My two songs from iTunes this week are:
Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) by Looking Glass
Everything Is Beautiful by Ray Stevens
Test question: What is the familiar tune that is the intro to the Ray Stevens hit Everything Is Beautiful?
Oh, and here’s a photo of the band Looking Glass? Don’t they look like boys you’d like your daughter to bring home to meet mom and dad?
Brandy was their only real hit record.
In Genesis, He’s the breath of life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He’s our High Priest
Numbers, The fire by night
Deuteronomy, He’s Moses’ voice
In Joshua, He is salvation’s choice
Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He’s sovereign
Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He’s the rebuilder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He’s Mordecai’s courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, wisdom’s cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover’s dream
He is, He is, He is
In Isaiah, He’s the Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He’s the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever faithful
In Joel, He’s the spirit’s power
In Amos, the arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He’s the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He’s the great missionary
In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He’s pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zachariah, our fountain
In Malachi, He is the sun of righteousness rising with healing in His wings
He is, He is, He is
In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God, man, Messiah
In the Book of Acts, He is fire from heaven
In Romans, He’s the grace of God
In Corinthians, the power of love
In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin
Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servant’s heart
In Colossians, He’s the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon, He’s our mediator and our faithful pastor
In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
In James, the one who heals the sick
In First and Second Peter, He is our shepherd
In John and in Jude, He’s the lover coming for His bride
In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords
He is, He is, He is
The Prince of Peace
The Son of Man
The Lamb of God
The Great I Am
He’s the Alpha and Omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
And when time is no more
He is
He is
—by Aaron Benward and Jeoffrey Benward
Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel
Daniel by Elton John
I know Billy Joel is an atheist, and Elton John is a homos*xual. But I still like some of their songs.
I wasn’t raised Catholic, but I used to go to Mass with my friends, and I viewed the whole business as a lot of very enthralling hocus-pocus. There’s a guy hanging upon the wall in the church, nailed to a cross and dripping blood, and everybody’s blaming themselves for that man’s torment, but I said to myself, ‘Forget it. I had no hand in that evil. I have no original sin. There’s no blood of any sacred martyr in my hands. I pass on all of this’. . . I believe that all important matters have to be settled here, not in the clouds somewhere after we kick off. -Billy Joel
We sang this hymn in church this morning, and I liked it very much. The tune we used is apparently modern, but the words, as you can see, are very old. It fit in well with the reading I’ve been doing for American Literature: William Bradford, Jonathan Edwards, Anne Bradstreet. Also, the sermon from Malachi, chapter 2 referenced Jonathan Edwards and his godly seed and our responsibility to be teachers of truth.
What’er My God Ordains Is Right
text: Samuel Rodigast (1675)
music: David Braud
1. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Holy His will abideth
I will be still whate’er He does,
And follow where He guideth
He is my God, Though dark my road
He holds me that I shall not fall
Wherefore to Him I leave it all
2. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me
He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me
I take, content, what He hath sent
His hand can turn my griefs away
And patiently I wait His day
3. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all unshrinking
My God is true, each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart
And pain and sorrow shall depart
4. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Here shall my stand be taken
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken
My Father’s care is round me there
He holds me that I shall not fall
And so to Him I leave it all
My two new songs from iTunes for this week:
Aubrey and Diary by Bread
I have a new hobby, and it only costs $2.00 a week. (Yes, I know that $2.00 a week means $104.00 a year.) My new hobby is . . .
iTunes. I plan to buy exactly two songs per week and enjoy lots of nostalgic moments. So far, I’ve bought the following songs:
Simon and Garfunkle: Scarborough Fair
Simon and Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Eagles: Desperado
Roberta Flack: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
From Lord of the Rings: Into the West
Artist Unknown: Eres Tu
I just found the words to Eres Tu. Anyone else remember this ballad from the late 70’s, I would guess?
ERES TU
(Juan Carlos Calderon)
Como una promesa eres tu, eres tu,
Como una manana de verano.
Como una sonrisa eres tu, eres tu.
Asi, asi eres tu.
Como una esperanza eres tu, eres tu,
Como lluvia fresca en mis manos
Como fuerte brisa eres tu, eres tu
Asi, asi eres tu
Eres tu como el agua de mi fuente.
Eres tu el fuego de mi hogar.
Algo asi eres tu.
Algo asi como el fuego de mi hoguera,
Algo asi eres tu , en mi vida algo asi eres tu.
Como mi poema eres tu, eres tu,
Como una guitarra en la noche,
Como mi horizonte eres tu, eres tu.
Asi, asi eres tu.
Eres tu como el agua de mi fuente
Eres tu el fuego de mi hogar.
Algo asi eres tu.
Algo asi como el fuego de mi hoguera
Algo asi eres tu, en mi vida algo asi eres tu.
Algo asi eres tu,
Algo asi como el agua de mi fuente.
Al asi eres tu, como el fuego de mi hogar.
Yes, I do have an incurable nostalgic and romantic streak. And don’t insult my eclectic taste in music. I plan to have Computer Guru Son turn my cassette tape of Keith Green into computer files next and load that into the iTunes, too–right next to Simon and Garfunkel and Pachelbel’s Canon.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
by Helen Lemmel
(1863-1961)
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Chorus:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion?
For more than conquerors we are!
His Word shall not fail you; He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
In 1918, Helen Lemmel, a teacher of voice at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, wrote these words and the tune to go with them. She was inspired by these words in a tract called Focused: “So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness. ”
I desperately need to focus my attention and hope on Jesus Christ himself today instead of all the things that distress and distract me. Won’t you do the same?
R and I went to St. John the Divine Episcopal Church on Christmas Eve and heard some more good music. We also had communion, and they really do have wine in that big cup. Old Baptist me, I could feel the wine going down my little red lane for a full five minutes.
I’ve been reading my new Christmas book–Organizing Plain & Simple by Donna Smallin. I’m also reading Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman in preparation for my AP US History class next year. I’ll write a review of each when I finish.
I’m still reading Patrick–in between crises on the homefront. Believe me, with eight children, there are a lot of crises. The 14-year old just told me that she wants to teach herself to play the piano. She’s a disciplined and self-motivated young lady. The two year old, Z-baby, keeps trying to crawl all over me while I read and while I write. This makes reading and writing rather difficult. The four year old, Bee, just took a bath, and I’m hoping she got some clothes on before turning on the TV to watch ZOOM on PBS. They’re only allowed to watch PBS, and we try to keep it down to an hour or less a day. Some days I just don’t have the energy to set the limits, and then it gets out of hand. The next day we go back to an hour or less of TV. I really don’t want to raise TV addicts or sugar addicts, and with my children, there is a danger of both.
Humor for the day: Leonard Nimoy singing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. You’ve got to see it to believe it.