A New Song!

I sat down in the corner of the living room this morning to begin my daily Bible Study when I glanced over at a picture of Piper that I had taken on her parent’s deck back in 1972.  As I picked up the small color print, I was captivated by the cute, happy look on her face.  It was a look that she carried with her for the rest of her life!


I remember parts of that day very well.  It was a cold winter afternoon and we were hanging out at her house after our classes at the SRJC where completed for the day.  I’m not sure where everyone else was, but we were all alone and as usual, I was posing her for pictures all around the house and their property.  Her family lived up on top of a hill on a private road behind Howarth Park.  At that time the only landscaping was beautiful, old Oak trees and boulders, so there were many picturesque places in which to have her pose. 


In the midst of all the picture taking, I starting joking with her about getting some shots of her in her bathing suit.  I don’t recall her exact words on the subject, but they went something like, “Are you crazy?  It’s freezing out here!”  I ribbed her a little longer and was about to drop the joke when she suddenly got a thoughtful look on her face and said, “You know?  I could put my nylons on under the suit with a sweater on top.” Then she tilted her head to the side and continued, “Would that work?”  (I think that she really enjoyed all the attention I gave her with my camera over all the years.  She was also such a natural in front of the lens!)


Well, to be honest, I was just kidding with her like we did a lot… but I wasn’t born yesterday you know!  I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that!  She trusted me implicitly and knew that I would be very discrete with any pictures I took of her… and I never did anything that would have even tested that trust!  That gal was special and I always sought to treat her with great respect.  Our youngest daughter and I were talking earlier this week about how much positive attention I gave her Mom over the years.  It is special for me to know that the kids saw the example that I lived in front of them.


So, she went in and changed and we shot a roll of pictures on the deck in various poses including the one I was looking at today with their family dog Moppet!  All that flashed through my mind as I looked at the picture.  I had been leaning forward in my walk down memory lane and when I finally sat back in the comfy La-Z-Boy chair, I gleefully stated, “We sure had a lot of fun together!”  One of the best things I always recall of our relationship was all the countless times we talked while smiling and laughing all the way up until the final hours of her life!  Granted, she might not have been smiling toward the end on that Saturday night a year ago, but as I held her hand and spoke gently with her about many of the funny things we did together, I could see the laughter in her eyes!


When I put the picture down, I picked up my old New American Standard Ryrie Study Bible and turned to a well-marked portion of Scripture in Psalms 40:1-3.  Although penned thousands of years ago, it could have been written just yesterday as the perfect summary of Piper’s and my life together.  The Psalmist wrote:


“I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord

 And He inclined to me and heard my cry…

 And He set my feet upon a rock (Jesus, the Word)

 Making my footsteps firm.

 And He put a new song in my mouth,

 A song of praise to our God;

 Many will revere and worship,

 And put their trust in the Lord.”  (NASB, personally notated)



From our early dating years in high school and college where the phrase “Praise the Lord” became our natural response to any news, regardless of whether it was good or bad, to the many times I breathlessly uttered those same words, as I slid down on the floor with my back to the wall in the hallway of our home in North Carolina, when I felt like I had nothing left to give in the care of my wife, His new song of praise always seemed to turn the situation around and give us a hope and expectation for tomorrow.


What gives you a hope and expectation for tomorrow?  Do you have a new song of praise that only an intimate, personal and experiental relationship with Jesus Christ can give?  The type of relationship that can only grow and increase as you spend regular time with Him in His Word?  John 1:1 tells us that Jesus and the Word are one and the same.  Therefore, when you spend time in the Word, in your Bible – you are spending time alone with Him!  Cool Right?


Have a terrific weekend, and as you do, say with me… “I am expecting to sing a new song of praise today… every chance I get!”