This week’s Wednesday News & Views is dedicated to Fanny Crosby (182—1915). She could play the harp, piano, guitar, and other instruments. She zealously memorized scripture, memorizing five chapters a week. Even as a child she could recite the Pentateuch, the Gospels, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and many psalms chapter and verse. She loved poetry and wrote more than 9,000 hymns…many of them classics loved by all Christian denominations. She did all this blind.

She was treated by a quack doctor for an illness when she was an infant, whose treatment lead to her blindness. She would later say she considered her blindness a gift because the first face she would ever see would belong to Jesus.

By age 23 she was addressing congress (the first woman to speak in the US Senate chamber) and befriending every US President serving during her life time. She married Alexander van Alstine, a gifted organist who wrote the music to many of her hymns. Her hymns became popular when the great evangelist D. L. Moody began using them in his crusades. Some of her more loved hymns include Blessed Assurance, To God Be The Glory, Rescue The Perishing, Safe In The Arms Of Jesus, Tell Me The Story Of Jesus, He Hideth My Soul, Jesus Is Tenderly Calling, Redeemed How I Love To Proclaim It, Praise Him Praise Him, I Am Thine O Lord, Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior.

While she could write very complex hymns and compose music with a more classical structure, she preferred to write simple, sentimental verses that could be used for evangelism and revivals. This led to many of the traditional churches and their leaders criticizing her hymns as “gushy and mawkishly sentimental.” It would seem that new music which appeals to the heart is always criticized. Yet her songs would become wildly popular and exert an enormous influence that is felt to this day.

Because she did not allow her blindness to become an excuse and, instead, served the Lord Jesus Christ with excellence throughout her life, today’s Wednesday News & Views is dedicated to Fanny Crosby.

Now to the News & Views:

Some sad stories actually make me smile. Such was the case with Harold and Ruth Knapke, childhood friends who started a courtship as pen pals while he was in the Army during WWII. Married 65 years, they shared a room in an Ohio nursing home. He was 91 and she was 89 when they died 11 hours apart on the same day earlier this month. A daughter said, “They were so committed and loyal and dedicated, they weren’t going to go anywhere without the other one.”

Young couples want to know that relationships can and do last. They’ve seen so much failure they’re not sure it’s possible. That’s one reason stories like Harold and Ruth need to be told. If you’ve been married 30 years or longer, you could be a real blessing to a young couple if you would become their friend and mentor. Then their life just might be filled with more smiles than tears.

Since August 14, 37 churches in Egypt have been either destroyed or badly damaged by Muslim fanatics. Scores of Christian businesses and schools have been looted, vandalized and torched. At least four Christians have been killed. Government authorities have done little to protect Christians. Join me in praying for the safety and spiritual boldness of our brothers and sisters in Egypt. While we’re at it, let’s also pray for own spiritual boldness…to witness for Jesus here in Rock Hill.

A final word about the “Call ‘Em All” event two Sundays ago: callers actually spoke to someone in 558 homes and left voice mails at another 365 homes. Praise the Lord!

Pastor Steve Hogg