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| My parents' wedding! This past Saturday night, I went to RJ's three year old birthday party. I was blessed to preach his folks' wedding so I got the invitation. Like my parents, Joey and Emily met at a Christian school. Tonight's entry, from 1/11/11, is about a college, a chorus, a song, and a yet to be formed couple. We had All-School chapel today except it wasn't really all of the school and it wasn't really chapel. The Harding University chorus from Searcy, Arkansas came to Westbury Christian and sang for us for forty-five minutes. Our students from grades two through twelve listened to approximately sixty wonderful young voices sing praises to God with a few other selections thrown in for good measure. I have no musical background but even I could tell they are very good, this choir that is making appearances throughout Texas on their way to a choral festival in Oklahoma. It's here, though, that I have a confession to make. My mind wandered during their concert on a cold morning in Houston. But, even though I daydreamed a little bit, all the way through their traditional farewell hymn of "The Lord Bless You And Keep You," I paid rapt attention. You see, my mother and father were in that same Harding chorus more than sixty years ago. They weren't married or even engaged as far as I can tell but they were moving inexorably toward their union of husband and wife which resulted in the birth a number of years later of their second son. As the performance unfolded, I looked for young men and young women who reminded me of my folks. I can't say I saw any matches but then I can't see my folks as teenagers or early twenty-somethings anyway. I did witness a big bunch of fresh faced and optimistic college kids who love singing and love the Lord just like a boy from Flint, Michigan and a girl from Nashville, Arkansas did in the late 1940's. It made me wish I had paid more attention to my mom and dad when they sang in church and in the car. Their voices are starting to fade a little from my memory. But you know what? In the tones of those five dozen singers today, I thought I heard the echo of Nelda Chesshir and Roger Wayne Hawley. And believe me, it was a beautiful sound. |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=conb0giz3gk
Applicable quote of the day:
"In the happiest of our childhood memories, our parents were happy, too." Robert Brault
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
5 comments:
Excellent. I very much like the fact you are connected to home, family and tradition. Blessings.
I do not live far from Harding University. I enjoyed reading your post and finding that you had been blessed with memories of your mom and dad while the choir sang. It was nice to hear that your parents had been in the choir years ago. The Harding choir is always blessed with beautiful voices. Hugs and blessings!
I remember your parents' beautiful voices. :)
I really enjoyed reading the posts on your blog. I would like to invite you to come on over to my blog and check it out. God bless, Lloyd
Ah, Steve. Ever so often, when we are singing certain hymns at Lafayette, I can still hear your dad's deep bass and your mom's lovely soprano. And very often, that auditory memory brings tears to my eyes. I miss them a lot.
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