Lord, I'm coming home

You don’t normally find a hymn written for just one man, but "Lord, I'm coming home" was. 

William Kirkpatrick was leading the singing at a camp meeting in rural Pennsylvania.  The soloist was a man with a great voice, but he was not a Christian.  Every day as the camp meeting continued, Kirkpatrick prayed for the soloist.  One morning, these words came to him:  "Coming home, coming home, nevermore to roam."  

Kirkpatrick continued to write the words to the entire invitation song, and that evening gave it to the soloist to sing.  The soloist sang it while the invitation was being given, but after he finished his solo, he went down to the altar, seeking to be saved. 

Kirkpatrick never dreamed his song, which was written for just one man, would bring thousands to the Lord through the years, but it has.  Its message is universal: "I've wandered far away from home, now I'm coming home." 

What a friend we have in Jesus

Not far from Port Hope, Ontario, stands a monument with this inscription: "Four miles north, in Pengally's Cemetery, lies the author of this great masterpiece, written in Port Hope, 1857,"  Above the inscription are the words of the hymn, "What a Friend we have in Jesus."  Joseph Scriven, its author, was a man who had experienced the friendship of Jesus through a life filled with personal tragedy. 

When Scriven was a young man in Ireland, his fiancé accidentally drowned on the eve of their wedding.  Soon after this, he set sail for Canada.  After a depressingly long while, it seemed as he was doomed to spend his life alone, with Jesus as his only friend. In Canada he was determined to be a friend to those in need, and he became known as "The good Samaritan of Port Hope." 

Scriven never intended to publish this hymn.  He wrote the words to the song to accompany a letter to his mother when she was gravely ill back in Ireland.  He had no material blessing to send her, only a reminder that the most perfect of friends, Jesus himself, was nearby. 

Later, when Scriven himself was ill, during a visit, a well wisher found the words to the song on his night stand and asked if he had written the words to this song.  Scriven said, "I don’t think so, as I've never written a song before.  I think the Lord and I did it together." 

Almost persuaded

When the apostle Paul was on trial before King Agrippa, he gave a strong message professing his faith, and Agrippa responded, "Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?" He was almost persuaded. 

Phillip Bliss, the author of this hymn, heard a preacher end his sermon with the words, "He who is almost persuaded is almost saved, and to be almost saved is to be entirely lost."  Bliss couldn’t get those words out of his mind, and soon wrote the hymn "Almost persuaded." 

It has been used as an invitation song in bringing many to Christ.  One man said "God used that song in drawing me to Jesus.  I had been afraid… For 6 weeks that hymn was ringing in my ears, until I accepted the invitation to be baptized.  I came, and now I'm rejoicing in the Lord and Savior.

There shall be showers of blessing

As a teenager, Daniel Whittle was a cashier at the Wells Fargo Bank in Chicago, but when the Civil War broke out, he enlisted and soon became a soldier in General Grant's Union Army.  Just before he left, his mother put a New Testament in his kit, where it stayed unread.  In 1863, during the Battle of Vicksburg where 20,000 men lost their lives, young Whittle was wounded and taken prisoner by Confederate troops.  His right arm had to be amputated.  In the hospital he discovered the New Testament his mother had packed and he began to read it. 

One day, an orderly came and told Whittle that a man was dying in the next room and needed someone to pray with him.  Whittle protested.  Just because he was reading the Bible didn’t mean he was a Christian, and he didn’t even know how to pray.  But because of the urgency of the situation, Whittle went to talk with him.  When the man said, "Pray for me, and ask God to forgive me," Whittle asked God to forgive his fellow soldier and then prayed for forgiveness for himself as well.  Whittle got up from his knees and discovered the soldier had died while he was praying.  As for himself, Whittle had entered a whole new life: his mother's prayers had been answered. 

Whittle wrote many songs later in his life, including this one, derived from Ezekiel 34:26 in which God promises showers of Blessings upon the land.

It is well with my soul 

The year had been filled with tragedy when Horatio Spafford, a 43 year old Chicago businessman, penned this hymn.  He and his wife were still grieving over the death of their son when the great Chicago Fire struck and ruined them financially.  He realized it was time to leave, so that fall he decided to take his wife and 4 daughters and go back to England.  His wife and daughters went ahead on the SS Ville du Havre to England; he planned to follow in a few days. 

But on the Atlantic, the Ville du Havre was struck by another ship and sunk in under 12 minutes.  More than 200 lives were lost, including the Spafford's 4 daughters.  When the survivors were brought to shore at Cardiff, Wales, Mrs. Spafford cabled her husband with the words, "Saved alone."

He booked passage on the next ship.  It was while crossing the ocean that Spafford penned the words to this hymn: "When sorrows like sea billows roll… it is well with my soul.

He hideth my soul

As a blind person, Fanny Crosby faced daily insecurity, Which is why she found so much comfort in the book of Psalms, and why so many of her hymns point to the security we have in the Lord. 

This gospel song was one of her favorites, which is saying something since she wrote hundreds of songs.  Like David in the desert, she often felt alone and vulnerable.  In the words of scripture, she prayed, "Hide me," and she delighted in Ps 32:7, which says "You are my hiding place." 

But the verse that inspired this song is from Exodus.  Seeking to know God was with the Israelites in the wilderness, Moses asked the Lord to show him his presence.  God submitted to Moses' request and assured him, "I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with the cleft of my hand."  Ex 33:22 

In the New Testament we find that Jesus is the cornerstone who was rejected for us, and thus we who are Christians are hidden in the cleft of the rock.  When we consider how the hand of God covers us and shields us from harm, we, too, can join in praise to God: "O glory to God / For such a redeemer as mine!"