"Sing to God" 1-10-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the song in my heart and the joy in my spirit. ... "Sing to God, sing praises to His name; lift up a song to Him who rides upon the clouds -- His name is the Lord -- be exultant before Him!" (Psalm 68:4). My grandfather Hays -- we call him PaPa -- will turn ninety-seven this week. It's been good to see him on my trip out west. We've been very concerned about him since he almost died last summer from continual bouts with pneumonia. Amazingly, he has adjusted to receiving his meals through a tube by a hole in his belly going directly into his stomach. He's not very active any more, spending most of his time sitting in his recliner; but he still desires to live every day, one day at a time. I think he has it in his mind that he wants to live to be one hundred. He used to lead the singing in the little country church near their farm in west Texas, back in the days when "worship leader" mostly meant that you sang a little louder from your hymn book than everybody else. He can't hear very well or talk very well these days, but I bought him some headphones and a CD player, with some old gospel songs I knew he had sung a million times. When I left him yesterday morning, he had a broad smile across his face, with the volume turned up on his headphones about as high as it goes, waiving his arms in the air like a music conductor. We could barely hear, but we could make out the song of praise being released from his heart -- "This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, all the day long..." Thank you, Lord. There is no telling what happens in the spiritual realm when a ninety-six year old man, barely alive on a feeding tube, is still singing praises to Your name. Heaven must rejoice and hell must tremble as they behold the sight of a frail human still praising You to the end of our final breaths. Like PaPa, give me the grace to never take the gift of my breath and the songs of the Lord in my heart for granted. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I will be at my mom's in the New Mexico mountains this week working on a book on prayer ministry. I would appreciate your prayers. God bless! To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching dvd's on healing and wholeness, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Our address is 2800 Tates Creek Rd.; Lexington, Kentucky 40502. Come to The Fountain the 3rd Saturday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com; website: www.messiah-ministries.org