CHRISTIAN LIFE >> PILGRIMAGE
SDAH 632
My heart can sing when I pause to remember,
A heartache here is but a stepping stone.
Along a trail, that’s winding always upward,
This troubled world, is not my final home.
For Worship Leaders
Make each hymn more meaningful with these helpful tools: Short, ready-to-use hymn introductions for church bulletins, multiple ways to introduce a hymn based on your worship theme and in-depth history and insights to enrich your song service.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
Stuart Hamblen, born October 20, 1908, the son of an itinerant Methodist preacher at Kelleyville, Texas, studied to be a teacher at McMurrey College in Abilene. But his dearest loves were the great outdoors, horses, and music. After winning an amateur singing contest, he disregarded his father’s caution, “Never leave the state of Texas!” bought a jalopy with the $100 prize money, and started out on what was to become a successful career in radio, recording, and films. At age 18, in 1926, he persuaded the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA) to record some of his cowboy songs. Going to Hollywood, he wrote songs, appeared in concert, and acted in western films. In 1949, as a result of the Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles, he accepted Christ and was one of the first to write “pop” sacred songs. His Cowboy Church of the Air radio program was a great success for more than 20 years.
In 1952 Hamblen’s deep religious convictions brought pressure on his social consciousness and led him to run for president of the United States on the Prohibition ticket. In 1972 he received the Academy of Country & Western Music’s Pioneer Award. Others of His best-known songs are “This Ole House” and “Open Up Your Heart (and Let the Sunshine In).”
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
My heart can sing when I pause to remember,
A heartache here is but a stepping stone.
Along a trail, that’s winding always upward,
This troubled world, is not my final home.
Refrain
But until then, my heart will go on singing,
Until then, with joy I’ll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.
2
The things of earth will dim and lose their value,
If we recall they’re borrowed for awhile;
And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,
Remembered there, will only bring a smile.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(r) Rev 21:2
Author
Stuart Hamblen (1908-1989)
Copyright
Copyright 1958 by Hamblen Music Co., Inc.
Metrical Number
11.10.11.10.Ref.
Composer
Stuart Hamblen
