we've all taken a journey or two in our lives - some of us have traveled the world exploring and experiencing the wonderful mysteries of the creator. others of us have maybe gone no farther the little grocery store on the other side of town, but yet have discovered the beauty and the working of gods' hand even as close as in our own backyards. what is it that has caused people since the beginning of time to travel the world to seek truth, to try to discover the meanings and the mysteries of life?
...... what caused a young man at the age of eleven to travel to a new world as a seaman until he became a captain of his own slave ship - selling and transporting slaves to the plantations of the west indies and america. what caused this man then to turn his life around and not only serve god, but to use his own amazing story as a testimony to reach multitudes for god. one of the most amazing songs came out of his life's experiences.....amazing grace.
..... or what of a wealthy young american, deeply spiritual - who not only lost all of his financial holdings of real estate in the chicago fire of 1871, but then lost his four daughters when the ship they were on sank in the atlantic ocean, with only the mother surviving. while on another ship to join his bereaved wife and at the spot where his four daughters had drowned, the father penned a text describing his own personal grief, and yet through all of his tragedies he was able to ultimately focus on the redemptive work of christ and his glorious second coming and say with convincing clarity.....it is well with my soul.
...... what is it that can even give a journey to the song itself - when a swedish pastor was overwhelmed by a midday thunderstorm of flashing violence followed by a clear brilliant sun - he would write the words of what he felt in a poem in 1886. years later a german would translate those same words in his own language. in 1927 a russian came upon the german poem and translated it into the russian language. in 1933 the reverend s. k. hine - an english missionary in the ukraine - learned the song from a congregation of ukrainians. line upon line this missionary wrote the words in the english language on a journey through the russian carpathian mountains, creating a beautiful song of praise for years to come....how great thou art.
...... listen to the story of a frail scottish presbyterian woman who never journeyed much farther than where she grew up in the area of aboottsford, scotland. yet within the limits of her own strength she served the poor and the sick of her community until her early death at the age of thirty nine. she was affectionately know as the "sunbeam" to those around. maybe it was because of her own frailties that she could write and sense the biblical symbolism and imagery from the old testament prophets as she penned the wonderful message of.....beneath the cross of jesus.
listen now as we embark on our own musical journey through the hearts of men and women seeking the source of the fountain of truth of all the ages - the holy son of god.
.....it still feels as if it were only yesterday......i can picture the old wooden tabernacle rising out of the dirt and forests of the great northern midwest, looking so large and overwhelming through the eyes of a young boy entering its doors. i remember the yearly campmeeting revivals - how the smell of cornfields and cow pastures danced across the wind each night through open windows as an impassioned preacher would be crying out for lost souls from the mighty pulpit.
i can still see me with my buddies sitting on hard wooden pews listening to the nightly sermons, hearing the same hymns year in and year out until they felt like well worn sneakers. The backs of the pews in front of us had hundreds of pocketknife carvings of hearts and initials scratched all over them - yet another new campground romance pledging their love to each other forever - only to be forgotten as soon as they went back home. remembering how we tried to figure out different ways and times of escape from the service early for that needed restroom visit (that's the excuse we used anyway..) so we could join up at our nightly "hang out" area near the snack shack....
journeys.......you can follow your life through so many different doors, growing up and usually moving away from all that was so implanted in the very fibers of your life.....journeys.....the thing i know is - regardless of where i've been, what i've done, or even where i might be heading, the songs and the stories of treasures like "beneath the cross of jesus", "pass me not", and "it is well with my soul" - these are buried within me, touching my heart the same way they did as an eleven year old boy kneeling at the alter of that old dusty campground discovering the mighty truth of a loving savior......
listen on to this journey of mine.....maybe you will rediscover some of your own lost treasures......journeys...the stories behind the songs
--Billy Smiley
journeys...the story behind the artist