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Song: Jesus Is Lord of All
Scripture: Romans 14:1-9
"For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."

The purpose of this story is twofold, (1) to let you see the heartbeat of the songwriters as they struggle to make Jesus Christ Lord of their lives, and (2) to let Gloria Gaither tell you about the writing of this wonderful worship song.

Recently, in an interview, she told of some of the early influences in her life which greatly contributed to her present abilities as a lyricist and poet. She said, “I can’t remember when I didn’t write. Both my parents created an environment in our home that I have been able to draw on all through these years.”

“My dad was a pastor and church planter as well as a great student of the Bible. Our house guests, on many occasions, were teachers, missionaries and theologians. I had the opportunity to hear their discussions and was very often invited to enter into them. My parents encouraged that.”

“I grew up with a writing mother. Our home was filled with poetry, and all kinds of stories. I cut my teeth on the classic fairy tales such as Aesop’s Fables. Mother would read to us poems by Longfellow, Whittier and other great writers. At the dinner table the discussion was usually what our parents and we had recently read. I wanted to have something to say during dinner, so I read.”

“I began writing in high school and entered numbers of speech contests, winning many of them. In one of the contests, an oration earned for me a trip to Washington where I met President Dwight Eisenhower.” These activities and accomplishments led to a college scholarship for Gloria.

“Bill, right out of high school, began traveling with a professional quartet. This venture was short lived. He left the road, feeling that he had been a failure, and entered college where he decided to major in English. Through his college years he sang in a trio, made up of himself, his brother, and a younger sister. After college he began teaching in a high school where I was a substitute French teacher, and at the same time a student at Anderson University majoring in French and Sociology and with a minor in English. I was nineteen years old at the time. We met on his first day of teaching at the high school. I never would have thought of being a lyricist had I not met Bill.”

“As I sought God’s will for my life, I always remembered the advice and counsel of my mother who said, ‘God’s will for your life is God’s will for this minute. Don’t ask God for any more information until you know what you know to do now. Then do it with everything you’ve got.’”

“If you were to take our songs and lay them end-to-end you would see the pilgrimage of Bill and Gloria Gaither -- a pilgrimage of topics that God emphasized in our lives. When our children were small we were talking a lot about the Lordship of Christ. Just how do you prioritize? What may be important to us may not be what God wants to dwell upon at that particular time. How do you travel and sing, and take care of children, and remain faithful to your church on Sunday -- all at the same time?”

“I remember one notable event during those times. It was June and the week of Amy’s third birthday. To celebrate she wanted to have a cookout down at the creek. She planned her own menu: hot dogs and hamburgers, corn on the cob, green beans, watermelon, and raspberry cake.”

“The afternoon to the big affair, Grandma and Grandpa were the first to arrive. Benjy, then almost two, had a brand-new ball and bat and wanted Grandma to play ball with him. So while Amy waited for the cousins to climb into the wagon we had hitched to the garden tractor, Benjy and Grandma went on down to play ball.”

“I watched Grandma pitch the ball to Benjy who was up to bat. Suddenly the peaceful mood was shattered as Benjy threw his bat to the ground, stomped his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs, ‘Grandma! You missed again! You missed my bat again!’” It turned our to be that kind of day for this little guy. Nothing went the way he wanted. He wanted it to be his birthday, but it was Amy’s. He wanted to eat watermelon when we were eating hot dogs. He wanted to go for a paddle-boat ride while everyone else was running races. By the end of the day, with all the playing, running, fighting, and crying, Benjy was exhausted.”

“He held his arms up to me and said, ‘Carry me, Mommy,’ so I carried him up the hillside and to the house. He was all hot and dirty, and he went to sleep on my shoulder before I got him to the top.”

“I took him to his room and laid him on his green bedspread. How dear he looked -- his blond hair all plastered to his forehead, catsup on his nose, a grubby little baseball clutched tightly in one hand! How I loved him! I took the baseball from his clenched fingers and smiled to myself as I remembered what he had said earlier about missing his bat.”

“Then, as I stood there beside that exhausted little boy, now holding his toy in my hand, I became aware of some struggles of my own, some areas in my life that I needed to relinquish.”

“There had been times when I acted like a spiritual two-year-old. Times when I had stood with my own neat little set of needs and longings and desires in my hand and, in my own more subtle and sophisticated way, shouted to my children, and to my husband, and to the church and others around me, ‘You missed my bat! Here I am, with my needs all ready to be met, and you missed my bat!’”

“So that day beside a sleeping little boy, I knelt and gave it all up to Jesus; our precious children, our marriage, our hopes and plans and dreams and schemes, my fears and failures -- all of it. Once more the peace and contentment came as I began to cease the struggling.”

“As soon as we relinquish one area of our lives, God seems to make us aware of new unsurrendered areas. This process caused us to write Jesus Is Lord of All. All of this shows up in that song. The verses tell of that struggle. I was convicted, and I prayed, ‘Lord, you know I just need to make one big decision here. I don't need to make all of these decisions. I just need to say, ‘You are Lord of all.’”

In years since the writing of the song, Gloria has recited the above story as they sang it, making it much more meaningful to all who heard it. The song has now gone around the world and been translated into scores of languages.

Reflection:
Recognizing many of the conflicts and needs in our lives often calls for the wisdom that only God can give to his children. He has admonished us, “If you lack wisdom, just ask me for it.”

Reader Comments

What a neat story. Thanks for telling it.

God is good all the time & all the time God is good. 

Elaine Harcourt

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