This is a feature where once each month I share one of my personal favorite hymns.           It is difficult to choose my very favorite hymn, but "Like A River Glorious" certainly ranks as one of my top favorites.  I especially love to hear it sung by a congregation or an ensemble without any instruments.             It does have great harmony, but more importantly, the words always speak to my heart.  In a world filled with turmoil, our only hope is to live lives th ..read more

          TIMELESS HYMNS - A regular feature in which I choose a previous hymn blog, revise it and post it again.  This one was first posted in 2014 .           While writing this I was waiting for a friend who had told us that he would visit with us this morning.  But it is now two hours past the time when he said he would stop by. I assume that he must have forgot.  It happens.             Recently a friend promised to take care of making ar ..read more

           "Sweet Beulah Land" is a beautiful song with deep meaning for many.  However, I found it very difficult to write about it since there are at least two different songs written in different eras by different men with the same titles. As I searched the internet, I found several sites which confused the two.           The older one was written in 1876 by Edgar P. Stites and the music was written by John R. Sweney. Stites claimed that at first he could only write two verses and the chorus. &n ..read more

Once a month I take time to share one of my favorite hymns.  This month I have chosen He Giveth More Grace which has been a personal favorite of mine for many years.               It seems that sometimes problems come in waves and they seem to overwhelm us. And recently it seems like there have been many waves of problems for many of our friends. Some have been family related, some health related, some job related and some others just unusual situations. But in this life, problems are to be expected. Yet sometimes out ..read more

TIMELESS HYMNS - A regular feature in which I choose a previous hymn blog, revise it and post it again.  This one was first posted in 2013                    When we accept the free gift of salvation, not only do we receive eternal life and the assurance of heaven, but we receive so much more as well.  One of the blessings that is ours is the assurance of the Lord's presence in our daily lives.  He gives us divine guidance and He becomes our rock and our hiding place when the storms of life surro ..read more

          Being blind physically must be one of the most difficult handicaps that some must live with.  So many of normal life activities are very difficult or even impossible without sight.  And, in most cases, there is no way to restore your sight.  And yet many people have successfully lived though being blind physically. I think of someone like Fanny Crosby whose music has ministered to multitudes over the years.           But there is a more serious blindness – spiritual blindn ..read more

          The Lord has oftened used the sufferings and difficult experiences of his children to encourage others, often through the music which they compose.  Such was the case with Anne Steele (1717-1778), the daughter of a Baptist preacher and timber merchant, William Steele.           Steele faced many challenges.  She lost her mother at age 3, a potential suitor who drowned at age 20, her step mom at 43 and her sister-in-law at 45.  She spent many years caring for ..read more

Once a month I take time to share one of my favorite hymns.  This month I have chosen Blessed Assurance which has been a personal favorite of mine for many years.             How could I not pick hymns by Fanny Crosby among my favorites? All of us have enjoyed and have been touched by the many words written by the great blind hymn writer.            The themes for her hymns were often suggested by visiting ministers who wished to have a new song on a particular subject. It ..read more

 TIMELESS HYMNS - A regular feature in which I choose a previous hymn blog, revise it and post it again.  This one was first posted in 2014.            I clearly remember a few years ago sitting with some couples who were several years older than I was.  They were talking about retirement and how they had also retired from all their responsibilities at church.  They said that it was time to step aside and let somebody else do it.  I was really taken back by this discussion and while I just listened, I thought how can one retir ..read more

          Isaac Watts was truly one of the great hymn writers of all time.  He is said to have written over 600 hymns, 52 other works, including a book of logic used widely in universities, and on grammar, astronomy, philosophy and geography.  But in addition to his scholarly books, he wrote most of his hymns in his early twenties.            In 1739 he suffered a stroke that left him able to speak but unable to write.  A secretary was provided to transcribe his dictated poems and bo ..read more