Alpha & Omega - My time at the National Bible Bee

So here was the main hindrance to my writing more! - I was studying for this! - If any of you are wondering how I did; I didn't make it past the preliminarys. But my prayer before I went was simply that through my recitation or through my conversations there, I could impact at least one person for the glory of God.
  I give Him the glory that I feel this was accomplished!
I am naturally extremely self conscious and my greatest fear was that though normally passionate while reciting, I would lose my composure once on stage in front of those eight or ten families and contestants and either forget all my passages or recite in a scared monotone.  How can one bring glory to God with a heart full of fear? - I spent much time in prayer over this issue, praying that through whatever means the Lord would be glorified through me! He is indeed a good father!
  "Would the next contestant please come to the microphone!"  It was my turn, my heart sped up slightly and my stomach started to feel like it was on a merry-go-round. I stood up, walked to the steps leading up to the platform. 1 step - "Lord have mercy on me!"  2 steps, "hear my prayer O Lord my God!" my beating heart began to subside, step 3, "May Thy name O Lord be glorified!"  I reached the platform and stared out over that small yet unfamiliar group of faces. And my fear was gone! - I was perfectly at home up there!  They gave me my first verse reference, John 7:12, and I remembered it!
  After my recitation was over, several people who were in the room told both me and my mother that they were blessed by my recitation. A gentleman thanked me for sharing the word of God with them all! And mommy said someone told her that he could tell I loved the Lord! - What a blessing! God took away my fear at just the right time and I feel that He also killed a good portion of my fear at that time, never to bother me again! - Praise the Lord, great things He has done!
  As we were walking back to our room, mommy said that she thought that I didn't need to get into the semi-finals because I had already accomplished my purpose! - I agreed, a little halfheartedly at the time because I so wanted to get into the semi-finals, but when I didn't, the Lord gave me peace in knowing that I had still touched hearts and blessed more than one person!
 This was my first year to try and apparently to get into nationals on one's first try is not usual, so I  really am happy! This is also my last year - so I tried to savor every bit, knowing that I would never return as a contestant again! (this is why I titled this post the way I did, if you hadn't guessed that already!)
  

This picture shows me, trying to look composed, waiting for them to divide us up to go to our reciting rooms! 
   The trip there and back went off with out a hitch and I know that was one of mommy's biggest concerns!
Several blessings also paved our way throughout the weekend! When we were in the registration lines, we reached one table where, to my great surprise, a smiling lady handed me a large gift bag out of which peeped royal blue tissue-paper and told me! "Happy Birthday!"  I was so surprised I felt my knees knocking! My birthday was on Friday, the thirty-first, and they had put together a gift for all the contestants whose birthdays fell on one of the competition days! - I felt incredibly honored, to think with all the work to organize such a huge event, they had taken the the time to recognize our birthdays!!!
   Blessing number two; the hotel, being such a big and expensive one, had several restaurants in it! For the most part we ate at the cheaper ones, but on Friday night, Mommy took me out to Benihana, a Japanese restaurant where the cook the food right in front of you on a large grill built into the table. Are table was shared by a sweet elderly couple who were attending the bible bee as vendors and we had such a sweet talk with them. When finished, they offered, out of the goodness of their hearts, to pay for our meal! - I felt so loved, I could hardly believe my ears! What a good God we serve who unites all of us together with such kindness and Love!
   And finally, providence number three, (they seem to come in threes don't they?) On Saturday night, we forgot to buy tickets for the family dinner and the booth where we could have gotten them was closed, in desperation we went to the ushers at the door of the dinner room to see if maybe they had any spares that we could purchase; what was our surprise to find that somebody had bought tickets and then, not needing them, had given them to the doorkeepers to just give to anyone who wanted them! - how can we cease blessing the Lord for His providence for His children!

Above is a group of friends from a bible memorization website with whom I had the blessing of studying for the National and Local contest, remotely of course, but it was good to meet them all in real life!

I also had the blessing of meeting a sweet young lady with whom I had been chatting back and forth about the Bee and we had been encouraging each other to keep on going when the memorizing was tough!

She and I sat up in the front row, watching the final challenge rounds! (I know I told someone not to long ago, that sitting up in the front row was not my sort of thing, but I've changed a bit since then!)

Another thing, several of us foolish young folks did, was to sit until nearly midnight a couple of nights, playing Dutch blitz! - That was fun, even though I paid for it in the morning! But adrenalin kept me up the whole trip through! After all, one doesn't get to do such things very often at all!

 We ate a lovely dessert on Saturday night at the closing cermony and I was very touched as they handed out some other awards and was greatly inspired by the story of Shelby Kenedy the inspiration for the Bee.

We sang together at the end  and my heart was indeed thrilled to the core by it all, How can such a holy God come to dwell with us defiled sinners? I asked myself several times, And yet how glad I am that He did, for this is what results, when He does. This tying of hearts, this love, this joy and comradery - this is what the Spirit of God can do for us wretched beings!

   Of course a good trip is never complete without a good set of embarrassments!
I had two. (though perhaps there were more which I didn't notice, being a rather shameless individual) these embarrassments were enough to bring a good bit of color even to my face!

  Awkward moment number one: People say my voice is loud and carries far, though it doesn't seem that way to me! We were downstairs reviewing verses and I was reciting in what I consider a normal tone of voice, and all was well, I wasn't abashed at all, though there were people walking all around, since I wasn't the center of attention, and I spoke with my normal gesticulations and inflections. Then, I hit a mistake and, being relaxed, reacted with my normal response! "OoooH!" spoken in a descending scale and rather loud! It was too late before I realized my situation! A mother and her son were walking by holding hands and an older gentleman with a kindly face. They laughed and the gentleman winked and I was thoroughly embarrassed! However, it did create an understanding between me and him, for ever after, when we came across eachother, he would grin and wink and I had to grin sheepishly back!
  Awkward moment number two: Our church has a Fall Festival which they celebrate annually at a family's farm (whose last name happens to be Forney! ;)  And it was scheduled for Saturday, November 1st, one of the days we would be gone! I was disappointed that I would have to miss it, but Oh well, I had, by Saturday morning quite forgotten that it would be occurring that evening. Mommy and I were eating breakfast in a cheerful little diner with sparkling glass table tops, mounted on a single mettle stand.  "Did I tell you," she began casually, "That the festival has been postponed until tomorrow night because of inclement weather? That means we'll be able to go." We would be arriving home on Sunday afternoon. "No, I didn't know that!" I exclaimed, with glee, "YESS!" in my excitement I slammed my fist into the table top, causing the the glass table and the ceramic dishes to rattle with a very loud, CRASH! No, nothing broke, but nearly every person in the room raised his head to stare at me, a family across the way stared chuckling and I wished my chair and its contents would descend to the roots of the mountains! - Even mommy was laughing! - Well, oh, well! ; ) 

   On Saturday night, I square danced with the others until after midnight regardless of the fact that I would have to get up before five on that morning to leave for the air port! ~ I managed! And don't regret I did it, being that I don't get many opportunities in my area to dance very often and this was a once in a blue moon occasion!
   On Friday night, (I know I'm going backwards but why not?) we had the opportunity to watch a christian juggler perform his tricks! I was laughing till my sides ached at his jokes, and thoroughly awed by his tricks! Then, we got to hear, a male vocal ensemble sing, whom I had never heard before and they brought tears into my eyes with their beautiful singing and love for the Lord! This post would not be complete with out one of their songs. - Best of all, they sang a-capella!

 
 I will never forget this time! Though most of those people will probably never read this post, I want to say thank you to everyone who made this event possible! - I want to Thank all the people there who sharpened and encouraged me! - I want to thank my local host Mrs. Twila Blevins for all the love and hard work she put into our group! - I want to thank my mother for all the time and effort she spent with me, quizzing me constantly on my verses. - Most importantly, I want to thank my God and Father in heaven, who has done this great work in all of our hearts! ~ Who has performed and accomplished it...The Lord of Hosts is His name!

  It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
    2 Thessalonians 2:14

He Keeps Me Singing...

As the first day of fall steals upon me seemingly out of nowhere, I wonder why, for the first time, it has done so! - But only for a second; I know very well why!
  Usually I am anticipating this, my favorite season. Counting the months, weeks and days for the heavy and humid heat of Summer to dissipate into the cold air and sharp biting wind of Fall and Winter. Having never had much tolerance for the heat, the Fall has never been able to sneak up on me...until now!
  I don't want to go into any long expostulations over why this is so and why you will probably not see another blog post until sometime in November; so I thought I just write a list and that list will proclaim my excuses with more eloquence than I am capable of putting forth at this time!

  So here is what has been, is, and will be monopolizing my time...

•      Teaching a children's choir (I've never done anything close to something like this, but there's nothing like jumping off the deep end to teach you to swim...right?)
•      The National Bible Bee - I haven't done this before either. I never even did the Bible Bee until this year, knowing it to be my last to compete, I decided to "just try it", and, I thought, little chance of my getting into Nationals!  - Right? - Well I did, so...Two-Hundred Passages memorized word perfect and the book of Nahum to study are dipping heavily into the day's all too meager twenty-four hours!
•      Dance Classes! (I really just couldn't put this off for another year, could I? ;)
•     Art Class - Mommy signed me up, I couldn't help it! (of course we won't consider the probable fact that if I had heard of it first I would have signed myself up! - Such trite facts cannot be figured into this equation!:)
•     Chemistry! - I hate it! but of course there is constantly the question, do I hate glasses more?      (If you don't know what that means, it's code for: if I get to a certain place in Chemistry ere the month of September reaches its expiration date, I get contact lenses!)
•  Dinner preparation, encouraging others, being a good sister to my brothers, Violin, Piano and of course nothing would be the same without Song - Does it thrill you to sing the way it does me? 

So now do you understand why I can't do a blessed thing besides all the things I listed? (why I'm writing this blog post would be a suitable  question for the time being! :)  Actually I've been writing this post slowly and started about a week before today!

  Though I am very busy, and often so far, during the long haul of memorizing and studying, I have gotten discouraged as I see all the work I have to do. Still I can feel the Lord sustaining me from day to day and I know I would be nowhere with out His power sustaining me! He has kept me singing even when I feel overwhelmed! ~ To Him be the Glory!


Before I leave you, we must have some music!
  I don't know about the current list of  favorite Violinists and Cellists out there (is there even one?) but by far, my favorites above all others are, Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma!  My Uncle and the Latter went to school together, so I've known about him for a good long time. (No, I've never so much as attended one of his concerts, though I'd love to someday!) Perlman, I first was introduced to a little under six months ago (before then I didn't have a favorite Violinist!) when I was looking up the theme to Schindler's List (I'd never heard of that before either!) and instantly he took the place of "favored Violinist" in my hall of Favorites! :)
    So, all that to say, you can imagine my delight to find both my favorite musicians performing together one of my favorite pieces, Anton Dvorak's "Humoresque" !
  What could possibly be better?
        I love their faces while playing this piece, but don't forget to really listen to the music - it is so lovely, it made me cry when they got to the part where it changes key...you just have to hear it; there is nothing like listening to great musicians playing a beautiful composition. I think it gives us a little glimpse of what heaven will be like...it stirs my soul from the very bottom in a way that I cannot describe and makes me feel that all is not quite lost for this poor blighted world of  ours!

    So if you are ever carried away by music, be prepared to be so again!

May the Great Conductor of the most magnificent orchestra ever assembled, thrill your soul this fall as He leads you and all fellow musicians on to play the most beautiful piece of music ever composed!

 
   Until I Write Again...
      ~Christianna

I'm Glad I Didn't Get What I Wanted

Growing up, none of us took music lessons. First of all none of us were really all that interested, and secondly up where we lived in southern New Hampshire nobody asked prices that we could afford. Even when we moved down here, the expense of lessons compared to the interest level among us children was not worth it!
  I, however, had been sawing away(if I may use the term myself!) at the violin since I was twelve, attaining only mediocrity in that area but I prayed hard that the Lord would send me a violin teacher whose rates I could afford.  Violin was my focus. As for the piano I looked down upon it as an instrument too common for me to bother with, after all anybody could learn to play the piano, but I had a musical ear, I could learn with precision any any instrument I chose; in my mind, piano was for those who couldn't learn to play any thing else! Besides, it didn't touch my heart strings the way the violin, viola and cello did; the bowed stringed instruments were, to me, the only option. Recorder I had learned, certainly, but  I never enjoyed playing the woodwinds much either.
 Then, about two and a half years ago, when I was a little over fifteen. We received a phone call from the mother of a young lady who was very talented on the...Piano... she wanted to start teaching and was wondering if she could practice on us for a very reduced rate. An opportunity? Yes, but not the one I had been praying for! Outwardly it was, "Yes, this is so exciting, I can't wait!"  inside, Thanks Lord, but I really didn't want  the piano, grumble, grumble, would it have been any harder to make it the violin? Now I'll have to be like all those other wanna-be musicians who can only claim the piano as their right to being a musician!  Honestly, I was that ungrateful! I wouldn't even admit it to myself but that was what really went through my hear when I received this first gift from God. It turned out that not only was this young lady a really talented player, she was extremely gifted in her teaching and Elliot and I (who were the ones taking the lessons)  learned fast! Still I was not content inside myself, until...I started meeting other musicians, talented ones, people to whom I looked up to and respected, people who had won competitions, played in orchestras and ensembles, all through their skill on that one low instrument called the "Piano" !  As the weeks passed and the lessons got increasingly more difficult, I began to see that it was not such a "no-good" instrument after all! I began to get frustrated with my progress, I had gone into it with the smug idea that it was an instrument for dummies...surely I could learn it too! 
                   
                       Before I go any further, I want to assure all you who have made playing the piano your main musical focus, that I no longer think any such thing! :)

Then, after the course of a year the rates went up and we had only until the end of the season for lessons as we could no longer afford the new price. Suddenly, I knew how much I loved piano lessons. I realized I had actually become attached to the instrument and wanted to excel at it; even more, I suddenly ceased caring so much whether I never got to learn another instrument. If I could only learn to play one instrument well, even the despised piano, I could hold up my face without shame among the ranks of those who are privileged to call themselves musicians!
  It was then that I realized the key:
                Any lessons were a blessing! Anyone who would teach me to play any thing at a price we could afford was a Godsend!
 Shortly afterwards I "found out" that a good friend of mine was teaching piano lessons at a rate I could afford and took lessons from her for a year. And so I progressed, thanking God for each moment He had given me to excel at the instrument He had chosen for me; it hadn't been my idea, but He knew better as I began to discover!
 I will list below a few benefits of playing the piano:

 1. Almost everybody has a piano in his house; you can use your skill where ever you go!

 2. No other instrument can really play more than one part except the harp and even that is not quite the same - thus, people want to sing, you can now be an accompanist and help keep every one on the right note!

 3. Almost everyone who likes music likes the sound of the piano. I've never met anyone who doesn't; whereas I have met those who don't care for the violin and another who didn't like the brass instruments- I, personally don't care for percussion by itself!

 4. You can accompany yourself! I've tried singing with my fiddle, it really doesn't work, and as for singing with your woodwind or brass instrument - you won't have much success ;) But you can play the piano and sing at the same time with no problem; I even watched a lady carry on a conversation with a friend while playing a very lovely hymn!

Also, a personal benefit I discovered very early on, is the fact that my Grandparents owned a seven foot Steinway Grand, (now officially my property!) and when they used to live next door to us they really enjoyed it when I would come over and play for them; they didn't mind my mistakes and being rather lonely, both enjoyed my visit and having the quiet dispelled for a bit! I could use my piano skills, poor though they were at the time, to bless my grand parents!
   At the beginning of this year, the Lord brought all my prayers to fruition by granting me an excellent pair of violin teachers whose price I could afford after years of saving every penny I got! They are a wonderful husband and wife team who have taught together for years and I have been blessed by seeing my skill on my still favorite, though not only, instrument increase dramatically! I could only afford a half hour lesson, but they enjoy teaching and, just "because", they have started giving me forty-five minute lessons for the price of a half-hour!
 I have recently been getting piano lessons for practically free along with most of my brothers for a long time piano teacher, who also happens to be our choir master, in exchange for Elliot and I doing a few chores for him! Another gift from my Lord!

 Through all of this the Lord has blessed us incredibly through these generous people and I cannot cease to marvel at His goodness!  Recently, in my study of the book of Jonah, I have been reminded that often God shows his love for us by not giving us what we want, and  His disfavor by giving one everything he asks for!  Now as I look back, and see all the lessons of patience, forbearance and love for others that He has taught me through having to wait! I wouldn't trade it for all the gold in the Spanish mines!

          How about you all, have you ever had to wait for something, or prayed for one thing and gotten something else?  I would love to hear how the Lord has worked through that!

 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.  Hebrews 12:6

The Home of The Brave

Independence day, what a time in our nations history! A day when many men signed their names at the bottom of a document to king George the third. A document that began
   "We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."  
 How far indeed have we fallen from such a belief as a nation!
       At first when I was trying to decide what I would post about for today, I immediately decided against the national anthem. Why? Because everyone and his Uncle will be throwing up dozens of arrangements of it on youtube and writing a thousand posts about it too! So I said to myself, 'how about something a little more obscure and yet still a beautiful song to commemorate that celebratory day that marked the beginning of our country as we know it today!'
   What did I settle on?  "My Country 'tis of Thee"

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim's pride!
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love.
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture fills
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song.
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our father's God to, Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!

This is one of my favorite patriotic songs, the tune was originally that of England's "God save the King" (or Queen, depending on who was reigning at the time!) The lyrics are also lovely, they were written by Samuel Francis Smith. while a student at Andover Theological Seminary in Andover Massechusets in 1831, his friend Lowell Mason asked him to translate the lyrics in some German school songbooks or to write new lyrics. A melody in Muzio Clementi's Symphony No. 3 caught his attention and rather than translating the lyrics from German, Smith wrote his own American patriotic hymn to the melody, completing the lyrics in thirty minutes. I'd say that's pretty good; I don't know many people who could write something as good as the above in thirty minutes! Notice all the rhyming in each verse; the three lines which have the same rhyming word at the end, when I write poetry, I struggle to find even two words that rhyme and fit the context of the poem, but Smith did three! And it all makes perfect sense too! 

 Below I will share a video just in case you haven't heard it, though I'm sure you have, nearly everybody has, but listen to it anyway!

This isn't the only song I wanted to share with you all, however, does any one know which song came pretty near becoming the national anthem and probably would have been had Francis Scott Key not penned "The Star Spangled Banner" ?  If you do than good! Because I actually had no idea, in fact I never even heard of the song until very recently. "What is the song?" you ask eagerly(or perhaps anxiously!) 

 "Hail Columbia!"

Columbia was a poetic name for America and is still played for what you might call the "Triumphal Entry" for the vice President. And also used for slow military marches, I really like the words and the tune is extremely stirring and noble. I must rush this post if I am to get it posted today so, here are the lyrics and the tune.

                                       

Firm, united let us be,
               Rallying round our liberty,
                                 As a band of brothers joined,
                                                         Peace and safety we shall find!

 Have a joyful independence day as you celebrate our nation's birth!

I Could Have Danced All Night....

....Well, maybe not all night!
        But I think I could have gone on a lot longer if given the opportunity.
Last Saturday(June 21) I got to really dance for the first time in my life! It was one of the most exciting events I have ever attended, I think! We did mostly Country dancing; Quadrilles, Circle dances and reels! My favorite was probably the "Indian Queen"; an English country dance, or another one we did of which I don't remember the name, oh well!
  Jedidiah took a few videos and I must commend his skill with a simple point and shoot camera.
I'll share the two that came out the best!
 The first one is a modification of the Virginia Reel, I don't remember what that one is called. The second one is the "Circassian Circle" That one was a lot of fun as well!

 For better or for worse, I am the one in the black and white skirt and the blue blouse! I look at these videos and think I look goofy, but perhaps that is just my perception of things!
  Elliot didn't want to dance, Gabrielle and Arianne couldn't make it and Jedidiah on down were too young, Timothy, Mommy and Daddy and I, however had a blast! My Brother Timothy is the tall one in the pale yellow shirt, most of the camera time, I think was spent on him during this dance and my parents are in the group to the left; a lot of the camera time was spent on them too!
  The Circassian Circle is the one below. I was silly enough to wear  NEW heels and actually did stumble and slipped twice in the first dance, that was embarrassing! But by the time we got to this one I had learned to 'slide' with them but still it was hard moving fast, I felt like I was being dragged forward and back when we all went in together and I was in constant fear lest I should fall in the middle of it, and mess everyone up! Next time I shall scuff up the shoes until they don't slide at all, or wear a different pair! But, anyway, I was so thankful the Lord gave me this opportunity!

  

I can hardly wait until we do it again!

Sweet Land Of Liberty

I always considered the months of June and July to be the "Patriotic" months of the year. Memorial day is on the last Monday in May and I almost count it as part of  the two months. Then with D-day on June sixth, Flag day on the fourteenth and, of course, Independence day on the Fourth of July, it fills the months; well, almost!  Any way, why am I writing this now and not on the eve of one of those holidays I just mentioned? Simply for the reason that I want to! Besides I already missed most of them and have something else in mind for Independence day.
   There was a time when there was no America and but for the courage of a few men who saw beyond the years we may have been still to this day colony of Great Britain. And but for the Christian faith of many of these men our revolution may have turned out as horrific and disastrous as that of the French or worse! Truly, we in America have much to be thankful for and so many of us, myself included, take it all for granted.  Yet imagine the scene of a field after a battle, imagine the bodies strewn over the grass the blood, the cries of those who are not quite dead, but, will be soon. There is nothing more you can do for them. Most of them in the bloom of youth; perhaps there is a sweetheart at home or perhaps a widowed mother or a young sister or brothers. Perhaps he is the only son of his father, the pride of the family, lying here almost dead, his life cut short; and yet not wasted. Imagine if you were the young man out there breathing his last. Or maybe you are the family member waiting in vain for Johnny to come marching home!
  What ever the case, war is ugly and freedom comes at a cost, always!
     Today I want to share with you a ballad; a ballad of Washington and of one man who lost all in the cause of the Revolutionary war: The Blacksmith of Brandywine.  I love singing this song when I'm out walking and want to sing some thing rousing. I like to sing it with my brothers, I sing the verses and they all join in on the chorus! It is a fun, lively song, written in the nineteen sixties. Yes, a relatively modern song but keep in mind, I am not against all modern songs. I am simply against most of them! It doesn't matter when it's written if it is good
    And this one is certainly good! Though I certainly wouldn't sing it in church or in praise to God!
So Here are the Lyrics:

 As we went down to Brandywine
There was a sight to see
A giant of a man with a hammer in his hand
Beneath the old oak tree
And scattered all around there
In fatal disarray
A score of men who would never fight again
Nor travel on the King’s Highway.

We dug his grave, covered him o’er
And sadly wept a tear
And passed the day a ridin’ on our way
Till we met with a musketeer.
He told us of the story of
A brave and angry man
Who undertook the British enemy
With a hammer in his hand.

Chorus
Make it one for Washington and all his gallent men
And one for the girl that once was mine
Make it one for the darling boy I’ll never see again
And don’t forget the blacksmith of Brandywine!

There lived a man in Chester town
Away from the cannon’s roar
Of manner mild, his a woman and child
No man could ever love more
One day he heard a Tory plot
To waylay Washington
He left his home and family alone
And to the General he did run.

His errand done he journed home
But sorrow there he found,
By British gun his wife and son
Lay still on the cold hard ground
Well the Blacksmith took his heavy sledge
And gave a practice swing.
They say down the line at Brandywine
You could hear his hammer sing:

Chorus

And here is a video so you can hear what it sounds like:

Now after all this, the question may come up; what is a Ballad?  I was hoping you would ask! A Ballad is a story in verse.  They used to be sung in castles and great halls in order to remember things that happened in history; many would speak of a brave warrior or king who distinguished himself by unusual acts of bravery. Many were about battles fought and many were quite long. The word is derived from the French "ballare" to dance and was used in reference to dancing songs, "ballares".  This is probably a little much to remember, so just keep in mind that a ballad is simply a story, turned into a song!
      Maybe sometime you'll write a ballad about some thing that happened to you or someone you know!
                      But enjoy this lively song!
Until next time.......
                                                        

No Angel Visitant

I have not posted in some time, and now feel the need to show my few faithful followers that I have not quite abandoned my blog! I want to share with you today a song that I learned through choir and I have taken as my own. A melodious, contemplative hymn: "Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart."   Every single one of these verses is wonderful and such a common appeal from the heart, I can relate to each verse personally. The song was written in the early eighteen hundreds by George Croly; a Pastor and author. It is the only one of his hymns that has survived! The tune writer, Fredrick Atkinson, also wrote the tune to "Abide With Me", and it is interesting to hear the similarities between the two tunes, notice how the notes go down in the first line where he asks the the Spirit to Descend upon his heart and the rising crescendo in the end as he begs; 'stoop to my weakness, Mighty As Thou Art!'   The tune, in fact fits wonderfully with the soft pleading tone of the hymn. 
  I love the second verse where he states, "I ask no dream, no prophet Ecstasies; no sudden rending of the  veil of clay. No angel visitant, no opening skies; but take the dimness of my soul away!"  Here Croly renounces a very common wish of men, we want to be visited by angels, given visions in the night and we say, "Lord, if only I could see you or have a vision of heaven, I would be content and know that you are God." And yet did not Christ Himself tell the pharisees that even if someone were to rise from the dead they would not believe and does not He call us whom He has led to believe to walk by faith not by sight? Are they not blessed who do not see and yet believe?"  The Author, recognizes this and is like Solomon asking for wisdom instead of riches; "I ask none of these great wonders and signs!" he proclaims humbly, "I ask only that you take away that veil over my heart that blinds me to the horror of sin and the the existence of Almighty God; I want to feel your presence fully though I see no great visions and dreams!"   What a wonderful prayer for all of us! Let us all follow God first; He sends the little miracles and gifts as we go along, when we are not expecting them; when we really need them. It is not our place to ask for it. Though in a few cases, as of  Gideon and some others, he granted it any way. We cannot expect the same!  I have realized how much the Lord loves to send us little surprises and blessings when we're not expecting them!
  But I fear I have run on over long!
    Because the video I like best doesn't have all the verses, I will put them down here first and then post the video, make sure you read ALL of them before you watch the video! And tell me how you liked the tune; I love getting comments, post as many as you like! :)

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art;
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.
I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling:
O let me seek Thee, and O let me find!

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear.
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh,
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,

One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heaven descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.

Spring, Spring, Spring

  I love spring.

        After the bleakness of winter, it is so wonderful to watch the grey and brown break out with pale pink, purple, yellow, green and white. I love hearing the birds begin to sing and to see the rabbits nibbling the tender new shoots. What a wonderful creator  we have! Truly, I look at all this and wonder how it is that men can think we came about by chance, a mere random accident.  All creation shouts with a loud voice, all we have to do is stop, keep silent and listen.

  Can order be born from confusion?

 can beauty be caused by a chance?

can God be a childish delusion?

or life be a meaningless dance?

Does purpose result from disaster?

or laughter be born of woe?

Can a piece of the smashed dish run faster

Than the great deer herd's heaviest doe?

Behold how the small sparrow travels,

with no one to point the way.

Truly God's glory this earth tells.

Mistakes cannot rule the day.

So in light of this wonderful season I want to share a song from one of my favorite musicals, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers",  on the wonderful occurrences in this wonderful season! 

                                        

                                       

                                               May The Almighty reveal Himself to you through His creation!

The Prince of Glory Died

Good Friday, indeed! The world had never seen another like it nor would it ever see one again. What parody, what lunacy is this? That the perfect one should become sin, that Almighty God should be killed by His creation? Indeed, what God would deign to die for His little clay figurines after they had purposely disobeyed His law times without number?  What kind of God would allow worms to nail Him to a wooden tree with never a word of protest? What kind of God would forgive the scum that yelled profanities and curses at Him no matter that His agony was already great? What kind of God would be willing to become so vile in His Father's sight that He must turn His face away from Him? "Well, might the sun in darkness hide, and shut its glories in, when Christ, The mighty maker died for man, the creature's sin!"
 No God of our invention, certainly!  Our God turns things on their heads, He does the unexpected and His acts are incomprehensible to us "mere mortals"!    When we think of a God, we turn our thoughts to the physical qualities; Can He rule the entire world? Can he do anything He likes? Can He read our thoughts? 
 We forget that "He who ruleth his Spirit is greater than the mighty and he who controls his anger is greater than he who captures a city!"  We forget that "Love never fails" and "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lays his life down for his friends!"   Indeed, God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and has ALL power and dominion and authority before all time, now and forever. But I want, right now, for us to think about how much greater those "non physical" qualities are! How many of us can hear someone snicker about our faith and not start feeling a "holier than thou" attitude rise up in our hearts? How many of us can have some one spit in our face and not feel an incredible urge to punch him in the face?  How many of us can listen to our words, twisted to make us sound bad and not speak a word in our own defense knowing that it will do no good? How many of us can say truly and with a pure heart, "I love you!" to one who has done everything in his power to show us that he hates us and you know he will probably slap you in the face if you do say it? 
 We underestimate the greatness of the Love Christ had for us! We do not fully understand the power it takes to do what he did! We talk about Him being silent before His accusers, without a thought. If you have ever gotten into a fight with a sibling and then brought before a parent and asked each to explain what happened, you may now how hard it can be to keep from interrupting the other while he twists the story to his own advantage and your detriment, now perhaps you will do the same come your turn but at least you know that you will have a chance to say something and know that justice will be administered. Imagine if you weren't before justice and you knew you would not be believed though you spoke the truth! Indeed, when with a word he could have summoned ten legions of angels, which, by the way, is a temptation none of us could have resisted, yet His love was so great, He chose to deny His own nature and bear on His back the weight of numberless transgressions for His own ungrateful rebellious creatures!
        What wondrous love is this?
  Nothing from this planet!

  I have a song I want to share with you all to day in light of this momentous day! "Alas, and did my Saviour bleed?"  
  I think we all know the traditional tune but I wanted to share this beautiful arrangement with you today. I usually don't like people tampering around with the traditional hymn tunes, but I think this tune accurately conveys the message of Watt's hymn in a truly majestic arrangement. Note the rich, contrasting harmonies and the crisp pronunciation of the words. Truly a masterpiece!

 Also, the first verse has been changed. I couldn't find a version without it but I will share the original lines below. I guess people don't like calling themselves worms, but I think we really are as worms in God's sight! To use "worm", highlights the contrast and shows how mighty was the gulf that God did span at Calvary!
 

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine—
And bathed in its own blood—
While the firm mark of wrath divine,
His Soul in anguish stood.

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give my self away
’Tis all that I can do.

Indeed, 'tis all that I can do! May you give yourself away to Him fully, this day as we remember that great sacrifice!

With Palms Before Thee Went

I completely forgot about Palm Sunday until today; not  that I forgot it was happening but it never occurred to me that it would be nice to post about it!
 At first I thought, "All Glory Laud and Honor", of course, I should have no problem finding a video, right? Wrong! I spent half my afternoon searching for a simple arrangement with only the three verses and nothing else. Couldn't find a thing; either the verses were all mixed up or the choristers waving their palm branches, and the priests swinging their censors and waving their crosses, were simply too distracting, or it was a medley with another song, or the words were unintelligible, or, as was most common, all of those at once!
 Finally I gave it up! I have an excellent recording of it on a CD which is next on my list of songs to post on youtube, but I haven't done it yet, being that I still have to create a slide for it and write out all the words. So I will instead share with you my previous youtube project which is also a "Palm Sunday song". 

  "Come Ye Faithful, Raise The Strain"

After I reviewed this one, I decided that I like it better right now, (granted, listening to the same song over several times will make any other song seem attractive!)
   The song, is a call to believers to come and sing of Christ and His great works. In the first verse the writer, John of Damascus(696-754), speaks of God's works in Israel when He led them from Egypt.
 He goes on to describe how our sins flew from the light of Christ's resurrection on that Easter morning. In verse three, he relates Jesus' coming to Jerusalem, and, in verse four, His triumph and power over death!
   

Come, ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought forth Israel into joy from sadness;
Loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters,
Led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.

’Tis the spring of souls today; Christ has burst His prison,
And from three days’ sleep in death as a sun hath risen;
All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying
From His light, to Whom we give laud and praise undying.

Now the queen of seasons, bright with the day of splendor,
With the royal feast of feasts, comes its joy to render;
Comes to glad Jerusalem, who with true affection
Welcomes in unwearied strains Jesus’ resurrection.

Neither might the gates of death, nor the tomb’s dark portal,
Nor the watchers, nor the seal hold Thee as a mortal;
But today amidst the twelve Thou didst stand, bestowing
That Thy peace which evermore passeth human knowing.

The tune in the video above was the oldest tune Ave Vir­go Vir­gin­um, written in the fifteen hundreds by Johann Roh, but when Arthur S. Sullivan wrote "St. Kevin" in the eighteen hundreds, this tune became the most popular and is the one you'll find first if you search youtube! This tune is lovely as well, but I prefer the former, perhaps because that is the one I grew up with! but if you would like to hear "St. Kevin", here is a link to it, http://youtu.be/U_UvwsR84v0  .

  Once more, I beg your pardon for my tardiness and wish you a wonderful Resurrection day!  What a glorious Lord we have, "Lowly and humble, seated on a donkey, even the foal of a beast of burden!"

                                           Fear Not Oh Daughter Of Zion!  

Your King Is Coming!

Nothing In My Hand I Bring

To this man we must ever be indebted for one hymn that has stood the test of time and come through as one of the most popular hymns ever written; "Rock of Ages" by Augustus Toplady.
  It is, indeed, a rich theological hymn and full of praise to the Almighty; however, be that as it may, the hymn was born not out of a personal need or experience, though indeed, Toplady was inspired to write it when he found himself caught in a storm and found shelter underneath a large, overhanging rock by the side of the road, but the hymn itself is an aimed spear shaft at the fundemental teachings of Arminianism of which John Wesley was a leader. The two men had been friends in their youth when Toplady was a young christian and still held to the Methodist teachings but this changed drastically when he became convinced of the doctrines of Predestination, Election and other similar teachings that make up reformed teaching. The disagreements became so sharp that Wesley and Toplady became bitter enemies and were continually sparring with eatchother for the rest of their coexistence. There was fault on both sides and black marks on both of these men's  records but I have not introduced this man to speak of those things. 
  But you can see the frequent jabs at Arminianism in the verses; notice where he says, "Be of sin the double cure, save me from its guilt and power."  which is a direct stab at the Methodist doctrine which states that there are two processes in the saving of a man; first he is saved from his sin nature by the blood of Christ when he repents and asks him into his heart; and then he is cleansed wholly from inward sin by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We know this teaching is erroneous for it not only teaches that the blood of Christ is inadequate to save us wholly, but it also teaches that full Sanctification can be achieved before death! But, any way, Toplady turned this to his own use and asked Christ to be his complete "Double Cure" as opposed to needing the Holy Spirit to help things along. Some say that Toplady actually wrote "Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure."  But after doing a bit of research on the subject I have become convinced that his original verse consisted of the former version. Also notice the lines "Could my zeal no languor know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone thou must save and thou alone!" Which is yet another stab at the idea that we could do something to save ourselves and consequently could lose our salvation. Which, I must say, is a horrible thought. Because if I had anything to do with my own salvation; I would most assuredly be damned. I am such a fallen creature that, as John Macarthur so aptly stated, "If I could lose it (salvation) I would lose it!"  it is also fearfully presumptuous to say that it is possible for us to get ourselves to heaven! I am so glad that God hasn't left any part of our salvation up to us!  
  But I fear I have just succeeded in boring my readers to the point of scrolling hastily through the rest of the page and  leaving the half of it unread and unwanted. So, here are the four verses of the hymn, as far as I can figure, in their original state and want to leave you with one note: the last verse has often, in more recent years, been changed to read "When I soar to worlds unknown, and behold Thee on Thy throne!"  Instead of "When I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on Thy judgement throne!"  
 I believe this was done to escape thinking about God's judgement or merely because in this day people can't stand the thought of God judging any one; this change vexes me sorely and I must admit I rather fear that this may eventually become the accepted version. So please, sing it the right way and teach it to your children that it may not be lost! We don't want to lose the balance of grace or truth!
          

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save me from its guilt and pow'r.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no languor  know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eye-strings break in death

 When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

May God be our Rock and may we find in Him our hiding place!

O Perfect Love

I had not intended to write a post on for valentine's day; but as everyone else is writing about it, I wondered, why not?  So here I am, whether I like it or not!
   When I think of the time of year, when men endeavor to show their affection towards their wives or sweethearts, I also remember how perfect is God's love towards us. He does not forget, nor need a special day set apart to remind Him of his love towards us; indeed Christ is the perfect lover, the dreamed of hero! His love alone is perfect when all else falls short and disappoints.
  So today I would share with you one of my favorite songs relating to this subject, "O Perfect Love"!

O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
Lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne,
That theirs may be the love which knows no ending,
Whom Thou forevermore dost join in one.

O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance,
Of tender charity and steadfast faith,
Of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance,
With childlike trust that fears nor pain nor death.

Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;
Grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
And to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow
That dawns upon eternal love and life.

Hear us, O Father, gracious and forgiving,
Through Jesus Christ, Thy coeternal Word,
Who, with the Holy Ghost, by all things living
Now and to endless ages art adored.

I actually didn't know the fourth verse existed until I looked up this song. But it is extremely good as are the others! For lack of time to state the history of this hymn in my own words, I will copy an excerpt written by the author herself (Dorothy F. Gurney) on the writing of the Lyrics.
     " It was Sunday ev­en­ing [at Pull Wyke, Win­der­mere, Eng­land] and we were en­joy­ing a time of hymn sing­ing. A song that was par­ti­cu­lar­ly en­joyed by all of us was O Strength and Stay, the tune to which was a fav­o­rite of my sis­ter. As we fin­ished sing­ing this hymn, some­one re­marked, ‘What a pi­ty the words of this beau­ti­ful song should be un­suit­a­ble for a wed­ding!’ My sis­ter turned to me and chal­lenged, ‘What is the use of a sis­ter who com­pos­es po­et­ry if she can­not write new words to a fa­vo­rite tune? I would like to use the tune at my wed­ding.’ I picked up a hymn­book and said, ‘If no one will dis­turb me, I will go into the lib­ra­ry and see what I can do.’ With­in 15 min­utes I was back with the group and read­ing the words I had jot­ted down. The writ­ing of the words was no ef­fort what­ev­er af­ter the in­i­tial idea came to me of the two­fold aspect of per­fect un­ion, love and life. I feel that God helped me write this song."
   The tune was written by Joseph Barnby for the wedding of Princess Louise of Wales.
Below is the best video I could find!

Happy Valentine's day! May God's love satisfy your heart's deepest longings, as only He can do.

A Miracle of Grace

John Newton was not "supposed" to be saved! In His teens he never did show any signs of a repentant heart.  He was even too bad to be accepted among the wickedest of those in society. If you had met him before he was saved, all you might have wanted to do was get away from him, you might have tried to witness to him, but he probably would have cursed you, swore, perhaps, and maybe even cursed God; after all he'd tried for a short time to be religious to gain the affection of his beloved Mary, but she had seen right through him and had refused him. Perhaps, though, even her memory may have kept him from doing anything any worse to you! However you probably wouldn't have prayed for him, you may have secretly hoped he'd go to hell and most likely try to forget the whole situation hoping you'd never see that horrible young man again.
  But then it happens that about twenty five years later or so, you step into a crowded church in the little town of Olney to hear a popular preacher(you didn't happen to catch his name) speak to the now crowded congregation. "What a sermon!" you marvel as he concludes his message, "what passion, what eloquence of the grace of God, what compassion he has for his flock. Surely he must have studied the Scriptures from His youth in order to be so knowledgeable about them. Perhaps he was saved at the age of six or seven for him to love God so!"
 You nudge a fellow congregant and ask him what the man's name is, "he ought to come and preach at my church at every church, he ought to..." your thoughts come to an abrupt halt as your fellow whispers his name, "JOHN NEWTON!" in disbelief you repeat your question and receive the same answer.
 With perfect amazement your gaze returns to the short, somewhat plump, figure in the pulpit; with the name a whole load of horrid memories come rushing into your head, and with disgust you rise to sing the closing hymn which your all too eager pew mate informs you was written by that very same blasphemer-turned-curate. All your brain is in a whirl, "how is it possible for him to be saved? Must be a hypocrite!" you reason with yourself; and you determine not to sing his song whatever others think, "Probably all pious and holy about how good he is and all!" you think scornfully.
 The organ begins to play, the people begin to sing and you receive yet another surprise.
      Amazing Grace How sweet the sound,
      That saved a wretch like me!
You have to concede this point, it would indeed be amazing grace that could save that God forsaken man - and then you realize in flash that that was what happened, and immediately it all becomes clear! It was indeed amazing grace, nothing else could have changed this person into what he is, and you attend more carefully to the rest of the verse: I once was lost, but now am found,
                                                 Twas blind but now I see.
You nod your head without thinking, that is exactly what he was and now is, he was blind and lost when you saw him, but now he is found and seeing too!
         You cannot resist any longer, but with gusto plunge into the rest of the song, realizing that the best change that could have happened to a man just did!
   
.......Well alright, perhaps you wouldn't have thought through things quite that way, but that is how I imagine it. We all know 'Amazing Grace' , we all think of Newton as this amazing man, devoutly Christian and yet how many of us have really comprehended what this meant to Newton and all those who knew him at his worst? Oh, of course we know he was bad and all that, "but he was saved,Amazing Grace, right? So let's forget about it!" No, really, let's think about it. Do you know any nasty young men? Or women? not just unbelievers, but that really, bad, scary kind that just will make you run a mad hide and seek game through the grocery store to keep from being seen by him if you happened to see him first?  Not necessarily because he is going to do anything to you, but you just know how he's going to snigger at "the God freak" and start talking about how religion is so stupid and how your God is such a nasty person he wants to give him a whipping and all such horrible things. Now just imagine this young man being a pastor, just imagine his face glowing with passion as he speaks of the mercies of God, just imagine his eyes overflowing with tender compassion as he ministers to his flock, just imagine...... that is Amazing Grace!

 I want to share with you the original six verses which Newton actually wrote; far better than the four we commonly sing now, especially the last which he didn't even write.
 His own are so much better!

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
 
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believ'd!
 
Thro' many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
 
The Lord has promis'd good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
 
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
 
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call'd me here below,
Will be forever mine.

May all you who read this, experience His Amazing Grace towards wretched sinners such as you and I and John Newton!