My life for a song

My neice, Angie, is flying in tomorrow. She graciously agreed to do a vespers program with me and sing for church this weekend. I am thrilled. She is a busy voice teacher and opera singer. I'm amazed that she would want to sing with me, but she is very excited to sing together. I'm so grateful!

It has been many, many long years from when I used to hold her on my lap and play the piano for her. Angie was the daughter that I never had. I took her to concerts and sang with her for years. When I was in my 20s, I gave a local concert and asked her if she wanted to sing a solo as part of the program. She was very excited to get dressed up and sing at my concert. At the right time I announced her and she stepped up to the microphone and sang,

Don't let your heart be hardened - don't let your love grow cold

May it always stay so childlike - may it never grow too old

Don't let your heart be hardened - may you always know the cure

Keep it broken before Jesus; keep it thankful, meek, and pure.

May it always feel compassion - may it beat as one with God's

May it never be contrary - may it never be at odds

May it always be forgiving - may it never know conceit

May it always be encouraged - may it never know defeat

May your heart be always open - never satisfied with right

May your filled with courage and be strengthened with all might

Let His love rain down upon youBreaking up your fallow ground

Let it loosen all the bindingTill only tenderness is found

(Petra, 1987).

Angie wasn't nervous or shy. She just stood up at the mic and sang her little six-year-old heart out. In doing so, she blessed many hearts and also brought down the house.

Now Angie is a mother and has a very gifted little guy--Kaiden--who is almost 2 years old. He can sing on pitch and is fascinated with everything musical. We will be enjoying his company this weekend, too.


Linny, my nephew, is also intent on raising a child to be musical. You can see Bee (Beatrice) here, holding forth at the piano. Neither my sister nor her husband spent much time singing or playing the piano with the kids. But I sure did. I'd like to think that maybe this is why keeping music in the family is a pattern for my neice and nephew.

For the last several years I have struggled with my voice. Now that I have conquered the emotional web that prevented me from singing with real freedom most of my life, my vocal cords gave out. For a long time, I had reflux that excoriated my cords. Then I ended up with ruptured blood vessel on my left cord. So after years of praying that God would just take this unwanted, intrusive voice from me, now I want it more than almost anything else in life. It has been a slow journey back but from time to time there are glimmers of hope that one day I will be able to sing well again. I am more grateful than I can say, because there is no love in my life, nor has there ever been, that has equalled my love of singing.
Our concert is at 5:00 this Saturday. You can share this pleasure with us if you'd like, by tuning in to Loma Linda Broadcasting at http://www.llbn.tv/English_TV.html or Loma Linda University Church at http://www.lluc.org/

And so the legacy goes on.