Hey friends. I bet you think I misspelled a word in the subject line, but I didn’t. One of the ladies at my Church, Marie, is always very gracious to bless us with a song. She has had some pretty extensive dental work done lately and when I asked her to sing a certain song today, she replied she hoped she could do it and was afraid it might give her some trouble. Well, if that song gave her any trouble this morning, you would never know it. She just belted it out. There are two parts in the song that are really powerful and she sang with all kinds of power and glory this morning. She told me after Church, “it was God”. Well, whatever it was….it was AWESOME. Thank you so much for the blessing.
I want to share the words with you and I believe you will agree that we have found another independence day song! The title is “Scars and Stripes”:
Dawn is breaking the stormy night,
The battle is raging in ruthless plight,
Soldiers giving their life for a life,
Defenders of freedom and right.
Bravely they watch as the blazing skies
Give proof through the first gleam of morning bright,
For yonder, still waving, their symbol of right,
Old Glory, the Stars and the Stripes.
Old Glory still stands for a county free,
It’s beauty held high for the world to see,
To freedom, justice and liberty,
It’s the Stars and Stripes forever,.
From the halls of Pilot they loudly cried,
We find Him guilty, crucify, crucify.
They mock Him, crown Him, pierce His precious side,
Love carries what should have been mine.
The sun was darkened, Heaven cries,
The nails have been driven, the Savior has died.
Jesus has given His life for my life,
I am free by His Scars and His Stripes.
All Glory and Praise, I have been set free,
By the blood of the Lamb on Calvary.
There’s mercy, freedom and victory
In the Scars and the Stripes forever.
Oh, there’s mercy, freedom and victory
In the Scars and the Stripes forever.
I almost shouted when she finished singing. The words give me goose-bumps. What a great gift!!!
I got to Church a little earlier than usual this morning to practice the songs we would be singing. I am not a very talented organist anyway but I can usually do okay with My Country ‘Tis of Thee, America the Beautiful, and the Battle Hymn of Republic. But I also knew we would sing the Star Spangled Banner today. It’s hard to play and very hard for most people to reach the high notes in it. Our Pastor often says he needs a step ladder to reach some of the notes in our hymns. Arvin sang My County ‘Tis of Thee as a special and we sang the other 3 as congregational songs. I played the Old Rugged Cross for the offering…’cause without the cause I wouldn’t have any freedom.
Shortly after I got to Church and had run through the songs (with poor eyesight and fingers that were sticking to the keys, I knew it was going to be a bad day-music wise) Candi and Charlie came in. The last time Charlie was here I played Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano with him. I held his finger and he played the notes. This morning we played that once and he wanted to play Old McDonald. I told him I didn’t know how to play that but he said he did. So I told him to go for it. Of course, he can’t really play…but he played…if you get my drift. And he sang along as he was playing. Then he played the Wheels on the Bus and then I asked him to play Jesus Loves Me. I asked him if it was okay if I got my camera and he agreed so I was able to videotape this. Then I had nursery this morning and Daniel is a such a joy. He will be 2 in August and just beginning to talk. Well, he talks a lot; I just don’t understand all of it. We always sing Jesus Loves Me as our opening song for Sunday School and I started humming it. Daniel heard me and started singing it. So, then we sang it together and I videotaped it too. He doesn’t say very many words plainly, but you know he knows what he is singing. My batteries died just before we sang the last three words of the song. And of course, I missed it when he clapped his hands and said “Yaaay!”. I am working on teaching him two new words – glory, which he picked up right away and hallelujah. He tries to say that one too and then just looks at me and laughs.
Our message was great this morning. Our attendance was kinda slim, but some of our own people are out of town and we have a few visitors. Tonight we are having an ice-cream social, with all the toppings, after Church.
I hope all of you spent some part of today in the Lord’s house. God bless.
Brenda
boutlaw@carolinaregion.com
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