Haldor Lillenas – birth, Nov. 19, 1885

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
Setting my spirit free;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Refrain Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Wonderful grace, all sufficient for me, for even me.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame,
O magnify the precious Name of Jesus.
Praise His Name!

2. Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Reaching to all the lost,
By it I have been pardoned,
Saved to the uttermost,
Chains have been torn asunder,
Giving me liberty;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

3. Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Reaching the most defiled,
By its transforming power,
Making him God’s dear child,
Purchasing peace and heaven,
For all eternity;
And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Haldor Lillenas was born this date,11/19/1885, at Island of Stord, Norway.  His Lutheran family moved to the US and after a stay in South Dakota (Colton, a few miles NW of Sioux Falls) settled  in Oregon.

 

Haldor was converted to personal faith in Jesus Christ at age 21 under the influence of the  Penial Mission in Portland.  He almost immediately felt a call to minister God’s Holy Word becoming a Nazarene as was his wife, Bertha Mae Wilson, also a song writer.

 

God gave Lillenas some 4,000 Gospel texts plus hundreds of hymn tunes, including the above.  In 1924 he founded Lillenas Music Company (bought by the Nazarenes in 1930) and worked there until he retired in 1950.  He passed away at Aspen, CO, 8/18/1959.

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Earl Newton – birth, Nov. 16, 1933

Every sanctified experience has a reverse gear in it. – Heard by author, February 7, 1994, Oelrichs, South Dakota.

 

You can’t be good without helping others to be good and you can’t be evil without helping others to be evil.  – Heard by author, February 10, 1994, Oelrichs, South Dakota.

 

If you’re in love with your money don’t ever marry…  – Heard by author, July 24, 2009, Muncie, Indiana.

 

I’m convinced there are a lot of people who want the benefits of Christianity without the purity. – Heard by author, July 30, 2009, Muncie, Indiana.

 

God has no program short of full surrender. – Heard by author, August 1, 2009, Muncie, Indiana.

 

Earl Newton was born this date, 11/16/1933, in Clemson, South Carolina.  He has pastored, worked with American Indians, worked with Christian schools, been a conference vice president, been a conference president, and is a holiness evangelist.

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MINE

I claimed it, I owed it; it was mine!  [1]

That mountain of ponderosa pine,

That spread of sage and crested-wheat grass,

That cluster of boards and nails known as a house,

That orchid of fruit I’d call “world class.”

 

I paid the taxes, held the title

To rolling pastures green to the line,

To cattle and horses and sheep so fine,

To full-headed, golden, bearded wheat.

It belongs to me and you can’t take it away;

Uh – What did you say?

 

You say that another soon will own

These bottom lands my hand has sown?

You say I won’t sell it or give it away,

Instead I’ll simply leave it here when I sigh

That final sigh and quickly die.

Another!  Imagine that!

 

Another will sit where I’ve sat and look o’er these fields,

And claim them his and gripe or brag about their yields.

And then like me he also will slip,

Beyond the sound of human lip,

And, leave as I will, his all behind.

His ALL, unless he will the Savior find.        

          – eab, 9/95

 

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^[1] Imagined this as the musings of a rancher in South Dakota or Nebraska where I had four happy years pastoring.

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Haldor Lillenas – birth, Nov. 19, 1885

“The Bible Stands”  (stanza 1 & refrain)

 

The Bible stands like a rock undaunted
’Mid the raging storms of time;
Its pages burn with the truth eternal,
And they glow with a light sublime.

Refrain

The Bible stands though the hills may tumble,
It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
I will plant my feet on its firm foundation,
For the Bible stands.                            (see more at Cyberhymnal.org)

 

Written and composed by Haldor Lillenas, 1917.  Lillenas, born on Stord Island (near Bergen) Norway, emigrated to the US with his parents, living first in Colton, South Dakota and later in Oregon.  He was converted to Christ at 21in Portland and attended Deets Pacific Bible College (later renamed Pasadena College).  His pen left some 4000 hymns/poems.

 

Also read/hear “The Garden of My Heart” “Glorious Freedom” “Jesus Will Walk With Me” “Wonderful Grace of Jesus” 

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Dreams

We live in three worlds;

The real, the imaginary, and the dream.

The real has nuts and bolts and such,

And quit clutters our lives with lint.

The imaginary we can fill day or night,

With things we like to invent.

But the world of dreams is different,

It’s neither tangible nor created by us.

It opens without our behest,

And closes again without fuss.

It is peopled by friends know long ago,

Or by strangers, strangers who came at night.

Dreams mix-up our acquaintances,

Until, though out of place, seem right.

Dreams can scare us into awakening,

So glad the cliff or lion scene,

Was not quit completed, or is so

The lion wasn’t even mean.

Or dreams can send us into a humorous world,

Where logic can go or stay,

And we ‘waken ourselves laughing,

And wonder why it’s colored this way.

Oh, we live in three worlds here and now.

The real, the invented, and dreams.

But in the one we control least of all,

Is the one famous for its night-time themes.  -eab,  2/1996

 

 Written while pastoring the Bible Holiness Chapel in Olerichs, South Dakota

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I Am

I Am was His name when He made the first dame,

To birth and own her own.

And trees’ fruits and flowers were given genetic powers,

To produce exactly what was sown.

 

I Am was His name (and it’s always STILL the same –

– From everlasting, He is God!)

When He anviled the sun and gave it a course to run,

Over earth’s vast sand and sod.

 

I Am was His name when the world of past fame,

Was left desolate of its every, first-born.

And God lead His children out (even those with a pout);

Their cloths never suffered from the thorn.

 

And I Am He still is, in spite of “show biz,”

And Hollywood’s dethronement.

No puny man can e’er assume that glorious throne room,

No, not for a milli-moment.

 

I Am – what a name!  But it really is tame,

For all the Majesty, and Honor, and Might,

Of His eternal Being, so beyond human seeing,

And yet ever lies in faith’s sight.    -eab, 11/94

 

Written while enjoying the pastorate of the Bible Holiness Chapel in (Fall River County) Oelrichs, South Dakota.

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Heather C B Dickinson – Birth, Nov 6, 1973

~My Phillip~
Thank you for asking me to that picnic at G.B.S.
I will be FOREVER GLAD that I said, “YES!”
Those dating days were wonderful you see…
Thank you for being YOU, and loving me as ME.

 

Thank you for asking me to marry you on April Fool’s Day…
I’m glad you weren’t fooling, and I’m yours for ALWAY!
Thank you for that portrait that you drew of me…what a beauty
Thank you for being YOU, and loving me as ME.

 

What fun memories we have of our newlywed days…
We have had a strong Christian home, to God be praised!
These 12 1/2 years of Marriage have been just as fun as they could be.
Thank you for being YOU and loving me as ME.

 

Thank you for being such a wonderful Daddy to our precious 4;
Thank you for loving Jesus, spending time with us and more.
Thank you for the awesome memories we have as a family
Thank you for being YOU and loving me as ME.

Thank you for letting me treat you like a KING…
And Thank you for treating me like a QUEEN!
Let us grow old together…until we are 103
Thank you for being YOU, and loving me as ME. ~Heather

Heather C B Dickinson was born 11/6/1973, in Marion, Ohio the younger daughter of the Edgar A Bryans.  Phillip, as an engagement gift painted (three different size pens, pointillism*) a large portrait of Heather and upon her saying “yes” (in the Black Hills of South Dakota) gave it to her.  They as, I hope you see, are happily married.  103 may sound fantastic but Heather’s paternal grandma is 101 and counting.  SEE HEATHER’S HIGHLIGHTS (Blogroll)

*  The theory or practice in art of applying small strokes or dots of color to a surface so that from a distance they blend together – Merriam-Webster

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