Lord Be There -- Ken Shackelford

 

Camp song. For some people, that two-word phrase sums up the song that Ken Shackelford wrote, perhaps during one summer around 1992, in some woods north of Searcy, Arkansas to help focus a group of young people on someone they could not see. He coached them to say “Lord Be There”, because he might have known that these kids needed someone to help them through the rough spots in their still-developing lives. One can imagine that it leapt out of someone’s mouth during a vulnerable moment, maybe around a campfire where honesty and mutual support are offered to anyone who asks for it. No one can hide from the all-seeing eye, but Ken might have said that this omniscience wasn’t a quality to fear, but instead one of an understanding God to whom they could cling in trust.

 

Ken Shackelford and his wife Tanja have plenty of experience with kids of their own, so therein may be the inspiration for how Ken’s music has been birthed. The ‘SHACKfamily.com’ website indicates that the Shackelfords have eight children, on top of the kids that Ken has met and helped when he was working at Camp Wyldewood in north-central Arkansas for a while. It’s not clear what exact circumstances spurred ‘Lord Be There’, though some of his songs were reportedly written for specific camp themes; other songs were adopted just because they were favorites of the campers, apparently. Kids, probably to include his and his wife’s octet of offspring, have plenty of stumbles that can turn into learning experiences. You can guess this fact-of-life axiom was the subject of camp life on more than one occasion, spawning the title words of the song and those that follow – ‘when I fall’ (soprano and alto parts). While the female parts express an invitation for Him to come into their midst, the young men’s parts (tenor and bass) articulate a confidence that He indeed joins them and is all-sufficient. To sing this as a four-part round also emphasizes the personal acknowledgement that each voice contributes to this prayer-song, saying in effect ‘I have my own mistakes, and each of my friends has the ones they bring to you, God’. While missteps are not episodes anyone relishes, when they are confessed and handed off to Him who can heal, an otherwise noxious scent gives way to fresh harmony – the sound this song transmits to its singers to transform them. That must have been what Ken was after – making these kids appreciate that they need not flee from confession of wrongdoing; instead, own up to being human, and you’ll find others will join in that chorus with you. Not just for kids, by the way, is it?

 

The message Ken wants to spread doesn’t stop with kids singing ‘Lord Be There’ around a campfire or in a meadow at Camp Wyldewood. The Shackelford clan promotes something called Lumenations, in which stories of Christian disciples are shared to spark more disciples to tell their own stories, and thereby spread the news about how He works in many ways. It’s sort of the theme of ‘Lord Be There’, magnified beyond a campfire group’s reach. I call out to Him for the holy divine presence and intervention in my own situation, but at the same time Lumenations says that I should re-tell the story of how He answers, and how blessed events as a result of an answered prayer pile on top of one another. Imagine ‘Lord Be (ing) There’ in not just one instance, but in an exponential way. That’s God, being who He is. Lord, be there!             

 

 

See the following site for an explanation of the possible origin of the song: http://theshackfamily.com/wyldewoodsongs

 

See the following site for info on the author and his family: http://theshackfamily.com/

 

Another site that the author uses to further the message: https://www.lumenations.org/about

 

Site for the camp where the author may have written the song: https://www.campwyldewood.org/about-us/vision-mission-core-values

It Is No Secret – Carl Stuart Hamblen

 

Somebody could say this cowboy’s life was not a secret, both before and after he allowed God to work on him. Carl ‘Stuart’ Hamblen was a brazen sinner, if ever there was one – party animal might accurately describe this fellow, who fit right in with the Hollywood crowd, that exclusive Los Angeles club of ‘stars’. In Stuart’s case, he must have thought “It Is No Secret” that his life was in fact an exposé. And, with that thought, he attended an event at which a well-known preacher was speaking, perhaps because he wanted something to change. And, when he decided to do a 180-degree turnaround, a switch that got the attention of the ‘star’ crowd, Stuart did not shy away from his new ‘secret’. He embraced it, and what he wrote suggests he thought others might too, if he did what came naturally to his musician’s sense.

 

It was 1949, and Stuart Hamblen might have been living the dream life of an actor, singer-songwriter, and radio host in the Mecca of the American entertainment scene. But, he was also in mid-life – so, was he in a crisis that he didn’t even know was upon him, until an encounter with a young preacher – Billy Graham – changed him forever? Drinking, gambling, and generally being what some might have called a ‘hell-raiser’ was the Stuart Hamblen that his associates knew. Stuart’s wife, according to some accounts of events, coaxed her husband to attend one night of Graham’s crusade that was ongoing in L.A. Other accounts indicate the two men were also on Stuart’s radio show, or that they’d met at the home of a Hollywood bible teacher. Perhaps it was a combination of many things, but the result was Hamblen surrendered his life to Christ, something he wasn’t reluctant to admit publicly, including on his radio broadcast. Even John Wayne’s attention was captured apparently, and perhaps this famous movie star did as much as anyone to spark Stuart’s musical response to his life change. Wayne reportedly suggested that Stuart’s own admission to him – that his conversion was no secret, and that God was capable of doing anything in someone’s life – was a song waiting to be written. So, later that night, just about midnight when his living room clock began to sound the hour – the ‘chimes of time ring out the news’ (v.1) – Stuart’s inspiration was making its way onto a musical score sheet. According to one version, the song was done 17 minutes later, to Hamblen’s astonishment. The Billy Graham crusades to preach across America also got a shot in the arm, consequently, as news of the conversion of the former ‘hell-raiser’ and its apparent authenticity spread. Stuart’s own words indicated that he felt he’d been pardoned (chorus).  

 

Was there a latent desire within Stuart Hamblen to know God before he met Billy Graham? Hamblen’s upbringing had been in the family with a father who was a Methodist preacher in Texas, so perhaps the seed was already planted that finally sprouted in Stuart’s early 40s. And, it was not a temporary episode for this radio personality-actor-singer. For example, he subsequently spurned beer commercials on his shows, even to the point of becoming a candidate for U.S. president for the Prohibition Party in 1952. Though he never became president, Stuart continued writing songs, eventually becoming a member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1994, along with many other awards as his life progressed. Perhaps looking back, one might say Stuart’s Christianity was lying just below the surface, though well-hidden in 1949. It just needed someone to light a match to make it burn. Is there an ember in your life that could jump into flame, with just a bit of fuel?

 

   

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and Then Sings My Soul, by Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

 

Also see this link, showing all three verses:

 

Also see this link for author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/a/m/b/hamblen_cs.htm

Also see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hamblen

Also see the story here: https://www.staugustine.com/living/religion/2016-07-29/story-behind-song-it-no-secret

‘Tis Set the Feast Divine -- Lloyd O. Sanderson

Maybe he thought the communion songs he’d heard and sung needed something more. Was that what moved Lloyd Otis Sanderson to write something brand new, his own thoughts or maybe words he’d heard spoken about “‘Tis Set the Feast Divine” ? He was 47 and living probably in Memphis, Tennessee, and had been a music lover his whole life when he penned his two verses about this special meal. Many believers might say that this meal – admittedly sparse in its physical content, in comparison to any other meals we could imagine – is the most significant part of a first-day-of-the-week routine. Maybe Lloyd thought it had indeed become too routine, and that a reminder of just what was going on during this customary activity was needed. As a sometime preacher, Lloyd may have had a lot more to say (including when he used a hymn writer’s pseudonym Vana R. Raye [an alteration of his wife’s name, Re­na Ray]) than what he voiced in condensed version in these two verses. Look forward to talking to Lloyd more about the feast, and enjoy for now what his words continue to share.

 

Lloyd Sanderson had been engaged in various musical enterprises by 1948 when he wrote about a weekly observance called by various names. He’d probably heard it called ‘Lord’s Supper’, ‘Communion’, or ‘Eucharist’, as well as ‘Sacrament’ or ‘Mass’ in other faith traditions. Lloyd thought of it as the ‘Feast Divine’, though he too thought of it as a time to commune (v.1), or as a supper (vv.1-2). From his college training, editorial and publishing experience (Gospel Advocate and Christian Counselor, and many music guides), and travels to teach singing, Lloyd had undoubtedly gathered lots of input about this special weekly event. It’s said that he thought music should reach into a person’s soul, not to the ‘flesh’, and that a song’s worthy idea must be matched by its form. Lloyd also wanted his poetry to reflect proper English and share the truth. ‘Tis Set the Feast Divine’ must have accomplished all these objectives in Lloyd’s estimation, without undue adornment. And, nothing comes through but what Lloyd must have gathered was present in scripture – that the meal was initiated by God, and therefore ‘divine’; that the contents (bread and fruit of the vine, aka wine) were His idea; and that its effect is profound for its partakers. Besides being divine, it’s a ‘shrine’ (v.1), reflects a ‘holy concern’, and reminds us that His presence is something for which we ‘yearn’ (v.2), words that relate that Lloyd wanted members to think of the feast not as a well-worn tradition. Taking in God should not be without some renewal, a reminder of Him and His accomplishment. Lloyd did not need other words; indeed, he was taking his cues from the divine, right along with the meal that he ate with other believers. What the Lord had already given was sufficient – in fact, miraculous, a reflection of Himself. No doubt, Lloyd already knew this, so savoring the morsel of bread and the sip of wine to its maximum effect was probably what Lloyd was after. The operative word is ‘divine’.

 

This God we see in Lloyd’s song also served other divine meals. And, they were no less miraculous than the one I eat weekly. Bible stories tell us he fed thousands (Matthew 14 and 15), turning scant supplies into bounty. And, there will be a feast in Eternity (Rev. 19), one which Lloyd and the rest of us are preparing to eat someday. One suspects that Lloyd had absorbed that these other meals were or will be served by the divine hand’s inspiration. Divine means it just cannot be ordinary, or is even comparable to the best meals prepared by human hands. Maybe it was a Thanksgiving or some other holiday meal, but eventually, all that food vanished. Think of how His compares. He can make food in His meals appear out of nowhere. Do you think His food will ever run out in heaven? Let’s you and me, and Lloyd go find out!.         

 

See the following site for very brief biography of the author-composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/a/n/d/sanderson_lo.htm  

 

Also see the following book for more information: Our Garden of Song, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company, West Monroe, LA, 1980.