Sing Me Back Home

I’ve been writing on this for a good while, I’ll work on it, delete parts, write some more and repeat.  I think it’s the nearness of it to my heart that makes it so special to me.  Sitting in daddy’s truck, waiting on daylight, on the opening day of squirrel season or so, we could cut a load of firewood. I wasn’t always happy about being there, but looking back, I cherish those memories.  Listening to the country radio station and knowing how much he loved music.

My Daddy was a fan of music. Country and bluegrass were music to him, and pretty much everything else was not.  I heard a lot of Cal Smith’s Country Bumpkin and pretty much everything Jim Reeves ever sang, and also liked a little Fats Domino every now and then.  I enjoyed listening to his records as a child.
Every once in awhile, a song will pop into my head, and I’ll catch myself singing it over and over.

Had Daddy lived into this modern-day, I’m sure the “Okie from Muskogee” by Merle Haggard would have been a play-list usual on his phone, though I have a hard time imagining him with a cell phone.  One of the Hag’s songs in particular that I catch myself singing a lot is “Sing Me Back Home.”  Sing Me Back Home is a particularly sad song about a death row inmate on his final walk.  As he walks to his execution, he asks the Warden to allow one of the other inmates to sing him a song from his happier days, so he could feel the comfort of home one last time.

It seems that the older I get, the more fondly my memories of childhood and the protecting arms of my parents become. The kindness of my Momma and the strength of my Dad. I always felt safe at home and in their presence.  As a young man, I always sought daddy’s approval for most things and wanted to please him as he was the main example of how I assumed a man should act.  After he was gone, I caught myself heading across the field to his house to ask his opinion for several years.

With my career path, I often find myself far from home for extended periods of time.  Working in foreign places is, in my being, I get, what I call itchy feet when I’m in one place for very long, but every adventure is punctuated by driving up to my house and seeing the beautiful smile of my Bride.  While I’m away, home is always on my mind.

Also, with age comes the realization of how short life is, and as I often say, life rarely goes as planned.  My life plans were never that firm, but I’d never have thought it would have gone the way it has.   But, even if it all works out the way we planned, we all still leave by way of the grave, so that’s always a sobering thought.

As Christians, we are taught and sing about how this world is not our home.  How we should ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” and look unto the Author and finisher of our faith.  We have the unique perspective that Home is ahead of us, and even though we haven’t been there before, we have friends and family waiting there, preparing a welcome table for our arrival.

The Apostle Paul said that for him, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  I remember realizing that scripture as a young Christian and being excited about it.  Everything I face in life will be by the grace of God, for me to live is His anointed will, but to my flesh to die, in God’s Will is a promotion.
Trusting God to know what is best for me.  Knowing Him well enough to hear his voice and knowing that His will doesn’t mean you’ll be prosperous, well situated, or even liked in this world.  It doesn’t mean you’ll never face the storm or find yourself in bad situations.  It does mean that at least for His Children, things will get better.  We are in His Hands, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and He is that Light.

That old song says:
Sing me back home, to a place I used to know,
make my old memories come alive,
take me away and bring back the years,
sing me back home before I die”.

While some of our memories are fond and happy, we can never travel that way again, except in our minds.  We can only move forward, learning, and growing or repeating past mistakes.  Our longings and our goals should be firmly planted in Jesus and in knowing, trusting, and following his will.  And while the memories of my youth call to me and sometimes stir up the desire for a simpler time, the Song of my heart should always be “Sing me home to a place I’m gonna know.”

Proverbs 3:5&6  5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Learning to lean on Jesus and trusting that His plan for me is perfect, that I don’t have to understand it, one be willing to participate in it.

Thanks to my Momma for making sure I knew the Gospel.  For making sure that I had an opportunity to feel the mighty presence of God. For exposing me to His truth, and for guiding me, sometimes with a switch, onto the narrow way.

God Bless you richly, hope you enjoyed
Greg

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Author: Greg Fee

I'm a Husband, Father, Pawpaw and Pastor. I love spending time with my grand-buddies. A minister since 1988, I have been blessed to work in several churches around the U.S and currently am blessed to pastor an Awesome Church. I've also had the pleasure of ministering in faraway places while traveling for work. Some of my greatest honors have been the relationships I gained with several of the modern-day Heros of the Faith, the ministering families all around the world. Several years ago I started working with leather as a means to fight boredom while working in remote areas. It swiftly became a passion that I want to share as well. My plan is to keep spreading God's Love through the written and preached word, through walking the walk, and to keep making cool stuff along the way. Check that out at whisper_n_jack on Instagram View all posts by Greg Fee