Doing My Research

I Saw Him There

I gazed in awe, in wondrous adoration,
I asked myself, "Why should he come to me,
This one so pure, so holy and all gracious?
Why take my load and give me liberty?

CHORUS
I saw Him there, His hands,
In deep compassion,
Were stretched toward me.
I heard Him humbly say,
"Come unto Me, I am the resurrection,
I am the Truth, the Way."

His hands were torn and in each palm there rested
A gaping hole for all the world to see.
My Lord, my God! I recognized my Savior,
It broke my heart, but He broke His for me.

He lifted me, in tender arms He bore me.
He cleansed my wounds and set me on my way.
He spoke the word, my chain was rent asunder,
Now He is mine and I am His always.

With each weekend comes a renewed longing for Dad. The waves come farther apart now, but the feeling of loss still washes over bringing a few more tears and nostalgic thoughts. On one old cassette tape I found a song my father wrote back in the early eighties along with two other rather obscure songs. I knew these two songs well and remembered singing them as a small child. I searched for them on the internet but came up empty-handed. I asked friends, but no one had heard of them. We wondered if he could have possibly written them himself... I decided to check his last old diary; it was a long-shot but worth a look. Amazingly, I did find both songs mentioned and finally came across an entry dated August 11, 1970 that read "Practiced our song for church Sunday ("I Saw Him There") Beautiful song and message." Although it is a beautiful song and message, I don't think he would have made the comment had he actually written the song himself. Regardless, it is still a rare treasure and I am blessed to have it in my collection. I had to smile at the entry for August 21 "Tonight Ar and I sang and played guitar at the Open Door Mission... ("I Saw Him There" & "Sweet Jesus") Good time. Good chance to give testimony." Dad had started going to the Open Door Mission again (a homeless shelter for men in Rochester) this past year or two, the first Thursday of each month. It was one of the ministries he was sad to leave behind, but was blessed to see covered by a friend from church. No wonder when asked where donations could be given in his name, Mom picked the Open Door Mission.