(somber music) - Here I am, eight years old, shivering in the cold, and there's this eerie silence, and I hear screams.

That's where it started, the screams.

And I thought, what in the world's going on?

Then a flame burst from the roof, and I heard timbers caving in.

And I heard more screaming.

I witnessed really gruesome stuff.

And where was Jesus, you know?

That was my big question.

Jesus, you know, how could...

Right next to the house of God, this happened.

You know, as you look in the Bible, the shortest scriptures said, "Jesus wept."

And later on, when I found that scripture in the Bible, I knew, we weren't abandoned that day.

He wept with us.

I think the whole world did.

(somber music) The next day, I was numb.

And I sat there with my dad, and he said, "You were saved, John, for something greater.

God saved you.

So what are we gonna do with that gift?

What are we gonna do with that pass?"

You know, you're gonna make something."

Music healed me, you know.

It healed me in a big way.

I found freedom.

I found escape, joy.

I was studying accordion at the school, and Johnny was an accordion player.

He was older.

I didn't really know him, but the picture to this day haunts me 'cause that could have been me, could have been any of us.

But that accordion became my little redemption piece to moving on and healing.

Even in the Bible, there's beauty for ashes, right?

So that became my mantra that out of these ashes, something new will be born.

And that was my music.

And I think it made me tenacious, made me hungry.

My dad said I was saved for something, a reason I'd lived through a fire.

But there was a fire burning now inside to be something, to prove to Dad that I was worth it.

Maybe to prove to God that he made the good decision with me.

When I went to write with Steve Perry, and I was asked to join Journey in 1981, I was a kid who survived a fire, played accordion in Chicago.

What am I doing here?

(piano music) For the 60th Commemorative Mass, I had this idea of this very moody song I was gonna sing at the ceremony, you know?

And God gave me a title, "The Day They Became Angels".

♪ The day they became angels ♪ - It starts out: The day they became angels, they left us wondering why.

Young souls joined God's departed, leaving no time for goodbye.

And all that's left are memories.

♪ All that's left are memories ♪ ♪ Of innocence and childhood dreams ♪ ♪ As survivors, we choose to love beyond our pain ♪ - I spent two weeks practicing so I wouldn't break down: I wouldn't choke up.

And sure enough, I got in the church, and they called me up to play the song, and I sang it without choking up, and I sang it for all of us.

♪ The day they became angels ♪ ♪ Life seems so unfair ♪ ♪ Left us feeling helpless ♪ - I weep.

I still weep.

You gotta lock it away in some part, but it's part of you.

Tragedy becomes part of who you are.

I have seen the suffering.

I have seen death.

I looked it right in the eye.

And it just makes you tough and also grateful.

I think surviving tragedy can really open a person up to a grateful state, you know?

So you're appreciating the good things in life so much more because you've seen the tragic end of others.

♪ The day they became angels ♪ (gentle music)