Children of the Heavenly Father

Jesus and the children - by Norma Boeckler.

http://www.semicolonblog.com/?p=5907

Garrison Keillor: “I once sang the bass line of Children of the Heavenly Father in a room with about three thousand Lutherans in it; and when we finished, we all had tears in our eyes, partly from the promise that God will not forsake us, partly from the proximity of all those lovely voices. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.”

Children of the Heavenly Father
Safely in His bosom gather
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given

God His own doth tend and nourish
In His holy courts they flourish
From all evil things He spares them
In His mighty arms He bears them

Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord His children sever
Unto them His grace He showeth
And their sorrows all He knoweth

Though He giveth or He taketh
God His children ne’er forsaketh
His the loving purpose solely
To preserve them pure and holy

Lo their very hairs He numbers
And no daily care encumbers
Them that share His ev’ry blessing
And His help in woes distressing

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers
Your Protector never slumbers
At the will of your Defender
Ev’ry foe man must surrender.

Lina Berg, as she was known to her friends, wrote and published hymn lyrics even as a child. She was a sickly child and of ten had to stay at home while the rest of her family attended the Lutheran church where her father was a pastor. When LIna was twenty-three, she accompanied her father on a boat trip and watched as he fell from the boat and drowned before her eyes.

After that experience, Lina wrote the other hymn for which she is most known in the English-speaking world, Day By Day.

Day by day and with each passing moment
Strength I find to meet my trials here
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best!
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure
Mingling toil with peace and rest. *** GJ - The senseless violence in Connecticut today has affected the entire nation. When people have expressed how difficult it must be to lose two daughters,Bethany and Erin Joy, as we did, I have mentioned how much worse it is to lose a child from an accident, and worst of all - to violence. We had the advantage of trying everything possible, even using tests the health insurance had never heard of at the time (gas chromatograph mass spectrometer). Many therapies were attempted, and both girls gained the attention of doctors from the Cleveland Clinic to Harvard to Switzerland. We enjoyed our daughters' love, and they were adored by many who came to cheer them up and found themselves cheered instead. These Connecticut parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers, police officers, and medical professionals will suffer the worst kind of grief in the coming years. Those who campaign in self-righteous anger, using the crisis for more laws, will not help.  America has embraced godlessness, extreme violence, drug and alcohol abuse. Our great and wise ones engage in constant mockery of anything decent, inspiring, or patriotic. I feel assaulted by a constant display of vampire images and occult veneration. Every heritage except the Judeo-Christian is honored.
We will continue to suffer from this kind of violence as long as we sow the weed seeds of self-destruction.

Bethany filled Ida's life with joy.
Ida was her nurse.

Erin Joy grabbed her bear for the Midland Daily News photographer.
She had a big fan club in town.