January 17, 2017 (Tuesday)
A few days ago I turned on the radio and heard a song I had not heard in many years: “My Blue Heaven.” As I listened, I thought of my uncle, Lloyd Lowe, who spent time with me when I was a boy. I recalled a day when he was driving and I was his passenger and we were traveling on North Main Street in Houston, singing. Together we sang, “My Blue Heaven,” and talked about the popular singer that wrote it and made it famous. His name was Gene Austin. His style set the pace for all the crooners that followed. His 1927 recording of the song sold millions of records and held the record for record sales until Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.”
The song, “My Blue Heaven,” is about the ideal home. “Just Molly and me and baby makes three, we’re happy in my Blue Heaven..where there’s a cozy room with a fireplace and smiling face..” I guess that was his dream that never came true, because he was married five times.
We all dream beyond our experiences, and rightly so. When a person gives up and quits dreaming of better things, he begins losing interest in life.
The Apostle Paul, after years of faithful service to Christ, still dreamed of better things, greater opportunities of service and a closer relationship with his Savior. He wrote, “forgetting those things which are behind, I press forward toward the mark..” God’s will for us is that we keep on keeping on, blessing others and being blessed ourselves in the process. Remember Robert Browning’s words, “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?”
Click hear to listen to Gene Austin’s 1927 recording of “My Blue Heaven.”