Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
All the Way the Savior Leads Me is one of the songs that runs through my mind at times. The hymn was written in 1875 by Fanny Crosby. “A frequently told story about this hymn relates that it came to Fanny as a result of a prayer. Struggling financially, she desperately needed some money. As her usual custom, Fanny began […]
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In honor of Epiphany, which we just celebrated, I thought We Three Kings would be a great song to take a closer look at. We Three Kings describes the journey of the Wise Men to see the baby Jesus. The names of the kings, passed down through tradition are Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar. The kings presented the Christ Child with […]
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Sweet Little Jesus Boy finds it’s roots in the African-American spirituals. The song was written by Robert MacGimsey. According to legend, MacGimsey left the midnight Christmas Eve service he’d been attending that cold night in 1932’s New York City. Walking the final blocks to his one room apartment, he passed the open doors of a private club. Glancing inside he […]
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The words and music of “O Come O Come Emmanuel” developed separately. The original text, which was in Latin, was first documented in 1710 in Germany. The tune has it’s origins in 15th Century France. In the early church something called O Anitphons were used. An antiphon is a response by the choir or congregation and used in the form […]
Read more What Child is This? was written by William Chatterton Dix in 1865 in England. Dix worked as a manager for an insurance company before being afflicted with a severe illness that left him bedridden and severely depressed. This near death experience brought about a spiritual renewal in him while he was recovering. During his recovery he would read the Bible […]
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Francis Scott Key We all know our National Anthem, but do you know how it originated? The author, Francis Scott Key, was at Fort McHenry when the British Royal Navy bombed the fort in 1814. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, and John Stuart Skinner were on a mission for President James Madison on September 3, 1814. The […]
Read more Irving Berlin’s patriotic love song to his adopted homeland was hidden away for over twenty years before being publicly made known. Irving Berlin was a Russian immigrant living in New York City. Growing up, Berlin often heard his mother say “God Bless America.” Berlin later said about his mother, “without America, her family would have had no place to go. […]
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I was recently discussing this beloved hymn with a family member. However, I can so relate to the story. There have been times when I had no one to tell my sorrows except Jesus. I must tell Jesus was written by Elisha Hoffman. He was born in 1839 Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. His love of God and music were both learned from […]
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Have you wondered where I got my tag, “Sharing HIS Kind of Love” from? The phrase comes from the song by the same title. His Kind of Love was written by Marijohn Wilkin. For 15 years I was Daddy’s accompanists on the piano. This was a song we performed on a regular basis. After his death, I took the Easter […]
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Many times it is difficult to see the path ahead. All we can do is take things one day at a time. The song “One Day at a Time” was written by Marijohn Wilkin when she was fifty-three years old. By this point she’d known considerable success as a songwriter of country music. However, she’d also suffered extreme heartache and […]
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My Jesus, I Love Thee was written as a devotional poem by a young teen who had recently come to faith. That teen was William Ralph Featherston. Featherston considered this hymn his “legacy of love.” His love for God were genuine and true. William Ralph Featherson was born to John and Mary Featherson on July 24, 1846 in Montreal, Canada. […]
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When I was growing up Holy! Holy! Holy! was the first hymn found in the Baptist Hymnal. I remember often requesting this song at hymn sings, when I was in elementary school. I’m sure this was because of the ease of finding the hymn. Holy! Holy! Holy! speaks of the power of the Holy Trinity. The opening phrase, “Holy! Holy! Holy! […]
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Eugene Monroe Bartlett, Sr. is considered to have made a major impact on the development of Southern Gospel Music. He was born on December 24, 1885 in Waynesville, Missouri. At a young age he relocated to Sabastian County, Arkansas where he grew up. He was educated as a music teacher at Hall-Moody Institute in Tennessee and William Jewell College in […]
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He Touched Me was the song that propelled Bill Gaither onto the national stage. Gaither had been writing songs for years, but nothing struck the chord with the American public the way He Touched Me did. Gaither stated in an interview that he began writing in “1960” and this was “my fifty-fourth song.” Gaither was accompanying an “old preacher friend” […]
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Send the Light was written by Charles H. Gabriel. Charles Hutchinson Gabriel was born August 18, 1856 in Wilton Iowa and raised on a farm. As a boy, Gabriel taught himself to play a small reed organ. He was following in his father’s footsteps and leading singing schools by the age of 16. One folklore of his youth, is that […]
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Charlotte Elliott spent the majority of her life as an invalid. During this time she said the only thing she could do was “worship God.” Ms. Eliott began her life with a lot of promise as a popular portrait artist and writer with a humorous voice. She was often in bad health and at the age of thirty became an […]
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Dr. Adam Geibel, a music publisher, asked pharmacists and composer, C. Austin Miles, to write a hymn that would bring hope. Miles retreated to ” a cold, dreary and leaky basement in New Jersey that didn’t even have a window in it let alone a view of a garden,” according to his great-granddaughter. Miles turned to his Bible and read […]
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Today How Great Thou Art is a staple in the protestant church and often requested for funerals. The song did not gain popularity until after celebrating its fiftieth birthday. Cliff Barrows, the song leader for the Billy Graham crusades brought How Great Thou Art to international fame in the 1940s and 1950s during the London Crusades. The text was written […]
Read more I Love to Tell the Story and Tell Me the Old, Old Story are sister songs. They were both written by Kate Hankey. Arabella Katherine Hankey was born in 1834. She lived in London with her family, but was influenced by John Wesley and his work. At the age of eighteen, she organized a Bible study for girls working in […]
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One day in 1905, Mrs. Civilla Martin visited a friend that was bedridden. Concerned for her friend she asked her how she dealt with discouragement. The friend replied, “Mrs. Martin, how can I be discouraged when my Heavenly Father watches over each little sparrow and I know he loves and cares for me.” Hearing these words Mrs. Martin immediately put […]
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