God Still Lives -- Alton H. Howard

 

Alton Howard was thinking about God in two ways in 1971 when he composed a declarative statement – “God Still Lives”. Alton looked around where he lived on planet Earth, and then he looked to the heavens. His fingerprints are on both, Alton said. Though Alton did not explicitly reveal what moved his lyricism and tune-writing energies that resulted in this firm statement of belief, it’s not really necessary to investigate his motives. The evidence is in Alton’s life, and what Alton expressed was something that he could also have gleaned from opening his bible and reading the first few pages about creation and imagining Him at work in the very beginning (as depicted in this work of art by Lucas Cranach the Elder, in 1564). Given the creative genius that he saw in the Creator, perhaps that is what ultimately motivated the life of Alton Howard, a man who had so many talents and who sought to reflect this indescribably great God to others. ‘Be a mirror’, might be one way of saying what Alton was up to, to show others what He can do.   

 

It’s all over Alton’s life, as a lifelong Louisianan, church elder, entrepreneur, and ultimately a communicator of God’s character to others, including in the songs he wrote and published widely. If someone said a wealthy man was blessed by God so that he could pass along those blessings to others, that would be another way to describe Alton. This translator and communicator of God to others did it through a radio ministry and church camp, but also through the songs that flowed from his inner being and into the 18 songbooks that he published or authored. It could be said that this was a conscious decision of Alton to inform as many as possible through God’s music medium about Him. Splashing across the music score what he felt about God was just a natural expression for Alton, one that he spent a lifetime exercising. It was as if he was trying to mimic in his own way the everlasting nature of the One who he could see in so many ways. If Alton ran out of ways to see impressions of Him here on Earth, he saw him in the heavens when he looked up (probably not unlike this photo of the heavens captured by the NASA and ESA Hubble telescope).

Alton saw the ‘heart(s) of…men’, and knew of God’s work among men in ‘ages past’ (v.1), and said that spoke volumes about this living God. He was also evident in nature – ‘rocks’, ‘hills’, ‘birds’, and the ‘rippling brook’ (chorus) – as a constant reminder of Him and His marvelous handiwork that excites our senses. The other three verses of Alton’s praise to Him suggest he was looking upward much of the time that he considered His being. ‘Space afar’ (v.2), ‘ten thousand worlds’, ‘the order of the universe’ (v.3), and the ‘distant star’ (v.4) occupied Alton’s thoughts and musical expression in 1971. Whether one traveled in the mind to these faraway lights or came back down to earth, Alton knew he could rely on Him to be the following: ‘righteousness’ (v.1), powerful (vv.2-3), and indeed ‘great’ beyond our ability to express it to Him adequately (v.4).

 

If we say that He is living, as Alton believed because of all that he could see, perhaps that is the best way to honor and live for Him. That means He is watching and seeing how you and I react to this pivotal piece of information about Him. Am I stuck in the day’s all-too-human events, which so often are most definitely not ‘on earth as in heaven’, as the God-Son once taught believers to pray to a living God? Or, are those just rote words? Others will say that they cannot see Him, so why pray to a God you cannot see? Indeed, He has been for most of human history hidden, physically. That was true at one time, until He came to show Himself. Does He need to show up again for you to conclude that He lives? What do you make of all that Alton has already seen?          

 

Read about the author-composer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Hardy_Howard   and also here: https://christianchronicle.org/songbook-publisher-entrepreneur-howard-dies-at-age-81/?A=SearchResult&SearchID=2809510&ObjectID=4369268&ObjectType=35

 

See here for information on the first image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Creation-Luther-Bible-1534.jpg ….This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931. …found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_creation_narrative

 

See here for information on the second image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hubble_ultra_deep_field.jpg ….This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA and ESA. NASA Hubble material (and ESA Hubble material prior to 2009) is copyright-free and may be freely used as in the public domain without fee, on the condition that only NASA, STScI, and/or ESA is credited as the source of the material. This license does not apply if ESA material created after 2008 or source material from other organizations is in use….found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creator_deity

I Walk with the King -- Alton H. Howard

 

Alton Howard had these words on his lips practically all of his life, and he could today undoubtedly say these words written in 1971 have reached their full flower. “I Walk with the King” was something Alton wanted to say about himself, but the way he lived and served in his community must have urged others to do the same. This was something that Jesus Christ’s closest associates, the Apostles, could have also said (See the 15^th Century artwork, Calling of the Apostles, by Domenico Ghirlandaio here.), though calling Him ‘king’ would have been a risky proposition; in fact, that issue of Jesus’ kingship was ultimately how His earthly enemies managed to have Him executed. His kingdom was a great offense and never made sense to some, and was the root of why they relegated Him to a grave, albeit only temporarily. But upon His resurrection, His kingdom did not remain a mystery, and indeed became a source of unquenchable power. It was something that reached – and still does today – people like Alton, and probably explains his life that had impact in so many different ways.

 

Can one accurately count the various ways and the number of people that Alton Howard’s journey with his Lord has affected? Jesus once made a stunning statement to the Apostles -- Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12). How would you feel if God-in-the-flesh told you that you would be outdoing Him someday? Go out and reach the world – that’s the charge that Jesus gave those remaining 11 (soon to be 12) Apostles at the conclusion of His earthly ministry. Perhaps Alton felt the same way, though the method he employed was reaching the world from his home in West Monroe, Louisiana. Alton was a born-and-bred Cajun state resident, and spent most of the eight decades-plus of his life there, including most notably as a church elder, music publisher, hymnist, founder of a church camp and international radio ministry, author, and multi-talented businessman. That’s more than enough for one lifetime! One source indicates that Alton’s published songbooks reached up to three million copies worldwide. How many people did the church in West Monroe, where he served faithfully as an elder for 40 years, ultimately touch? The same question could be asked regarding the church camp and radio ministry, as well the songs and the books that he wrote. One gets the impression that if Alton was walking with his king, that he must have worn out several pairs of shoes in the process! He had business savvy here on earth in so many ways, according to those who knew him, but the words of the song he composed in 1971 showed that that was only the stepping stone to another plane above this planet. ‘I walk with the King to heavenly land’ (v.1), Alton said poetically in the first line, and though his many ventures didn’t always last, one detects little regret about his life in what he wrote. He was an earthly entrepreneur, but the direction was vertical, a trajectory that made his life such a positive influence, as a signpost – indeed, with lots of posted signs wherever Alton journeyed! -- to the One he served.   

 

Not much more could be said about Alton Howard than has already been spelled out in several ways, even if we don’t know specifically what motivated his songwriting in 1971. You can read more about him via the links below. He was carrying out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), even as he lived and worked in southern Louisiana. Does that speak to the rest of us? You don’t have to go far from home to serve God and touch many others for Him. Alton was a living testimony to that approach. Some of us write blogs (yes!), or do many other things that transport our words, actions, and passions for God elsewhere, places where we may never go while inhabiting this earth. He can use you wherever you are. So, take a page out of Alton’s playbook, and get out there!

 

See following links for information on the composer:

 http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/songbook-publisher-entrepreneur-howard-dies-at-age-81?A=SearchResult&SearchID=2809510&ObjectID=4369268&ObjectType=35

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Books

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Hardy_Howard

 

See also “Our Garden of Song”, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1980.

 

See information on the artwork here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghirlandaio,_Domenico_-_Calling_of_the_Apostles_-_1481.jpg … This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.

Where Peace Like a River -- Alton Howard

 

Did he mean to say’When..’, instead? That’s what response you’ll get from your computer, when you try to search for Alton Hardy Howard’s "Where Peace Like a River” that he penned in 1977. You get the impression that Alton knew what he was doing when he wrote his words, especially in the first verse’s opening line. He certainly was aware of, and gave a nod toward the more well-known song about a peaceful river that begins with ‘When’. From his lifelong home-state of Louisiana, Alton was thinking of a place, indeed the same place for which his predecessor and author of the ‘When’ hymn was yearning. Had Alton suffered a grievous loss as his musical ancestor had, prompting a similar spontaneous purging of his soul’s anguish? 

 

The short answer is that we don’t know what spurred Alton Howard to compose three verses about a place with an environment like a peaceful river. Alton’s life led him down a variety of avenues, but they all led to the same destination. The biggest parts of Alton’s life, from the sources we can examine, were the Christian enterprises that he led – from a radio program, to a Christian camp, to a church he helped shepherd for decades, and to the music that he helped publish and promote. Most assuredly, we can surmise that Alton knew and had sung many times “When Peace Like a River”, by Horatio Spafford. Perhaps it was the 100-year anniversary of that song’s publication, in 1876, that sparked Alton’s imagination. Who couldn’t be moved by Spafford’s circumstances, the staggering loss of his four children in a ship’s accident in the Atlantic Ocean? From what we know of Alton’s life, at least a few of the ventures in which he engaged – including some business efforts, no doubt with a monetary cost -- were not successful, so was one or more of them cause for dejection in 1977? Horatio’s words regarding ‘sorrows like sea billows’ may have struck a nerve in Alton’s spirit, for his own poem’s first few words are nearly identical to Spafford’s – ‘sorrows like billows’. Something in Alton’s life was the source of some ‘despair’ (v.1), yet he doesn’t wallow in that state. He’s looking in the rearview mirror, in his mind’s eye, while in a place he expects will be a ‘city so fair’ (v.1). It’s a place of ‘sunshine’, and of a ‘fountain’ with ‘Calvary’ at the headwaters (vv.2,3). While Horatio dreamt of the day when the Lord would come to erase his life’s tragedy, Alton looked beyond, when he would be enjoying his inheritance.

 

 Alton Howard was awash in despair at times, too, though he chose not to emphasize that. He could imagine that the river, though peaceful, was also powerful. To be enveloped by such a stream was not just a way relieve the troubles of existence, but it was existence itself. It’s not a temporary bath, it’s where one resides. All the surroundings feed you, sustain you. We can hardly fathom such a place, since earthly life is mingled with struggle, and that is the only place any of us have ever been. So, was somebody communicating with Alton from another place, or was he merely wishfully letting his mind wander? Perhaps Alton allowed himself some dreaming, because it helped transform his present, and held the promise of transport, too. You and I don’t need more of everyday reality. Let’s live for what Alton could see.     

 

 

See following links for information on the composer:

 

http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/songbook-publisher-entrepreneur-howard-dies-at-age-81?A=SearchResult&SearchID=2809510&ObjectID=4369268&ObjectType=35

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Books

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Hardy_Howard

 

See also “Our Garden of Song”, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1980.