The Story Behind the Hymns. THE STORY BEHIND " O LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO" Some hymns are written with a pen while others seem to come from a wounded heart. “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” was written in 1882 by George Matheson, a Scottish minister whose life had taken him through blindness, disappointment and deep personal sorrow. When he wrote those words, he was not writing about suffering from a distance. He knew what it meant to watch life change in ways he never expected. Matheson was born in Glasgow in 1842. As a young man, his eyesight began to fail, and he eventually became completely blind. Yet he refused to allow blindness to end his purpose. He studied at the University of Glasgow, entered the ministry and became a respected preacher and writer. His private life also carried a deep wound. Biographical accounts have connected his early heartbreak with the end of an engagement after his eyesight deteriorated. Whatever the precise circumstances, Matheson knew the pain of seeing a future he had hoped for disappear. Then came June 6, 1882. It was his sister's wedding day. While his family attended the celebration, Matheson remained alone at the manse in Ingram, Scotland. It was during that quiet evening that the hymn came to him. Matheson later said he wrote it in about five minutes and made almost no changes afterwards. From that moment of solitude came words that would eventually comfort millions: “O Love that wilt not let me go, I give Thee back the life I owe.” Those words are striking because Matheson was not asking God to give him a life without suffering. He was surrendering the life he had, with all its unanswered questions. He had lost his sight, he had known heartbreak and he could not see what the future held. Yet he could still trust. The hymn moves gently from surrender to faith: “O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, And feel the promise is not vain, That morn shall tearless be.” Matheson did not deny the rain but he acknowledged it. He believed that beyond it was a promise worth holding on to and that is what makes the hymn so deeply moving. It speaks to anyone who has ever sat alone with a broken heart, watched a cherished dream disappear or wondered how they would find the strength to face another day. Matheson could not see with his eyes, yet he wrote about a rainbow. He could not see the morning, yet he believed it was coming and perhaps that is simply the miracle at the heart of this hymn: a man living in darkness gave the world words about hope. “O Love that wilt not let me go.” More than 140 years later, those words still carry the same promise. When life becomes too heavy to understand, when the road ahead is hidden and the heart is tired, there remains a love that does not abandon us. A love that holds on. A love that sees us through the rain. A love that will not let us go.

Two worldviews collide in Scotland! World-renowned atheist, author and debater, Jeffrey Hughes, travels to Loch Ness to solve the murders of a deadly serial killer and meets up with a young Scottish Christian girl who challenges his worldview. A great character and conversational book written for skeptics and atheists based on the writings of C.S. Lewis. "Full moon over Loch Ness: The mystery solved." Available in paperback, kindle, and audiobook. Click on the link to purchase my book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/153971327X/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_apa_i_VhFWEb3YPXDCS

Daily devotion for August 26th Giving Cheerfully From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. Nehemiah 12:44b Those offerings and contributions were given with pleasure. The Scriptures carefully inform us that offerings mean nothing if they are not given cheerfully. If you are not giving with pleasure, God does not want your gift. He does not care how big or small it is. If all you are after is to make an impression on others by the size of your gift, God is not interested in that. Jesus told of a widow who put two tiny pieces of money into the treasury, saying that she had given more than all that the rich people had cast in that day. God would pick up that insignificant amount and use it more mightily than He would the larger gifts of the wealthy. What God looks for always is a note of pleasure, of delight, of cheerfully returning funds to him out of a thankful heart. Dr. H. A. Ironside used to tell the story of an old Scotsman who inadvertently dropped a gold sovereign in the collection bag at a church service. In Scotland, when the ushers take up the offering, they use a long pole with a bag on the end of it, which they pass among the pews. This old Scotsman put in a gold sovereign by mistake when he meant to put in only a shilling. As soon as he realized his mistake, he tried to retrieve his sovereign. But the usher pulled the bag back and said, Nah, once in, always in! The old man said, Ah well, I'll get credit for it in glory. The usher replied, Nah, you'll get credit for the shilling! That is all the old man intended to give. So we are to give as God has given, freely and gladly. The closing sentence of this paragraph says, They also set aside the portion for the other Levites. They were careful to take care of others who were not able to be there or who were busy performing and therefore did not have opportunity to share in the offerings. This is a beautiful picture of the oneness of the nation of Israel. God was constantly seeking to teach these people that they belonged to each other. They were not individualists, doing their own thing, but they were workers together with God. I do not know any truth that is more important in the body of Christ than to recognize that God uses people different from us. We must recognize that our way of serving God is not the only way but that we belong to and need one another. Father, thank You that out of the abundance of what You have given to me, I can give to others, knowing that You will continue to provide for my needs.

The Story Behind the Hymns. THE STORY BEHIND " COURAGE, BROTHER, DO NOT STUMBLE " “Courage, Brother, Do Not Stumble” is a hymn of encouragement, faith and perseverance, reminding believers to keep moving forward even when the road ahead appears difficult. The words were written by Norman Macleod (1812–1872), a Scottish minister, writer and prominent figure in the Church of Scotland. Macleod was known for communicating Christian faith in a warm and practical way, and this hymn reflects that approach by presenting the Christian journey as a difficult road that must nevertheless be travelled with courage and trust in God. The opening words immediately establish the hymn’s message: “Courage, brother! do not stumble, Though thy path be dark as night; There’s a star to guide the humble; Trust in God, and do the right.” Rather than promising that life will always be easy, the hymn acknowledges darkness, difficulty and uncertainty. Its answer is not fear, but faith: keep going, remain humble, trust God and continue doing what is right. The hymn became especially memorable through its stirring musical setting, associated with Arthur Sullivan, the celebrated English composer best known for his collaboration with W. S. Gilbert. Sullivan’s tune gave Macleod’s words a strong and memorable character that helped the hymn find a lasting place in Christian hymnody. At its heart, “Courage, Brother, Do Not Stumble” is a call to perseverance. It speaks to anyone who feels discouraged, reminding them that difficult circumstances do not mean that God has abandoned them. The believer is encouraged to walk faithfully, even when the destination cannot yet be clearly seen. The hymn remains a beautiful reminder that courage is not the absence of hardship. It is the decision to continue trusting God and doing what is right despite hardship.

thank Godbfor all the travel mercies. now back with family.praising God for the Blessed Ireland Scotland England trip.thank you all for prayers 😇

thank Godbfor all the travel mercies. now back with family.praising God for the Blessed Ireland Scotland England trip.thank you all for prayers 😇

Today is the 78th birthday of a minister who knows how to have fun in the presence of the Lord. Happy Birthday, John Scotland!

The Story Behind the Hymns THE STORY BEHIND "THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD" 🎶 “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want” is one of the most loved hymns ever sung in the Christian church, and its story begins not with a hymn writer, but with one of the most treasured passages in the Bible, Psalm 23. For centuries, these comforting words about God’s care and guidance have brought reassurance to believers around the world. In the middle of the seventeenth century, church leaders in Scotland wanted congregations to sing the psalms directly from Scripture during worship. To make this possible, the biblical psalms had to be carefully rewritten into poetic form so they could fit musical meter and be sung by ordinary worshippers. This effort led to the publication of the Scottish Psalter in 1650, a collection of all 150 psalms translated into singable English verse. Psalm 23 became one of the most beautiful results of that work. The translators preserved the meaning of the original Hebrew text while shaping the words into gentle, flowing poetry that could be sung in church. The opening lines captured the heart of the psalm perfectly: “The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want; He makes me down to lie In pastures green; He leadeth me The quiet waters by.” These words painted a vivid picture of God as a caring shepherd who provides rest, guidance, and protection for His people. From the moment it appeared in the Psalter, the metrical version of Psalm 23 quickly became a favorite among congregations. For many years the words were sung to different melodies, but the hymn’s enduring fame came much later in the nineteenth century when it was paired with the tune “Crimond.” The melody was composed by Jessie Seymour Irvine, the daughter of a Scottish minister in the village of Crimond in Aberdeenshire. Irvine was an accomplished musician who played the organ at her father’s church, and she wrote a melody that perfectly reflected the calm beauty of the psalm. The tune was later arranged and harmonized by musician David Grant, helping it spread widely through hymn books and church choirs. The marriage of the ancient psalm text with the serene Crimond melody proved unforgettable. When sung, the music seems to move gently like flowing water, echoing the psalm’s imagery of green pastures and still streams. Choirs and congregations alike found that the tune allowed the words to unfold with dignity, warmth, and deep emotion. Over time, “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want” became one of the most cherished hymns in Britain and across the English-speaking Christian world. It has been sung at countless church services, memorials, and national events. The hymn’s message of trust in God has made it especially meaningful during moments of grief or reflection, when believers seek comfort in the assurance that God walks with them even through “the valley of the shadow of death.” Its lasting power lies in the timeless promise it expresses. The hymn reminds singers that God provides, restores, and leads His people throughout life’s journey. Whether sung by a great cathedral choir or by a small congregation gathered in worship, the words continue to carry the same confidence that first inspired them centuries ago. More than three hundred years after it was first sung from the Scottish Psalter, “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want” remains a hymn of profound comfort and faith, inviting each generation to echo the same simple declaration: that under the care of the divine Shepherd, there is nothing we truly lack.

"[Calvinists] are the true heroes of England. They founded England, in spite of the corruption of the Stuarts, by the exercise of duty, by the practice of justice, by obstinate toil, by vindication of right, by resistance to oppression, by the conquest of liberty, by the repression of vice. They founded Scotland; they founded the United States; at this day they are, by their descendants, founding Australia and colonizing the world." Hippolyte Taine (1828 to 1893) French atheist

Daily devotion for June 27th Faith's Independence And he said to Ephron in their hearing, Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there. Genesis 23:13 The supreme lesson here is to show us the thorough independence of the man of faith. Abraham will not consent to own one foot of ground without paying for it. He courteously insists on taking nothing from the world, though he is ready to take everything from God. He shows a great independence here; he will not allow the world to make him rich in any degree. God had promised him this land, and no stratagem of the enemy, no temporary expedient, will satisfy his heart. At the end of his career, although he owned the land by promise, the only part he actually possessed was the field and a cave where he buried his wife. There is a great dearth of rugged individualism in our world today. What is the secret of it? We learn from the life of Abraham that the secret is essentially fixing our eye upon another place and not being satisfied with anything that earth offers. Then we can be quite indifferent to the appeals, the claims, and the pressures that come from every side. If our hearts are really wrapped up in this scene down here, we are sitting ducks for all the pressures that come, in whatever form. If our eyes are fixed upon the city that God alone builds, where the person of faith looks, then we can be very independent here. The letters of Samuel Rutherford are a wonderful treasury of the devotional life of the heart that is enthralled and captured by Christ. He was a great, sturdy man. I remember reading about how when he lay dying in prison in St. Andrews, Scotland, the king sent a messenger to summon him to appear in court in London to answer to the charges of high heresy. When the messenger came in before the old man and announced that the king had ordered him to appear in court, he said to him in his Scottish fashion, Gane and tell yere master, I have a summons from a higher court, and ere this message reaches him, I'll be where few kings or great folk ever come. It was a stirring rebuke to a man of earth who thought he could summon a man of faith. Abraham owned a burial cave in the end. That was all. It is a reminder to us, and to all men and women of faith in all times, that all we can ever really own down here is a burial ground in which we may lay to rest all the hopes and expectations of this life. All we hope for and all the fine things we hope to have someday, all the experiences we would like to live over again, all these expectations are buried in the grave. We are made to be creatures of eternity. The book of Ecclesiastes says that God also set eternity in the hearts of men (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We are not made to be creatures of time. We are not made to be satisfied with this brief period of life and then to pass into the endless, silent realms of death. God has set eternity in our hearts. But the great tragedy is that we can so easily lose sight of the goal. We begin to be wrapped up in the problems of time, and we lose the broad view of eternity. Lord, teach me to live with the same kind of independence as Abraham, who fixed his eyes on those things that no person could take from him.