God Gives The Song

Earlier last week, I took a late morning drive up to Mother & Dad’s grave site @ Roanoke to change out to Fall flowers. The drive down Belle Shoals Rd. is so familiar–the elegant ‘estate’ homes of Sangamo, Singer execs and Dwight Holder were the ‘WOW!’ factors of my early childhood–now there are added beautiful equestrian estates as well. The left turn onto Roanoke Rd–I still can name every family household…Holcombe, Nix, Whitmire, Ellenburg, Cantrell, Kelley, Davis, Rice & Dickard…many I can remember that Dad & Mother personally led to Christ in those early years. I always take an extra few minutes and walk around the cemetery after doing some maintenance @ the Looper grave sites (beloved Uncle Lloyd & Aunt Estelle are there as well–the American and Christian flags flying between their grave sites always bring great pride to my heart thanks to my cousins and their families). I know and love almost 90% of everyone who is buried there from my childhood years of Dad’s pastorate. The church itself has been beautifully reconstructed so the structure(s) are different but it’s the same sacred ground I walked as a kiddo. For some reason this visit I thought back to my early music influences – The Sheltons, The Burns Trio, and the original Inspirations Qt (the guys were still in high school)–and my favorite soloist of all, Mrs. Evelyn Dickard. Dad would sing from time to time–his favorite ‘The Haven of Rest’; Mother would bless us with singing for her testimony–her favorite ‘Praise God I’ll Have a New Body Someday’–and there was one song that they would sing together as a duet. I sang it in my car all the way remembering every word.