A song from the late 60’s recently got some airtime on our local radio station, and listening to it immediately transported me back 40 years in time – to a school dance at Nimitz Junior High, Odessa, TX.
The tune and the words (Roberta Flack, “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”) brought back the memory of my first slow dance with Lane Etheredge, a raven haired beauty way too wonderful to be dancing with me. But she did. It was great. She may not remember, but I will never forget!
About the same time of that dance, my family was connecting to Lutheran Church of the Risen Lord – the “Touchdown Jesus Church” on Grandview Avenue, Odessa, TX.
The tune and the words of a Christian hymn sung often by that congregation of forgiven sinners (one new to our Methodist ears) has stuck with me to this day. It was written in 1719, by Isaac Watts.
A particular verse of that old hymn comes to my mind every time I hear of someone’s dying or death. Family, friend, complete stranger, it doesn’t matter who, but it does matter that I always remember these words:
Time like an ever flowing stream,
Soon bears us all away.
We fly forgotten, as the night
Comes on the end of day.
Some songs take us back in time. Others help us forward into eternity.
Both are gifts from a gracious God. Both are worth the listening, especially during the season of Christmas.
Home Hospice