Hymns and other religious songs can reinforce our faith and bring back special memories.
Recently our evening worship service began with handbell ringers playing the tune “Lord, I Want to Be a Christian in My Heart.” Every time I hear that tune I remember hearing it sung by children in Italy.
“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” brings memories of a huge crowd of people at a Jamaican airport singing the song as a farewell to a retiring missionary couple. The two were returning to the United States as my wife and I ended our wedding trip. And whenever I sing or hear “Blessed Assurance” I remember a church full of Baptists in Budapest singing it in Hungarian.
“O, Little Town of Bethlehem” means even more to retired pastor Raymond Cosby and his new wife, Lynn, than to most folks. Although he had already been to the Holy Land 40 times, another visit to Bethlehem proved special as the two widowed individuals became engaged there. And it was there he bought an engagement ring for her.
Brother Cosby was a pastor for 57 years, 30 of them in Kentucky. His first pastorate was Northside Baptist Church, Cullman, and his last pastorate was Northside Baptist Church, Attalla. He retired last July.
Brother Danny Freeman, pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Calhoun Association, said a favorite hymn of his is “Never Alone.”
“Down through the years whenever there have been troubles or when I have felt lonely, it always picks me up,” he said.
Ralph and Iris Norman are longtime members of Bethel Baptist Church in Fort Deposit. He has been a trustee for the Baptist Foundation of Alabama for 16 years.
The Normans used to run a general store, selling hardware, dry goods, building supplies, feed and groceries. The business was started in the early 1900s by his uncle and later run by his father.
Brother Norman (“Bunk” to his friends) ran the business from the 1960s until 1982, when he had a heart attack and decided to take early retirement.
One night in 1991, while he was serving as mayor, the Normans were out of town for a meeting and a storm came through the area. Lightning struck their home, and a devastating fire resulted. Someone woke Bro. Norman at the hotel in Auburn to relay the bad news.
Words from a hymn came to Bro. Norman’s mind: “I’ve seen it in the lightning, heard it in the thunder and felt it in the rain; My Lord is near me all the time.”
He said, “There was nothing I could do then, so I just turned over and tried to go back to sleep. I didn’t think I could, but I did.”
His wife was a few miles away spending the night at her sister’s home. After he called the next morning to tell her the news, the two returned to Fort Deposit. They found they had lost their home of 40 years and everything in it.
While their grown children wept over the loss, Mrs. Norman remained composed. “I never shed a tear,” she said. “It was just things. Of course, there were many things that we were sad to lose.”
Family members and friends helped replace many of the photographs that were lost in the fire. The Normans remained faithful to their Lord. As the song says, He is near them all the time.
Share with others: