tour; he encourages the young man’s budding musical talents. And though it seems that Tim’s life may be cut short, he seeks to finish strong, with a joyful heart, in service to others. As Bart later says, Tim’s gift to the world is “unflinching gratitude.”
Sam is an upbeat and willing worker who flourishes when given the opportunity to contribute on the tour. Eventually, Bart and Sam reconcile, and their relationship improves as they intentionally learn more about one another.
Tim’s wife, Hilary, supports her husband through his sickness and helps him chase his dream. Scott “Brick” Brickell, MercyMe’s manager, offers Bart sage advice on several occasions. We hear that someone volunteers at a homeless shelter.
Tim draws an “X” on his wrist every morning after he wakes (something he started to do after receiving his cancer diagnosis). He tells Sam this is his way of “telling God and reminding myself that I’m grateful—thank you for another day.”
Tim gets inspired to write a song after reading the story of Horatio Spafford, a lawyer who—despite experiencing tremendous personal loss—wrote the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul.” During a concert, Tim references the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel 3. On a few occasions, he says, “God is in the fire.”
Bart says that artists of faith “search for the sacred” and get to play a “small part of an eternal story—the goodness of God.” He thanks God for an opportunity to reconnect with his son.
Shannon prays for Bart constantly, and she encourages her husband by reminding him that Jesus is present with him. Brick reminds someone that “the Good Lord” never promised a life free from struggles or pain.
A cross hangs in a hospital chapel. We see an Ichthys (“Jesus fish”) in someone’s home. 1 Corinthians 10:31 is written on a refrigerator. A man points to heaven. Concertgoers raise their hands in worship. Someone sits alone in a church beside a casket. Someone says, “God is good.”
Several contemporary Christian songs are heard throughout the film. The events I Can Only Imagine 2 lead to the creation of the song “Even If”—which encourages us to cling to God, even amid difficulties.
Someone says that burning incense helps him unwind, though this doesn’t seem to be tied to any spiritual practice.
A man makes a vague, yet oddly sensual comment to his wife involving a stethoscope. Married couples kiss and verbally express their love for each other. We hear that one of the members of MercyMe left the band to spend more time with his family.
A woman discovers she’s pregnant. She shares the good news with her husband, and they celebrate together. Later, the man kisses his wife’s pregnant belly.
A woman wears a revealing top. A man pranks his wife by dumping ice water on her while she’s in the shower (we don’t see her onscreen).
In a harrowing flashback, a young Sam has a seizure. He pulls through, but we see the grief and shock of another couple whose child had a similar health crisis and died.
While on tour with MercyMe, Sam falls behind on his insulin injections and pushes himself too hard. He’s hospitalized as a result after going into diabetic shock and falling from a ladder. Tim also winds up spending some time in the hospital during the tour due to his illness: A few times, we see him cough up blood.
When Bart gives Sam an insulin injection, it triggers memories of his own father’s abusive behavior. This includes flashbacks to a younger Bart getting beaten and threatened by his father.
During an interview, Brick uses some strained (and rather violent) metaphors involving wildlife; however, this scene is played for laughs.
We are told that Horatio Spafford’s daughters drowned in a mid-Atlantic shipwreck.
There are a few uses of rude language, including “freaking,” “frigging,” “sucks” and “shut up.” Someone calls a piece of furniture “butt ugly.”
Tim mentions the effects of the drugs the hospital staff has given him. Sam undergoes insulin injections throughout the film.
Bart’s focus on Sam’s health comes from a place of love and protectiveness, but that focus temporarily overshadows and damages their relationship. For Sam’s part, the teen is not always consistent in keeping up with his insulin doses, which puts a significant strain on Bart. A doctor equates insulin to “life support” for someone with type 1 diabetes.
As a show of solidarity, the band members all prick their fingers—as Sam does to check his blood sugar—then press their bloody thumbs together. Tim quips that, as a result, they all now have hepatitis.
The Millard’s youngest child walks around offscreen without any pants. There’s mention of “cantilever toilets.” Someone says he “barfed.” A man vomits before a concert.
Tim says he tried chemotherapy and radiation to treat his cancer. He makes a few jokes related to his mortality. Sam jokingly tells his younger siblings not to “burn the house down.” A child says her brother tried to drown her (this childish accusation is played for laughs).
We hear that Brick’s father went to prison. A sick man bemoans the things he “may never finish.” Shannon goes to counseling and encourages Bart to join her, though he’s not interested.
In his review of 2018’s I Can Only Imagine Adam Holz noted that the film was “about the paradoxical link between pain and redemption, between brokenness and forgiveness.”
That story showed us the difficult relationship between Bart Millard and his abusive father, Arthur—and, by the grace of God, the reclamation of that relationship.
In I Can Only Imagine 2, we bear witness to another difficult father-son relationship—this time between Bart and his son, Sam. No, Bart is not an abusive parent. But his fixation on Sam’s health ends up creating some similar problems, something the real Bart Millard has spoken about candidly.
And just as the first film was built around the creation of “I Can Only Imagine,” I Can Only Imagine 2 similarly concerns the forging of another hit MercyMe song: “Even If.”
Tim Timmons, the song’s co-writer, has a remarkable enough story on his own, but the film uses his narrative in concert with Bart and Sam’s journey to ruminate on the paradoxical link between grief and gratitude. (It’s the same paradox grasped by Horatio Spafford’s “It Is Well With My Soul,” which was penned in the wake of crushing tragedy.)
I Can Only Imagine 2 is a well-crafted, uplifting film with powerful messages about grief, gratitude, familial love and—above all—clinging to God, whether it be peace or sorrows that attend our way.
Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.
