How Great Thou Art

It will be four years in March since my grandpa died. He was the Song Director at our church for many, many years and the reason that by the time I was 10, I was the church pianist! I would play and he would sing. Now, sometimes this was difficult because Grandpa did not read music -- so, he just sang it like he felt it, not necessarily how the music was written. It was challenging because I truly had to follow him!

The night he died, my heart truly broke. I have lost other grandparents, but they were in pain or there was not much quality to their lives. It was a blessing for them to finally be whole again. Grandpa did have ailments -- lots, in fact. But he rarely complained and was always willing and ready to serve God. Music was his gift and so music is sometimes hard to listen to since he died.

In the "new age" of Baptist churches, the old, great hymns do not get sung very often. When they do, I have a very hard time getting through them. I have been doing better -- it has been almost four years! But, Sunday, the song leader began singing "How Great Thou Art". I was doing pretty good until Chris put his arm around me. He knew what I was thinking. And, the special thing is that he was thinking about Grandpa too. Grandpa belted out songs. He was not shy! I could totally hear him singing and I knew when Chris touched me that he could hear him too. So, I lost it. Then Chris whispered, "Those are good memories." And I knew he was right. I shouldn't be sad or embarrassed to cry when I hear a song that Grandpa used to sing. Instead, I started thinking about how when he sang this song, I had to watch his lips to see how long he would hold the word "art"!

He instilled in me a heritage that I am proud of. He was a strong Christian man who would tell anyone who asked about Christ, but he didn't treat those differently who didn't agree with him. He was an example to me like no other.

I think on Sunday he was looking down and singing along!