OLBBT: New Song Remembering Dad's Ministry On This Day

The oldest man in America (second oldest in the world) celebrated his 111^th birthday this month. Especially significant to me about that is he was born in 1903, the same year my dad was born. It was also in this month (on the 20th) that Dad died 48 years ago at the age of 62.

Dad was an evangelist, but also pastored most of his 40 years in ministry. He won many people to Christ and also founded several churches in Virginia and North Carolina. I live about 25 miles from one of those churches, still very strong in its ministry to the community. I remember thinking as a child that no one could preach like Dad.

I dream about Dad occasionally and especially, it seems, as the dates of his birth and death near each year. Just a few days ago, I dreamed I was struggling to speak to a cold, dying church. My heart was very sad and burdened. At the end of my sermon, as the church stood for the benediction, I looked down to the front row of seats and saw my dad. He began to walk back and forth across the front of the sanctuary singing a song. The cold congregation slowly joined him, at first quietly, but then it became louder until it sounded like a roar in a stadium. In my dream, the church had come alive. 

I woke up, and remembering the song and melody Dad led the church to sing, I went to my computer and in about 30 minutes, it seems, I wrote this song.

O Let’s Be Blessed Today!

O let’s be blessed today!

O let’s be blessed today!

For Christ within

Fills us with him!      

O let’s be blessed today!

God gives his Grace to us

Through faith in Jesus Christ

To keep us strong

And for as long

As we wait on the Lord.

God calls us to know him

Through knowing Christ within

To keep us strong

And for as long

As we wait on the Lord.

His Life in us revealed 

Confirming Truth received

To keep us strong

And for as long

As we wait on the Lord.

We are therefore enriched

And lack no Spiritual Gift

To keep us strong

And for as long

As we wait on the Lord.

We wait upon the Lord

To be renewed in us

To keep us strong

And for as long

As we wait on the Lord.

O let’s be blessed today!

O let’s be blessed today!

For Christ within

Fills us with him!      

O let’s be blessed today!

Words and Melody, Don Whisnant 2014    

Adding more explanation, for several months before this dream, I had gone almost daily to 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 during my quiet time, being so much renewed by it each day that it’s message was continually in my heart.

Although, I do not believe God reveals Truth to us through dreams in this Age of Grace (but only through The Scripture), I know that Truth can be so alive in our hearts that it can manifest even in our dreams.

DonLoy Whisnant/Journey Notes 14B20

FOLLOW UP

NEW YORK (AP) — The world's oldest man, a retired chemist and parapsychologist, has died in New York City. Alexander Imich was 111. His niece, Karen Bogen of Providence, Rhode Island, says Imich died Sunday at his home in Manhattan. Bogen says she had visited Imich a day earlier. She says his health declined about two weeks ago and he didn't recognize her. Imich was born in 1903 in a town in Poland that was then part of Russia. He and his wife fled after the Nazis invaded in 1939. They eventually moved to the United States in 1951. His wife died in 1986.  In news reports, Imich said his good genes and a general healthy lifestyle contributed to his longevity. 

DonLoy Whisnant/Journey Notes 14FO9