Farther Along

Farther Along we'll know all about it

Farther Along we'll understand why

Cheer-up my brother, live in the sunshine

We'll understand it all by and by

I don't know where I was the first time I heard those words, but I can take two pretty good guesses and probably be right. I was either in a Methodist Church in Somerville, Alabama on Center Springs Road, you know the one. You turn off Highway 67 at THE Caution Light, take all 14 feet of Main Street (Go past The Baptist Church) to THE 4-Way Stop, turn Right onto Center Springs Road and its on your left. Brick Building, sign out front where if you took the time and were careful enough you could scrape the paint off the bottom and get pastor's names all the way back to about 1913 because this sign does its job and why fix something that ain't broke? Inside you have 25 wooden pews (For the younger generation reading this or those of you who have never had the uncomfortable pleasure of sitting through a 14 hour revival meeting, these are benches with a "cushion" in them that come in a wide variety of colors as long as it is red and were comfortable for about .32 seconds of sitting on), choir loft, a pulpit, altar, and that board on the wall with the slide in numbers that tell you what Sunday School Attendance was last week (no one seems to ever notice that the number hasn't been changed since 1979). Now if you change the directions a little (mainly turning right out of my drive way and driving 4 miles instead of turning left out of my drive way and driving 5 miles), make the church building white, and add a sign out front with slide in letters you have the other location at which I could have heard this song for the first time.

I don't remember learning this song either. Being from the Rural North Alabama I sometimes feel like I have the first, second and last verses of 2/3 of the United Methodist Hymnal programmed into my DNA. I just know certain songs. If you were to ask me the title of many of these songs, I probably couldn't tell you. You play the opening bars on a slightly out of tune Sears and Roebuck upright piano and I've got you covered on the low part. Unlike having to guess on where I was the first time that I heard that song, I can tell you exactly who the first person I heard sing it was. She stands about 5'3", blonde hair, a face that is quick to laugh and has a Soprano voice that any self-respecting seraphim would be jealous of. Her name? Mom. I can guarantee you that the first voice I heard sing this song was her, I was probably in her arms when I heard it the first time. Heck I was probably in the womb.

I say all of that to say that it is these hymns that I go back to when I seek comfort. The safety and comfort that they bring to me is something that much of the modern worship songs don't give me. Don't get me wrong I love Crowder, Tomlin, Fee, Agnew, Redman, Hall, Stanfill, Gungor and all of the talented artists that are in the main stream of Christian Music today. I praise when I hear alot of their songs, but they aren't where I go when I need comfort. Basically they are missing one thing. Home. So when all hell breaks loose and everything that I thought I had a handle on seems to disappear, I go home. If not physically, at least in my heart and in my mind I'm back in a church that is too hot in the summer time because all of the older people cover the air vents with hymnals to block the air blowing on them (they know all of the songs anyway), a church that is too hot in the winter time because the only setting that seems to exist on the heater's thermostat is "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo", a church where almost all the men and some of the women step outside between Sunday School and Church to smoke Winston cigarettes and chew Redman out of the green pouch, where a pair of new Liberty overalls and a starched white shirt is acceptable Sunday morning attire, where there is that one old man who has Werther's original hard candy in his pocket for all the kids (His name is J.V. but I get to call him Grandpa), where the kids' only thought in the summer time is getting outside so they can play in the creek, and where I first heard about the love of God and His mercy.

This is where I went in my heart and my mind this past weekend. You see, five days ago I had everything figured out. I had a plan. Then something happened late Friday night (thats a post in and of itself) and suddenly things weren't working out like I had planned. So what did I do? I went home. When I woke up Saturday morning my Pandora went to the "Traditional Country Hymns" station and I opened my bible and journal and I let God take me home for a little while. Because while those hymns take me home, God's Word is what brings me Home. His voice and His promises are what will heal me. The music just reminds me of a simpler time and place and gets my heart ready to hear His voice.

Looking back now, I see God's hand at work in what happened. I have peace about it. I have assurance that this is part of His plan and that everything is going to work out. I don't like it, yet. I'm not particularly happy, yet. I'm still hurting from what happened, but this pain is nothing compared to what it could have been if God hadn't intervened. It is nothing compared to what Christ experienced on our behalf. It will subside. In the mean time, I'm going to walk a little closer to Jesus and lean on His everlasting arms until I understand it all by and by.

See you when I see you,

RW