A Fair View of History

HERE I AM, I’VE COME TO FIND YOU HERE I AM, TO SEE YOUR GRACE. The lines above are the first two in a song titled, You, You Are God . This was the first song in the worship service we attended this morning.  Today is December 16th. We are approaching the celebration of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to the world, to seek and to save the lost; and to show us the grace that only God can provide. As these words were sung, my reaction is, "really?" We are in a season when we remember that Christ said, "I have come to seek you out, to offer you salvation."  And we sing, Here I Am, I've come to find you? It just struck me as somewhat backward in light of His coming and His purpose in doing so. Now, the lyrics may be acceptable, but appropriate at this time of celebration? I think not. Now, the remainder of the song sends a positive and worshipful message. To bring to You an offering, I have to ask myself one thing How can I do anything but prais...

Recently, as Sandy and I were driving to Benton, she put in a CD of hymns. As we listened we began to sing along. After several songs had played, and we had sung the hymns, recalling almost all the words, I realized something remarkable. We had learned most of those hymns over 50 years ago. While we rarely hear them today in church, on the radio, or anywhere else, we still were able to sing the hymns, knowing most of the words. The words of those great old songs of the faith were, in most cases, birthed out of life's trials, tribulations, and sometimes the joys of the writers of those long loved and heart felt songs. In contrast, listening to the songs popular today, I can hear them on Sunday morning, and the next day cannot recall a word of the songs. Now, granted, part of that may be attributed to the fact that, as they are being sung, I cannot hear any of the words. And, the reason for that is two-fold. One, the words are drowned out by the excessive volume of the instrument...