Hymns

Victory in Jesus

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But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

The hymn “Victory in Jesus” was requested near the end of our Friday nursing home service, and though I do love this song, it has been quite a while (maybe years!) since I sang it. I was amazed at how my friends at Life Care Center, just lit up and clapped all the way through. Then I looked up a little of the background of this song and discovered that in 1939 when Eugene Bartlett wrote this song, he had been recently paralyzed by a stroke and was confined to bed. Though he had written many other hymns, this one became his most popular and was later sung around the country by his son, Eugene Jr., as he carried on his dad’s ministry.

At the nursing home, I saw how the words and music really struck a chord of hope in the hearts of the residents. Our friends in long-term care, know better than any of us on the outside what it means to look ahead to our eternal victory in Jesus Christ. Rather than focusing on naming and claiming, we are reminded that, Jesus named and claimed us, by His redeeming blood. The Old Testament tells us, “The life is in the blood.”, and today true life and victory can be found nowhere else but in the blood of Jesus Christ. Through HIs blood He purchased our mansion in glory, where, in the words of the song, “some sweet day we’ll sing up there that song of victory!”

Joy! Joy! Joy!

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Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! Psalm 47:1 ESV

Not that I always am well prepared, but I do prefer to have some semblance of a message and a list of hymns to get us started each week at Life Care Center. But, even on the weeks when I have everything carefully mapped out, I have found that the residents love having the chance to pick a song themselves. This week’s suggestion from one of our seasoned saints was so great and we had such a blast singing it together, that I wanted to share it. It just goes to show, that getting older, doesn’t require us to lose our joy or our sense of fun. I do hope you will not only get a smile from our impromptu session, but that you will sing along and experience the joy that only Jesus can give.

God Leads His Dear Children

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A few nights ago, as my wife and I went for a walk by our pond we were surprised to see a small alligator. Now, since we live in Florida this was not unheard of, but there had not been any alligators in our pond for a few years. A few minutes later as we made the turn around the end of the pond, we came upon a mother duck who must have also spotted that alligator, hurriedly leading her eight little ducklings to another pond. She had wisely decided that though the alligator was small, our pond was no longer a safe place for her babies!

As we watched her leading her ducklings with their tiny feet hurrying to keep up, I was reminded of the precious hymn, “God Leads His Dear Children Along.” The lyrics tell us that just like that mother duck, our Good Shepherd is watching out for us and leading us to safe green pastures. Sometimes the way is through the flood, sometimes through the fire, but no matter where He leads, He makes the way through the blood of Jesus. Our Good Shepherd knows the path ahead and no matter how steep the way, we need to remind ourselves that He always knows what is best for us!