The Lighthouse - A 7 Minute Gift

Darrell, Eugene, Ronnie Hinson, and David singing "The Lighthouse"

One of the most beloved songs in Southern Gospel music is "The Lighthouse." Ronnie Hinson wrote it when he was just a teenager. He and his brothers and sisters were singing in church out of hymnals when he had the chance to hear the Speer family, a well known gospel singing group. That night, he says he fell in love with the Southern gospel sound. He took all the money he had and bought tickets for his family group to go to the Speers' next concert 150 miles away. Ronnie's family lived in California and most Southern Gospel groups were on the East Coast, but Ronnie had friends who sent him the new music on 8 tracks. That lets you know it's been a few years ago. The big groups started letting the Hinsons open up concerts for them when they came to California. The kids would sing some of those groups' top songs since, as Ronnie says, they didn't know any better. The groups had to politely ask them not to so that they could sell some of their own music to be able to pay for their travel out west. 

So the young Hinsons had a concert coming up opening for some of their favorite singers, and they were trying to find original songs or songs out of the hymn book they could recreate and that wouldn't be a copy of any of the groups. Nothing was working and it was around 2 a.m. on the day they needed to sing. Ronnie told the others he was going to the boys' room and that when he came back he would have a new song. The other kids laughed at him and laughed even harder when he came back with some words scribbled on a piece of toilet tissue. One of them wadded it up and threw it in the trashcan. They went back to searching through hymn books, but it got later and later. Then Kenny, Ronnie's little brother, pulled the crumpled toilet tissue out of the waste basket and sang Ronnie's song. Ronnie said it was just before daylight, but that the presence of the Lord filled the church where they were practicing and made it seem as light as noon. That song was "The Lighthouse." It has gone on to be one of the most beloved songs in all Gospel music. Ronnie says nearly every group has sung it and that at one time it occupied several spots on the Top Twenty list where different groups were performing it. 

Now comes the most amazing part. Ronnie Hinson had never actually seen a lighthouse when he wrote that song. He says he couldn't figure out why the song resonated with so many singers and listeners, and so he got on his bicycle and rode 30 miles to the California coast to see a lighthouse. He says the ocean was gray that day, and the area desolate, but there stood the lighthouse. Hope in the midst of dreary hopelessness. And he knew that the song came from God because he didn't even know what a lighthouse was when he wrote the song. 

If you want to read more about Ronnie and his story of writing "The Lighthouse" you can go to Southern-Gospel-Music-Lyrics.com where I got most of this information. At the National Quartet Convention last week, Ronnie had the booth across the aisle from the Patriot Quartet's booth. Several years ago the Patriot Quartet recorded "The Lighthouse" for a very special reason. Joe White, who sings lead in the group, had just found out his mother had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. "The Lighthouse" had long been Mrs. White's favorite song and had helped her through some difficult years in her life. She had asked Joe to have the quartet sing it numerous times, but Joe always told her that the song had been sung by every other group and there was no way the Patriots could improve on the versions already out there. But when his mother became ill, the group made a special recording of that one song just for her. But then others began asking for them to sing it and so they put it on their next recording project. Since then, "The Lighthouse" is one of their most requested songs. It doesn't matter how many groups sing it. The message of the song still touches hearts every time it's heard. 

Joe had already gone home at that last hour of the Quartet Convention Saturday night, but the other three guys were still there. While everybody was packing up, Ronnie was kind enough to agree to come over to sing a bit of "The Lighthouse" with them. The treat of the week for them and all the people still around that night. Ronnie told them that he wrote the song in about seven minutes and that it was a good thing he was so young at the time. That now he'd probably mess it up trying to use all he's learned about song writing over the years.

Have you ever heard the song "The Lighthouse" and if so, did it speak to your heart?
   

A Week of Songs

That's a big gift when people say to you that a song helped them or brought them to some place in their life where they needed to be.  ~ Lenny Kavitz

 

 

The National Quartet Convention is in Louisville this week. The Patriot Quartet, the group my husband sings bass with, will be singing on a showcase Monday afternoon, so I have worked it out to go listen. At least I hope I’ve worked it out. My mother is not doing very well right now. We had a really odd night, but then oddness is part of dementia. Oddness and sadness and all the patience one can gather. So perhaps tomorrow if I get to go hear some of the songs the gospel groups will be sharing, I’ll get that gift of a song that will bring me to a place I need to be. A place of continuing patience and a little touch of wisdom. When you’re dealing with someone with confused thinking, you feel like if you could just find the right answer, then maybe things would be easier. But I’m not sure there is a right answer.
 

The Patriots are going to be singing their new radio release “On the Right Road Now” and a patriotic song “One Nation Under God.” At least I think that’s the plan. Then they will be meeting and greeting people in the Exhibition Hall. I enjoy meeting people at their booth and will have my books for anybody who might want to get an autographed copy. Last year I met a couple from Scotland and they went home with a heavier suitcase because they packed some of my books into it. It was fun talking to them. It’s fun talking to everyone who comes by, and especially fun when they are like me and love books. Of course they wouldn’t be at the Quartet Convention if they didn’t love Gospel music.
 

We’ve been going to the Quartet Convention for years now. For years, we went as fans. Well, Darrell was the big fan. I went along for the ride and usually ended up liking some of the songs. The songs that speak to me are generally ones with words that I relate to. If they also have a great melody, that’s a plus, but it’s the words that mean the most to me. Sometimes just a phrase in a song will touch my heart. The Patriots sing one “I Can Feel the Touch of His Hand” that borrows a lot of the beautiful ideas of the 23^rd Psalm and I love the line “surely goodness and mercy will follow me.” It’s a line that other people respond to also, because sometimes they will come to the product table and ask for that “goodness and mercy” song. That’s one song I never get tired of hearing.

 

It’s interesting how people are touched by different songs. Songs that I don’t like all that much are often favorites of other people. I suppose that's true with books too. Actually, there’s no supposing to it. You can tell that's so by reading the reviews on Amazon or other sites where readers leave their thoughts on books. One person might love a story and give it many stars and great words while another person will totally pan the same story and think it’s awful. That’s what makes the world go around and opens the publishing door for many different types of writers. Thank goodness. Who would want to have only one kind of book or one type of song? That’s why we say “different strokes for different folks” or “to each his own.” 

 

I’m just glad some of you like the words I come up with. So thanks for reading, and if you happen to be at the Quartet Convention this week, come by the Patriots booth in the Exhibition Hall this week and say hello to me or Darrell. One of us will probably be there. 

Happy Birthday to Me!

To celebrate my birthday yesterday I thought I'd show you a girl who really enjoys her birthdays. This is Jillian at her birthday party in June. Somehow us older folks don't know how to celebrate with such abandon the way a three-year-old can. But I'm still thankful for every birthday and glad to celebrate. I've just stopped counting them up. That's how my kids have gotten older than me, I guess. You know it's not your own age so much as how your kids - who are supposed to stay young - are getting older. If they're that age, then it almost forces me as their mom to admit that the years are piling up. But so are the blessings. You can't have grandbabies without adding a few years on and grandbabies are worth those extra years.

--I did my book drawing where I'm giving a lucky reader a couple of books to celebrate me getting to start a new year with the chance to write a new book. And the winner is --- (drum roll, please) Alla of Kentucky. I'll be in touch, Alla, about which books you want. For the rest of you, I'll be doing another giveaway soon. Check here or on my website for details in a few weeks.

The worst thing I got for my birthday is a cold. Yuck! I've got the fashionable Rudolf red nose look right now. I took a pill but it must have lost its oomphf. I don't know how to spell that but you get the idea. We've been going to the Quartet Convention in Louisville all week. I love meeting and greeting people, but I doubt they'll want to meet and greet me today. I'll take my hand sanitizer along and keep my distance, so maybe I won't give everybody anything. It's not the flu. Just an aggravating head and sinus thing.

--But the NQC is always fun. I meet a lot of readers and lovers of gospel music from all over the country and Canada too. Some of them come back every year to the Patriots' booth to see if I have a new book. And the last few years I have been blessed to have a new book out. A lot of people are meeting a writer for the first time. One person told me last night that she'd never met a "real live author." I told her sometimes I wasn't so lively. I can't remember if she bought a book or not after that. :-)

--The Patriots sang their new release "American Christian" in a Showcase on Monday afternoon and everybody in the place (maybe 2000 or so) stood up to cheer. It's a great patriotic song about standing for what you believe. And then people keep coming by the booth to get the CD with "that song" on it. So that's been a spirit booster for the guys. I posted a picture of their booth on my Facebook page so you can go out and check that out to see how much they're waving the flag. That's one of the lines in the song "I'm a flag-waving American Christian." When they took the Patriot name they decided they would stand for God and country. So this song is perfect for them.

--I also did my talk at the Forks of the Elkhorn Baptist Church yesterday. It was the PrimeTimers group. A great bunch of folks and I appreciate them asking me to come talk about my writing. I'll try to post a picture later on.

--Out of time today. I've got to go walk Dub before we head back to Louisville. Poor old dog is still having to wear that torture collar. Yesterday morning I had him chained on the back porch to an old gas grill we had on the porch when he decided he was going for a walk. He pulled that big old grill off the porch and freed himself. I had to chase him down. So now he'll have to go in the basement while we're gone.

--Hope you have a beautiful week and play you some toe-tapping good gospel music. Bound to cheer you up.

Meeting People and Hearing Stories at the NQC

What a week! We were at the National Quartet Convention every night and didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. I'm barely awake now, so hope what I'm writing is making sense. I didn't hear much singing since we stayed out in the Exhibition Hall all week at the Patriot Quartet's booth so we could meet and greet people. Thanks to all of you who came by to say hello and maybe take some music or reading material home with you. It was extra nice of those of you who bought my books to give to someone on your gift list. I love getting books for Christmas or for my birthday which just happens to be tomorrow. I'm getting older very soon. But one of the guys who came by the booth had some advice for me. He said a little old lady (no, I don't think he was talking about me!!) came up to him and looked way up at him since he's so tall. She poked him in the chest and told him age was mind over matter. That if you didn't mind, it didn't matter. So guess I'll try to be in that camp.

Actually ever since I lost my sister-in-law in a traffic accident twenty-seven years ago, I've welcomed with celebration every birthday I have. Because I know Joy would have liked to have had a lot more birthdays. She was the mother of three girls and nine months pregnant with a little boy when the back gate flew off a cattle trailer, hit a pickup truck and killed that man whose wife was also expecting a baby and then that truck hit the truck Joy was riding in head on. Joy's friend, who was driving her to the doctor, wasn't hurt, but Joy and her baby died. This happened on September 12, three days before my birthday. All this time later, it still colors my birthday with sadness. We never forget those we love. We carry them forever in our heart and our memories. And ever since I've buckled my seatbelt every time I get in a car.

I hadn't planned to write about Joy tonight, but as I said, I always remember her in a special way at this time of the year. She had so much fun. Loved to laugh and loved babies and was a heck of a softball player.

Back to the NQC, I'm going to be sharing some stories from the people who came by to talk to me last week. One guy had a remarkable story that I will probably tell you next Sunday or maybe on Wednesday. It will give you goosebumps and maybe make tears come to your eyes. But I need to think about it before I write it down so that I can tell it in the best way possible.

I really enjoy meeting people at the NQC because they come from all over to hear the singing. I talked to lots of people from Ohio and Illinois and quite a few Canadians. I talked to Gospel music fans from California, Tennesee, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Wisconsin, and even Maine. The Maine lady said she lived about as far to the northeast as you could get. A 17 hour drive. She was a minister and she and her husband were taking a trip to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. There were also people from North and South Carolina, Louisiana, a lot from Texas. They were worried about Ike flooding their homes. And of course, Kentucky. I've probably missed a few states. So if you talked to me and I left your state out, let me know. And some of you had already read or had bought my new book, The Outsider to read. That was really exciting for me. Then you were kind enough to come back and buy some more books. I hope all of you who did buy books enjoy the stories. And that the rest of you will think about getting my books later on to give them a try.

Last night when I got home at midnight, I had to do a little cooking for our family reunion today. How come everything always has to happen on the same weekend? We had a good turnout, but we missed my aunt Margaret who passed away last month. She always enjoyed being with us and sharing her memories at our reunions. She hosted it nearly every year when we first started having the reunion twenty some years ago. She always ordered up perfect weather when we were at her house. Every time I have it, it's either 95 degrees in the shade or raining. Today my sister was the hostess. It didn't rain, but Ike sent us such gusty winds, we had to hang onto our plates. That chicken from Kroger was trying to take wing again. But we had fun looking at old pictures and playing some corn hole games. I didn't win.

Hope you have a loving family and that you enjoy getting together with them on a regular basis. I am blessed with a beautiful family and with all of you friends out there.

Talk to you Wednesday.