"A Little Child"
Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. (Psalm 105:4 NLT)
In last week's message (July 1) I shared a poem by a mentor of mine named Clyde Cranford. This verse reminded me of him & another poem he wrote. I thought I would take the opportunity to share a little bit more about him.
Clyde impacted hundreds of people during his life. He led music at many revivals. He used to start every revival with an a cappella arrangement of "Brethren, We Have Met to Worship," a practice I picked up in college as well. Here are the words below:
Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Brethren, see poor sinners round you slumbering on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses’ sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Is there here a trembling jailer, seeking grace, and filled with tears?
Is there here a weeping Mary, pouring forth a flood of tears?
Brethren, join your cries to help them; sisters, let your prayers abound;
Pray, Oh pray that holy manna may be scattered all around.
Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.
Then He’ll call us home to Heaven, at His table we’ll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.
This, as well as many other things that Clyde did, greatly impacted me. He met with me weekly when I was sixteen & taught me various topics concerning the Christian faith. For all the guys he disciples, the saddest day was the day when he would say, "I think our time of meeting is over." He discipled hundreds of men one-on-one. He called his ministry "Life to Life."
One of the most shaping meetings we had was when I was doubting my salvation. I asked him if he thought I really knew the Lord. He said, "Why do you do what you do? Why do you pray, read the Bible, share Jesus, etc.?" I thought for a minute & couldn't give an answer. Finally he said, the right answer is because you love him. That changed my perspective about my relationship with God. For so long it had been about doing or not doing & from that point on it became a relationship.
Clyde had a relationship with God that was totally unique. He would take long drives in his car & just commune with God. He was single all his life & died at age 45.
He had many health problems & couldn't sleep well at night. So, he would read his Bible & meditate on Scripture. Out of this time with the Lord came some poetry. And this is the poem that I was reminded of when I read today's reading. Psalm 105:4 says, "Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him." Out of his meditation on this verse came this poem by Clyde.
"A Little Child"
A little child persistent calls his mother yet in vain
For she just now with furrowed brow is pondering some grown up thing
She stoops to tuck him into bed, like only mother's can
He reaches up to take her face, within his tiny hands embrace & win her smile again
Oh Father like this little one would we your children prove
For you are not preoccupied, to hear our prayers you are incline when lowliness we choose
And like this little child at rest, we'd pillow on your grace
And reaching up with hearts of love, so would we seek your face
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I'm always amazed at the depth of insight God gave him. It only came with frequent & lengthy meditation on the Word of God. Clyde put his discipleship material into a book called, "Because we Love Him." I recommend it to you. Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1576738655
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