Is it Always in the Blood?

This song expresses something lodged in my heart and more so as I'm looking toward the end of my life. Friends and family are going to their rest right and left as I get older. Many I look forward to seeing again when Jesus comes. At the same time I worry that the dust and wear and tear of life has left some old wounds in my family that stubbornly refuse to heal. I have a son and brother who have gone on ahead to their rest. Both I'm sure I will see again. Both of them were close and I knew their hearts. We'll all do a little happy dance when we find ourselves together again looking up to see Him coming in the clouds.

Like the song talks about, the difficulties we run into in life can distance us from those we love. With family, you hope these things can "wash out in the water." At the same time you fear that what will wash out is the bond of blood that once held you close together. 

Things sadly can happen, hurts deliberate or inadvertent push us apart. We don't talk for years. We stop getting together at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Sometimes that's because of distance. Sometimes it's ruffled feathers or old offenses. It might be politics. It might that someone can't stand your religion.

It's heartbreaking that people who loved each other once can find themselves standing off to avoid stirring up old hurts. Myself, I can't think of anyone I share blood with that I could not throw my arms around and be thrilled to see. I fear that it's not shared. Perhaps I'm such an awful person I can't be forgiven. If so, God forgive me. I've tried to be kind and fair and decent to everyone I come into contact with. I certainly hope that love and forgiveness is "In the Blood".

Someone once said that family is the place you can go for refuge and they can never turn you away. I hope that's true. It's certainly true for Sheila and I. Each day I pray that God leads us all home. I have big plans for family get-togethers in The Earth Made New. I plan to build a schooner and take everybody sailing. Then we'll have a big potluck and a jam session. We'll drag out guitars, banjos, harmonicas, flutes, drums, mandolins and a washtub bass and sing wonderful old songs we remember and new ones we've made up.

Forgive me guys if I've offended. I never meant any harm.

© 2022 by Tom King

Are You Tired of Chasing Pretty Rainbows?

This cherubic Swedish-American gospel singer, Evie Tornquist, introduced me to this lovely little song. I've played guitar for other singers for church services over the years and it was a favorite we sang for youth song services. This is another one that makes me all weepy. Here's "Give Them All to Jesus".

Tom

Molly Malone

This old folk song shows up a lot in the folk singer community, especially among Irish folk singers. But sometimes pop singers pull up an old folk tune and red-headed comedian Danny Kaye used to sing songs like Molly Malone in his movies and radio appearances. He had that lovely Irish tenor voice that set these songs perfectly.

I especially like poignant sweet melodies like this one. I think it probably inspired The Beatles song, Obla Di, Obla Da which also features a barrow wheeling daughter of fish-mongers. Danny Kaye movies are some of my favorites, but I love listening to him sing too. There's another Danny Kaye melody by his wife Sylvia Fine called Darlin Meggie.  I had to go to the Library of Congress to get that video. Enjoy these two beautiful songs.



Tom King

Just As I Am - Michael W. Smith

This lovely old song by Charlotte Elliott with music by William B. Bradbury was originally written in 1835 and published in 1836 in a hymnal she edited. Charlotte related later that she was troubled about her own salvation. She often comforted herself by writing verse. She took pen and paper from a nearby table and deliberately set down to write what she later called "the formulae of her faith." In this familiar altar call hymn, Charlotte restated the Gospel of pardon, peace, and heaven.

I remember this hymn fondly from the ministry of former Voice of Prophecy Quartet singer, John Thurber. Brother John taught his Adventist Youth in Action (AYA) teams and the kids who came to youth meetings how to sing this song. He always got amazing harmony out of us. This song in particular used to really reach me.

On May 1, 1971, Brother John baptized me in the swimming pool at Jefferson Academy - Just as I was.  Here's Michael W. Smith's rendition of this lovely hymn at the funeral of Billy Graham. This song was the altar call at the 1934 revival meeting at which Billy Graham came forward and was converted. The song became Graham's traditional altar call song throughout his career as an evangelist.

Tom

God and Dog

Our Daisy

This song makes me cry every time. I tried to sing it for church one time and it made me tear up. The woman who wrote it, Wendy Francisco is the wife of the Don Francisco who wrote "He's Alive".  She has in this brief song, captured what all of us, who have dogs as family members, feel about our canine family members.

She even turned this song into a children's book which also makes me cry. We lost our little gift from God dog, Daisy, last year which makes it worse when I listen to this song. She was everything this song talks about. Even the way we found her was something of a miracle. It was more like she found us. She was well behaved. Instantly house-broken, she had no bad habits to speak of and she came at a time when we needed her, even though we didn't know we did.

I firmly believe dogs also serve God like furry little angels and I pray that God returns my Daisy to us in the New Earth. I can hardly imagine heaven without her tagging alongside us everywhere we go.

I figure if God can resurrect something as complicated as a human being, our kind Father in Heaven won't mind giving us back the dogs that loved us and stuck by us through good times and bad. Someone once told me dogs couldn't be saved because they don't have souls. I don't think that's an issue. Daisy was knit to our souls in her short time here. I suspect that God will allow us to bring her along on our eternal journey. Why wouldn't He? 

Here's Wendy Francisco's version of her song, "God and Dog"

Love is a Verb

This unusual song by John Mayer flies in the face of the romantic poets. Love to Mayer is something you do, not something you can hold on to or something that just magically pop up in your heart. It's not a feeling that you can capture like you could scoop up a butterfly with a net.

CS Lewis captured this idea in his book Mere Christianity. “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”

About the only iteration of love as a "thang," that I think is accurate, is something the apostle John pointed out in one of his letters. "God," he said, "is love". All love springs from the author of love and is the wellspring of all love in the universe. There are some preachers and romantics who will argue with you that love is a "thang," but I think they miss the point. Love it seems springs from an act. It's not some magical thing that occurs when a pretty girl in a skimpy bathing suit walks by on the beach or a muscled up young man removes his shirt while repairing your porch. I think they're thinking of another "L" word besides love.

Tom King

On the Water - My New Theme Song

 I think this is my new theme song. "On the Water" by Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. I believe there's a reason that the first disciples Jesus called were a bunch of sailors. I love bluegrass music. Every musician gets a turn to shine. It's such an unselfish genre of music.