We’ve done all the defensive things within our means to be ready to ride out Hurricane Gustav. It will hit where we are in Louisiana soon.
Son Josh brought by an old hymnal he found containing the songs we grew up with. What a find!
For the last hour our living room has been place of peace and presence of Jesus. Jean has been flipping the pages and singing (in the most honest and lovely alto voice I have ever known)—and reliving altar scenes out of our youth. Old songs that stirred us as we grew up have not lost their power.
They are the songs that called us to repentance, to a daily walk with Jesus, to the mission field and to lofty times of praise to Almighty God.
Tho we’ve not heard some of them for years the words came easily and were wonderfully warming to our hearts.
The questions hit me. “How many sermons do you remember from your youth?”
“How many songs do you remember?”
Of course, the sermons guided our lives, but adding the power of music to the words planted them deeply in our beings.
The abiding refrains of the hymns, in a way, became the script—the scriptures—for our actions. They lay a bed of peace under our uncertain days. They gave us an assured path through hard places. And they enabled grateful hearts to praise and extol and sense the presence of our Savior.
The devil knows how this works and is jack-hammering hell's script into our children's hearts.
A different music stirs our children today. Let’s make sure that the music-script for their lives does not leave out the redeeming power of the Blood, the impending return of Jesus, and the personal commitment to “surrender all.”
Do you remember these lines?
"Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling..."
"I'll go where you want me to go, Dear Lord..."
"On a hill far away..."
"What a friend we have in Jesus..."
"I will praise Him, I will praise Him..."
"Almost persuaded..." (That one plagued me in my rebellious days.)
"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know..."
"Where He leads me I will follow..." (even to the hard places of the world)
"I'll live for Him Who died for me..."
"I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest..."
"When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound..."
"Come ye sinners lost and hopeless, Jesus Blood can make you free..."
"Rescue the perishing, care for the dying..."
"My Jesus I love Thee..."
"Grace, grace. God's grace..."
...and hundreds more.
What old, familiar, and life-scripting phrases have come to your mind?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Our praise service last night started off with skits, they came out on the platform and started singing songs out of SONGBOOKS. It was a hoot. We even remembered the verses, not just the chorus. Two hours of remembering and singing these old hymns as hundreds then came to the front to get saved or rededicate their lives. So, we know just how you feel. Con
Post a Comment