Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and would you like a blessing? There’s nothing quite like the voice of a child singing the timeless, classic hymn. Years ago, my friend Bobbie Wolgemuth and I recorded a CD of hymns with children. Both of us have always contended that today’s boys and girls (perhaps more than any other generation) … today’s kids really need to learn the old hymns because the words are so powerful and so full of great doctrine. Well, this CD that we did ended up being part of a book we wrote called “Hymns for a Kid’s Heart.” We had no trouble finding children with excellent voices, but the Wolgemuth’s grandchild happened to be a six-year-old girl named Abby with an incredible voice. Just listen to this remarkable child sing the third verse to “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
(Child sings)
Well, I want you to know that Abby first learned all the verses to this beautiful hymn a year earlier when she was five years old. As the story goes, she had come to visit her grandparents, Robert and Bobbie, for a week at their home in Florida. Because five-year-old Abby back then wanted to be in the pool a lot, Bobbie (wisely) decided to combine her swimming with singing. This is how it would go: Abby would practice a phrase or part of a verse and then swim to the other end of the pool and sing it for her grandmother. Then she would turn and swim back for the next phrase. In less than three days, this child not only swam a lot of laps but had the entire hymn memorized and she sang it for her Grandpa Robert. My, do children learn fast!
Psalm 13, verse 6 says, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.” I can’t think of a better reason to not only memorize the words to the old hymns, but to sing them whether for private praise or public worship. I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me! If you’d like to celebrate that and sing along with me and Abby and the rest of the kids, then please visit my radio page today at joniandfriends.org and ask for your free CD of “Hymns for a Kid’s Heart.” It’s a collection of twelve enduring hymns – just the sort of thing you can put in the CD player in your car and have your children sing along. Before you know it, they’ll have the words down pat!
Oh, and one more thing: I’ve posted photos of little Abby back then when she was six and a much older Abby now at 17 years old so you can meet the “face” behind this wonderful voice you just heard. Keep singing, friend, and don’t forget to visit joniandfriends.org and ask for “Hymns for a Kid’s Heart.”
© Joni and Friends, 2013
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376