JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For almost a week we've known of Justin Walker as a Fairfax, Virginia, firefighter who went out fishing last Friday with his friend and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department paramedic Brian McCluney. For the last six days, authorities and volunteers have scoured coastal waters from Central Florida to North Carolina looking for them.
News4Jax has learned that Walker was also a professional contemporary dancer with the Demetrius Klein Dance Company and obtained video of one of his performances in 2016. In it, he dances to a song titled "Grace" by Jonathan Elias with lyrics we now know were prophetic.
WATCH: Video of Justin Walker's performance, courtesy Demetrius Klein Dance Company
In case you couldn't make them out in the video above, the words say:
Father won't you carry me
For the ocean is wide
Father won't you carry me
For my boat is so small.
Father on a moonless night
Help me cross the stormy sea.
Out here in the darkness
Help me find my way back home.
Father won't you carry me
For the oceans wide
Father won't you carry me
For my boat is so small.
Father in this season of dying
Let me sleep in your arms
And come watch over me
Someone watching over me, over me
Father won't you carry me
Father won't you carry me
Father won't you carry me ... home
“To watch him is just breathtaking, but the words of the song, 'Father carry us home, the ocean is wide ... My boat is small,' I mean, it's just, it's hard to find the words to express how special it is that we have that video," said Kristen Vencel, a friend of Justin Walker. "It’s a way to also connect.”
McCluney’s wife, Stephanie, previously danced for the same company in West Palm Beach.