“But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.”
~ Psalm 71:14
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like to sing? Are you learning to sing? Do you like to read the words of a song? Do you like to pray? Are you learning to pray? There are Psalms which are prayers which can be sung as songs. David wrote many of the Psalms. Psalm 71 is one of the Psalms which David probably wrote. The author of this Psalm was old. The guy had gone through many difficult experiences. This Psalm’s words communicate hope to the guys, gals and kids who read it. This Psalm’s author begins what he wrote asking for help and he ends his Psalm by promising to praise God for the help that he knew that he would receive from God. The authors of the Psalms wrote what they wrote in Hebrew as Hebrew was the language that the Psalmists – like David, spoke. The Psalms were written as poems. Psalms were written to be sung. Do you wish that only Psalms were sung in your church? There are churches which only sing Psalms. Your grandmaa and grandpaa in 1976 spent about seven weeks on a short term ministry team that went to Colombia, South America. Your grandpaa was studying at Moody Bible Institute in 1976. In order to graduate from Moody Bible Institute, your grandpaa needed to go to another country to do evangelistic ministries for a minimum number of weeks. As your grandmaa and grandpaa had begun the process to be South American Mission (SAM) missionaries, your grandpaa asked SAM if he could go on their summer team that was coming together to go to Colombia. SAM was very happy that your grandpaa wanted to join one of their summer teams. SAM wrote back and said that they would really like it if your grandmaa could go along with your grandpaa to Colombia. SAM did not say that your grandmaa had to go along with your grandpaa to Colombia but . . . SAM was sure happy that it worked out that your grandmaa could experience living life in Colombia with your grandpaa. Two of the college age guys on the nearly forty member summer team that went to Colombia through SAM in 1976 grew up in churches which sang only Psalms. Will and Ed would get together by themselves during the weeks that they were in Colombia to sing Psalms. Will and Ed have kept in contact with your grandmaa and grandpaa.
Your grandmaa and grandpaa knew that it would take a real miracle for your grandpaa to be able to spend over seven weeks in an overseas country on a summer team. Your grandpaa did not have the money to make any kind of trip. When your grandpaa was studying at Moody Bible Institute, your grandmaa, you grandpaa, your dad and your Aunt Lynn lived in a funeral home. Your grandmaa and grandpaa earned $100 each week to be the live-in caretakers of the Zeiger-Mueller Funeral Home. Your grandmaa or grandpaa had to always answer the telephone when neither one of the two funeral home directors were at the funeral home. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were expected to keep the funeral home clean. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were to help however they could with a guy or gal who had died. Living in the funeral home really helped your grandpaa to get through Moody Bible Institute. Your grandpaa needed to spend time in another country between his second and third year at Moody Bible Institute. Your grandmaa and grandpaa really did not want to leave their apartment at the funeral home to go on a summer team to Colombia so that your grandpaa could graduate from Moody Bible Institute. Even if it could be worked out that your grandmaa and grandpaa could return to the apartment at the funeral home – after having been gone from the funeral home for a couple of months, your grandmaa and grandpaa had two kids – your dad and your Aunt Lynn, who your grandmaa and grandpaa could not take with them to Colombia. Your grandmaa going to Colombia in 1976 with your grandpaa just did not seem like a possibility. Your grandmaa got a call one day from your dad’s Aunt Glo who told your grandmaa that she would take care of your dad and your Aunt Lynn while your grandmaa and grandpaa were in Colombia. Your grandmaa still did not think that she would be able to go with the summer team that was going to Colombia but . . . God would supernaturally made it possible for your grandmaa to go along with your grandpaa to Colombia and for your grandmaa and grandpaa to keep the apartment in the.
While your grandmaa and grandpaa were the caretakers of the Zeiger-Mueller Funeral Home, they attended Forest Preserve Bible Church. One of the couples in the church was selling their house. Mr. and Mrs. Allen were having a condominium built. A couple told Mr. and Mrs. Allen that if they could move right into their house, that they would buy their house. The condominium that Mr. and Mrs. Allen was having built would not be finished for several months. Mr. and Mrs. Allen needed a place to stay while they waited for their condominium to be finished. Mr. and Mrs. Allen sold their house about the same time that your grandmaa and grandpaa left the Chicago area to go to Colombia. Mr. and Mrs. Allen moved into their condominium about the same time that your grandmaa and grandpaa returned to the Chicago area. Mr. and Mrs. Allen lived in and took care of the funeral home while your grandmaa and grandpaa were gone in their trip to Colombia. Your grandpaa had no idea how he could come up with the money that he needed to have to be able to join the summer team going to Colombia. Because of a first time grant given to your grandpaa by Moody Bible Institute, an unexpected tax refund check and special gifts, both your grandmaa and grandpaa went to Colombia on the summer team. Your grandmaa and grandpaa had God overcome the hurdles that they faced to go to Colombia. Your grandmaa and grandpaa came to understand what the Psalmist in verse 14 conveys have already grasped “But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.”
Psalm 71 (89)