Just As I Am- the Hymn sung around the world

 

This will be the last of my hymn stories, so I wanted to talk about one of my favorites. I’d never heard Just As I Am until I became a Christian and attended a revival. Not only was the hymn used at altar calls in the church I attended as a teen but is known worldwide because the Billy Graham Crusades used it as their altar call hymn. Mr. Graham felt it was the most biblically accurate hymn when calling sinners to surrender their lives to Jesus.

What surprised me is this popular hymn is almost two-hundred years old. 

Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871) was born in Clapton, England, one of six children. Her father was a clergyman as were her two older brothers. Charlotte was a pleasant woman whose talents were portrait painting and writing humorous poems. She led a rather carefree life, ignoring her religious upbringing, until in her twenties she became seriously ill. There is no record as to what the illness was, but it also brought on severe bouts of depression that plagued her for the rest of her life. In 1822, while living in Brighton, England with her married brother Henry, a Swiss evangelist, Dr. Ceasar Malan, visited the Elliott family. He challenged Charlotte regarding her faith. She insisted she needed to clean up her life before she came to the Lord. But Dr. Malan encouraged her to come to Christ as she was. She did and celebrated May 8^th as her spiritual birthday every year as a reminder of God’s great love for her.

 Charlotte wrote hundreds of hymns published in various collections. “Just As I Am” first appeared in the Invalid’s Hymnbook in 1836. She was inspired to write the poem while her brother’s family was at a bazaar raising money for a home for poor clergymen’s children. She wanted so badly to help in some small way. The words Dr. Malan had spoken to her so many years ago came flooding back and when her sister-in-law returned home to check on her, she showed her the poem. Those words raised more money for the children’s home than anything sold at the bazaar. God used those simple words to change lives.

Thomas Hasting joined the tune “Woodworth” by American gospel composure William Bradbury to the poem “Just As I Am Without One Plea. The moving melody sets the tone to the words.

Original Poem

Just as I am - without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - though toss'd about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,
-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - Thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am - of that free love
The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove,
Here for a season, then above,
-O Lamb of God, I come!

Just As I Am goes around the world and through the decades

This hymn has been translated into many languages and sung over the centuries. You can find gospel albums from various artist, from Johnny Cash to Carrie Underwood who include this song in their hymn albums.

Here is a link to Carrie Underwoods rendition of the song.

https://youtu.be/qRbrK6Pydgs

Often on hearing this hymn, I was brought to my knees in repentance and gratitude that I belong to Jesus.

When was the first time you heard Just As I Am? How did it affect you? 

Cindy Ervin Huff is a multi-published award-winning author. A 2018 Selah Finalist. She has a passion to encourage other writers on their journey. When she isn’t writing, she feeds her addiction to reading and enjoys her retirement with her husband of 50 plus years, Charles. Visit her at www.cindyervinhuff.com.

Cherishing Her Heart

 

 

 

Hymn Stories: How Great Thou Art

How old are some of your favorite hymns?

How Great Thou Art, a popular and well-beloved hymn (justifiably so) isn't as old as some might think it is. At least, not as we know it.

(To hear it sung, press play for this public domain version of Yolanda Adams at the White House.)  

Carl Boberg (1859-1940) was born in Sweden to a carpenter and his wife. In his early years, Carl worked as a sailor and served as a lay minister in his congregation. He was also a writer, and he published more than 60 poems, hymns, and songs.

Carl Boberg. Public Domain

In 1885, Boberg walked home from an afternoon church service with friends when suddenly, a storm appeared. Lightning, thunder, and strong winds accompanied rain. Boberg noted the majesty of the lightning, the way the wind moved the grain in the fields, the feel and smell of the rain. Shortly, the storm ended and a rainbow appeared. 

He remained thoughtful when he returned home, noting how calm and lovely the the bay of Mönsterås looked. He could hear church bells and birdsong, and breathed in the storm-clean air. With a sense of peace and wonder, he set to writing.

His poem was titled O Store Gud (O Great God), and it was published in Mönsterås Tidningen (Mönsterås News) the following year. Within two years, the poem was paired to an old Swedish folk tune and sung in a church in 1888. 

In 1890, Boberg became an editor for a weekly newsletter, Sanningsvittnet (Witness of the Truth), a job he held until 1916 (also serving in parliament). In 1891, he published O Store Gud in Witness of the Truth with the music for the first time, with instrumentation for piano and guitar provided by a music teacher named Adolph Edgren (in 3/4 time).

About this time, Boberg sold the rights to the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, and all nine verses were published in the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden's songbook in 1891. 

By 1894, the timing of the song had been changed to 4/4 time, as it is sung today. 

In 1907, the song was translated into German, and then, in 1912, into Russian (Velikiy Bog, or Great God). E. Gustav Johnson, a professor at North Park College, Illinois, translated some of the verses and published them in 1925 as O Mighty God, but the hymn had not yet found its moment in America.

In the early 1920’s, Methodist English missionaries Rev. Stuart and Edith K. Hine lived in Poland learned the Russian version of the hymn. Stuart Hine (1899-1989) wrote his own translation and adjusted the arrangement of the tune, titling it How Great Thou Art. 

Hine also added verses, including the third and fourth, which he originally wrote in Russian. These verses are among the hymn's most popular. In 1949, Hine had the hymn published in a Russian gospel magazine, Peace and Truth, which circulated among refugees in fifteen countries, including the USA. Apparently, an African missionary named James Caldwell was the first to sing in in America at a conference in New York in 1951.

Around the same time, Dr. J. Edwin Orr of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, heard the hymn song for the first time in a small church in India. He brought it home to California and introduced it at the Forest Home Christian Conference Center in 1954. From there, it was published by Gospel Light Press. 

This version became the theme song of the Billy Graham Crusades in the 1950s. 

Billy Graham. Public Domain

Because Hine's version of the song was copyrighted in 1949, it is not public domain, so it may not be quoted here. However, it is easily found online and youtube. Today, millions of believers of all languages sing this profound and lovely hymn.

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YOUR TURN: Are you familiar with this hymn?

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BIO: Susanne Dietze began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she's the award-winning author of over a dozen historical romances who's seen her work on the ECPA and Publisher's Weekly Bestseller Lists for Inspirational Fiction. Married to a pastor and the mom of two, Susanne lives in California and enjoys fancy-schmancy tea parties, genealogy, the beach, and curling up on the couch with a costume drama and a plate of nachos. You can visit her on her website, www.susannedietze.com, and check out her newest release, My Heart Belongs in Ruby City, Idaho. 

Come to A House Museum

Billy Graham's home, just as it was. Building on left. 

The Billy Graham Library

by Linore Rose Burkard

Have you visited the Billy Graham House Museum? The site is officially called The Billy Graham Library, and there is a library, but it is much, much more than that. Even those not overly fond of Mr. Graham will find the trip to the house and grounds in Charlotte, North Carolina well worth it.  I was there two summers ago with my husband, two daughters and some friends who had just moved to the area.

First you tour the modest home Mr. Graham grew up in, replete with original furnishings and wallpaper, right down to several thousand bricks--which is remarkable considering that the house has been transplanted to this site from miles away where Mr. Graham grew up. (How they do that, I'll never fathom!)

Even before entering the home, visitors are greeted outdoors with lovely hymns, as if an angel choir is hovering about somewhere. It turns out that the music is wafting out of hidden speakers, and these are scattered about the walking paths so that one is never too far away from the peaceful, happy sounds.   On a beautiful day, you might think you're on heavenly grounds!

As you enter the house, it is immediately apparent that Mrs. Graham (not Ruth Bell Graham, Billy's wife, but his mother) had an eye for tasteful decor. I couldn't help snapping photos as we moved along.

Victorian Lady. (from the Billy Graham Homestead)

Dining Room of the Graham Homestead

 It may not be overtly apparent in the photos, but upon entering the house you can't miss an abundance of creamy light-blue, present in the painted walls, the drapery and upholstery and in other accessories. It was Mrs. Graham's favorite color. (I like a lady who knows how to please herself in her decorating style--especially when it is so esthetically successful.) ;) 

We were only given access to the first floor rooms, and even some of them were tantalizingly roped off so that you couldn't see the whole room. (Must be what makes me an avid researcher for my novels--a really well developed sense of curiosity!) Those we could view, however, were lovely. The kitchen was small and definitely low-tech. Not a granite countertop in sight, but it had the winsome charm of days past, which is what I enjoyed throughout the home.

Right Wall in Dining Room

Victorian Vignettes (Not the best picture, unfortunately)

Georgian Vignette. I could not get this photo without the reflection, much as I tried. 

 Once you complete the short tour of the homestead, you follow the path, still enjoying the hymns along the way, to the Barn. This is where the real tour begins, with state-of-the-art animatronics in the huge reception room and bookstore, where it all starts. There is no charge for any of this, by the way. Admission is free, which is a delightful surprise, considering the cost of even small museums, today.

Once you listen to an animatronic cow give you a little amusing introduction, you follow a mostly self-guided tour from room to room. "Self-guided," because no one rushes you, but there is a presentation or short film in most every room, so that, even though no one is moving you along, the tour goes in order of Mr. Graham's life, and you learn, not only about him and where he traveled to preach the Word of God--these things seem almost incidental--but about the various countries he went to. There is political, social, and spiritual information, so you don't feel as though it is all about him. Instead, it is a great testimony of what God does with a willing soul, and even a history lesson for anyone willing to listen, read, and learn.

Exhibits range from written paraphernalia, pictures, films, recorded excerpts, artwork, and a couple rooms full of personal artifacts, letters, and other things of interest. I don't think I spent a boring moment. Then, at the very end of the tour, we went through a wonderful doorway, which (if I remember correctly) is meant to represent the door we all hope to pass through one day--the gateway to heaven. (See below.) It is actually like going through a short tunnel--fun!

At the end: The Gateway. " "I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

And outside, follow the trails to see a few memorials, including the gravesite of Ruth Bell Graham. [Gotta love that lady. On her stone is an inscription she saw one day near a construction site and immediately wanted for her own memorial: "End of Construction. Thank you for your patience."] Beside her stone is an empty spot for Mr. Graham, but trust me when I say there is nothing macabre or sad about it. (As Paul the Apostle says, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.") 

For more information on the Billy Graham Library, hours of operation, and more, see the website HERE.

 

Linore Rose Burkard is best known for historical romance novels with Harvest House Publishers, and now writes YA/Suspense as L.R.Burkard. Linore teaches workshops for writers with Greater Harvest Workshops in Ohio, is a mother of five, and still homeschools her youngest daughter—preferably with coffee in one hand,  iPad in the other, and her feet up. Keep up with Linore by subscribing at either of her websites.