Ok….so more technical problems…today is actually Saturday (March 1), obvi..but I wrote this Thursday.  *sigh  // ANYHOO-such profound thinking to follow…ha!

Throwback Thursday

I noticed recently that #throwbackthursday  (as in hashtag-throw-back-Thursday) is picking up steam.  It’s the chance for everybody to post those hilarious old photographs of themselves way back in the day.  I can TOTALLY do Throwback-Thursday today because I have been scanning old family photos and oh, man – did I find some doozies (of OTHER people, of course).

The Moslanders, my family-of-origin, #tbt

Ross the Boss, Mrs. Moss and all the little Landers, 1975 @ Robert, Louisiana (I’m the oldest.  I was 16 here)

The Sunday after Thanksgiving in 1988 in Hobart, IN (Southlake Church of God).  Two words: shoulder pads!

Thirteen years later, we were all married, I had 5 kids (ages 2-9) and Tami had not grown an inch in height since she was 10 years old.

Meanwhile, I’ll call this Thought-Collage Thursday because that is what this blog is, anyway a collage!  :) 

I think I’m being followed.

Seriously, everywhere I go, when the Wi-Fi options come up on my phone, there is always an FBI Mobile or FBI Van #7 or some sort of FBI vehicle around.  I am pretty sure I am being watched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Why?  I do not know.  If anyone questions you about me, send me a coded text to warn me, will you?  Thanks!

Willie.

I have this {I own it!}, the Willie Nelson – His Hits and Finest Performances album distributed in a Reader’s Digest collection in 1987.  A former co-worker gave it to me just because I have a turntable (or “record player,” as they were known while I growing up!).

And while it is packed with all the great songs you already know by Willie Nelson, there are so many great treasures I had never heard anywhere until I got this.  53 great songs on 5 LPs.  Seriously, his rendition of “Let it Be Me” is the best I have ever heard of that gorgeous tune – and it has been sung by every. body!

Any song Willie Nelson sings, with that unmistakable gravel and sophistication actually just sounds more authentic and true than anyone else who ever attempts that song again.   A little raw and wholly soulful, he owns any melody that comes out of that talented heart.

Other songs he covers that I would totally encourage you to try out on iTunes or Spotify:  “Without a Song,” “Stardust,” and “September Song.”

February is (almost) over.

I am surprised every single year at how quickly it is gone.  Every year.  You’d think I’d know by now that it is going to happen.

Speaking of things I should know

When I take a drink and sort of miss my mouth…and dribble down the side – I am always appalled.  Occasionally when I am eating, I bite my tongue.  How is it 50-some years down the road I haven’t totally mastered these things, having practiced SO much?!

My Jesus, I Love Thee, verse 3

I love old hymns and find restoration, when I am frazzled and shredded by life, in just singing them.  Modern worship is wonderful, but I am drawn to lyrics deep and timeless, to melodies that have been sung by voices before me and which will still be drifting heavenward long after I am gone.

William R. Featherston wrote the well-known, “My Jesus, I Love Thee,” as a poem when he was somewhere between 12 and 16 years of age.  How does such a young man know how to communicate such depth of love?

I was playing the keyboard and singing this song the other morning and the 3rd verse caught in my throat for a minute as I wondered: Will I love Jesus as much in my death as I do in my life?  Because I love life, too, really.  And what if I am not happy with the whole death process?  Will it make me love Him less?

But as suddenly as I questioned myself, I realized, we’re already dying anyway.  Part of our living is dying.  And if I am loving Jesus wholly each day in my living, then when I step through the door  of death from this realm, and actually see Him face to face, Oh, yes.  I will be loving Him more fully, more truly than I have ever been able.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,

And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Adoniram Gordon added a melody to the words in 1876.  And William R. Featherston died at age 27 never knowing his words would become a hymn of the deepest devotion, sung around the world and included in almost every hymnal for years to come.

 Live Stream Ransomed Heart Event!

1) Get the book and read it!  2) Sign up for Live Stream HERE  3) Saturday March 15, 9am-3 pm…4) While you wait, enjoy archived events from Ransomed Heart Ministries.

 That is all for today.  Enough.