It's On My Mind

October 6, 2019 (Sunday)

“Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul” is one of my favorite hymns. It makes one feel good. It has a great message. It glorifies the Lord. It blessed the singer. It blesses those who hear it sung. It’s about that all important moment when we said, “Yes” to Jesus and He came into our hearts to stay.

When John Peterson was in a meeting where people were giving testimonies of their conversion experience, a man full of joy told of accepting Christ and the wonderful presence of Christ at that moment. He characterized that moment as the time when “Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.” Peterson, always on the lookout for ideas, and greatly blessed by the man’s testimony, wrote that down and later wrote this wonderful hymn based on someone’s happiness in coming to know Christ as Savior.

The song born that day in 1961 has blessed the hearts of people worldwide. John W. Peterson wrote more than one thousand songs and fifteen cantatas that have sold more than three million copies. But this song is one of the most beloved among Christians.

Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul
John W. Peterson

O what a wonderful, wonderful day-
Day I will never forget;
After I’d wandered in darkness away,
Jesus my Savior I met.
O what a tender, compassionate friend-
He met the need of my heart;
Shadows dispelling, With joy I am telling,
He made all the darkness depart!

CHORUS:
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul,
When at the cross the Savior made me whole;
My sins were washed away
And my night was turned to day-
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!

Born of the Spirit with life from above
Into God’s family divine,
Justified fully through Calvary’s love,
O what a standing is mine!
And the transaction so quickly was made
When as a sinner I came,
Took of the offer Of grace He did proffer-
He saved me, O praise His dear name!
CHORUS

Now I’ve a hope that will surely endure
After the passing of time;
I have a future in heaven for sure.
There in those mansions sublime.
And its because of that wonderful day
What at the cross I believed;
Riches eternal And blessings supernal
From His precious hand I received.
CHORUS

October 5, 2019 (Saturday)

Some say that Elisha A. Hoffman was reading about the crucifixion of Jesus in the Bible and began to think about how God saved men from their sins by allowing Jesus to die on the cross. He then wrote a poem expressing his feelings.The poem was called “Glory to His Name.” With the help of his friend, John H. Stockton, the poem became a beloved hymn of the church 138 years ago.

GLORY TO HIS NAME
(Down At The Cross)
Words: Eli­sha A. Hoff­man
Music: John H. Stock­ton
1878
Chorus:
Glory to His Name, glory to His Name:
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His Name!
Verses:
Down at the cross where my Savior died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His Name!
I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within;
There at the cross where He took me in;
Glory to His Name!
Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in;
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean;
Glory to His Name!
Come to this fountain so rich and sweet,
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior’s feet;
Plunge in today, and be made complete;
Glory to His Name!

October 4, 2019 (Friday)

I was in the fourth grade in Looscan Elementary, Houston, and my twin sisters, Elva and Melva, were in the First Grade. We lived two doors down from the school in a very small two-story house. My room was above the car port (no garage). We had a small house, but a huge front yard with a long driveway. We had virtually no back yard at all but a fence a few feet from our back door guarded thick woods behind us.

I wish I could remember what my sisters did after school, but I don’t. Sorry, ladies (who recently celebrated their 85th birthday together with many family members). I liked to fold notebook paper and make paper airplanes. With our huge yard and nice breezes, the planes flew well. I learned how to make them do loops by making them shorter, and I made them attain altitude and float gently for longer flights by making them longer. My father showed me how to make airplanes of paper like he did when he was a boy. His was longer and came to a sharp point in front, shaped like a rocket. There were no such actual planes like that at the time, but in a few years they would plow through the skies in great numbers. He was ahead of his time.

I did various things to fill up the day until our parents got home later and mother prepared supper. My favorite meal was fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy topped off with strawberry short cake made with real whipped cream.

The Way It Once Was

After supper we settled down in the little living room like the family shown above and listened to our great big Philco radio. My place was in front of the radio, my back against the speaker with crossed legs. Mother and Daddy were on the couch and the girls found places for themselves. We listened to Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope, Lux Hollywood Theater, etc. etc.

On Saturday evenings, Mother would send Daddy to the drug store to buy a
quart of hand-packed vanilla ice cream for us all, and he would always buy a Sunday paper loaded with comics, my favorite reading.

But every day was not like those I just described. There were some bad days mixed in with the good. The bad days won out, and when school was out that year, my parents divorced and my sisters and I went to live with our grandparents for the next three years, until our parents remarried their new spouses and we kids had the choice of two new homes.

There is a song entitled, “Precious Memories.” Among those were the Saturday nights with Ice Cream and Comics.

October 3, 2019 (Thursday)

Today would have been the 66th wedding anniversary for Wanda and me.

Here she was at Turner Falls, Oklahoma on our honeymoon in 1953.

And here I was, with suit and tie?

I don’t remember why I was wearing suit and tie (and Wanda was dressed up, too).

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This will be the 18th anniversary I’ve observed alone (and the 23rd without Debbie). Makes me think of that song, “Will the circle be unbroken, bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye.”

Oceober 2, 2019 (Wednesday)

Fall leaf colors actually exist all year long.

In spring and summer, the pigment chlorophyll gives leaves their green color. At the end of summer, the decreased daylight and cooler temperatures cause chlorophyll to break down and that exposes other pigments that cause the brilliant yellow, orange, red leaves of fall.

The fall colors were “there all the time,” and that reminds me of a song by Gary Paxton. In the song, Gary says he was searching for peace within, not knowing that the problem was sin in his life that Jesus could forgive. He discovered that Jesus was right there all the time, knocking at his heart’s door.

Do you know someone who is searching for peace of mind and a sense of belonging in life, yet has not yet found an answer to life’s riddle of meaning? Have you demonstrated in your own life that Christ makes a difference in a person’s life? Better still, have you said something to that person about the power of Jesus to change a person’s life and give him what he or she is looking for?

Maybe you are the person who is still searching everywhere and trying everything to be happy, but so far you have been unsuccessful in your search. May I humbly suggest that the answer you are seeking is Jesus, who wants to enter your life as a living presence to comfort and guide you. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame’ ” (Romans 10:9-10 NIV).

Please listen to Gary Paxton give his testimony in song:

He Was There All The Time
Gary S. Paxton

Time after time I went searching for peace in some void
I was trying to blame
All my ills on this world I was in
Surface relationships used me ’til I was done in
And all of the while someone was begging To free me from sin

He was there all the time
He was there all the time
Waiting patiently in line
He was there all the time

Never again Will I look for a fake rainbow’s end
Now that I have the answer My life is just starting to rhyme
Sharing each new day with Him Is a cup of fresh wine
And oh what I missed, He’s been waiting right there all the time

He was there all the time
He was there all the time
Waiting patiently in line
He was there all the time

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News for those who have not heard: Bethel Baptist Church, Ingleside, extended a unanimous call to a pastor last Sunday. After much prayer and consideration, he declined the call. I am still Interim Pastor of Bethel, and will continue to serve until the church has a new pastor. Please pray for the church, its pastor search committee and the person it is seeking, whoever he is.