Reading Ed Underwood’s book Reborn To Be Wild carried me back to the early days of my faith, actually to my days in High School. (For those who weren’t born yet that would have been 1967-1970. No comment from the peanut gallery either) 🙂 Every Campus Life meeting and every Young Life meeting always included a song that Ed’s book brought back to me. I bet you it has been over 40 years since I had heard it. Here are the lyrics to the song “He’s Everything To Me” by Ralph Carmichael:
In the stars His handiwork I see,
On the wind He speaks with majesty.
Though He ruleth over land and sea,
What is that to me?
I will celebrate Nativity,
For it has a place in history,
Sure, He came to set His people free,
What is that to me?
Til by faith I met Him face to face,
And I felt the wonder of His grace,
Then I knew that He was more
Than just a God who didn’t care,
That lived away out there
and …..
Now He walks beside me day by day,
Ever watching o’er me lest I stray,
Helping me to find that narrow way,
He is everything to me.
I suppose to some of you that is rather cheesy. But for us in that time, it was THE song. That song was before Larry Norman’s “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music” and “Wish We’d All Been Ready”, Love Song, Randy Matthews, Darrell Mansfield, and the Archers. (I know, I know, who are they?) I will grant you that the lyrics may be somewhat cheesy and the tune even cheesier BUT, and here is the big BUT, the truth and challenge of the lyrics still stand!! The question that has haunted me since reading those words again is this: Is Jesus everything to me? The answer: No. I want Him to be but I can’t sit here and lie and say, “Yes, Jesus is everything to me.” And that leads me to a further confession: I can’t say I taught my wife and children and the churches I pastored and the guys I spent time with that Jesus should be everything to them. Sure, it is everyone’s personal choice but people still need to be led. Listen to these words: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deut.6:4-9 Talk about convicting verses of Scripture!! Revival will happen in my life, in your life; in my home, in your home; in “my” church, and in “yours”; when we get back to the basic of Jesus being everything to me.
I have preached on long enough. You probably preached or heard one Sunday (today or yesterday depending on when you read this)…you don’t need another one. 😛 So let me just stop now and ask you THE question: Is Jesus everything to you? If not, how do you plan to go about making it so? I would like to hear your thoughts.
And for a little fun: for those of you (probably about all) who have never heard the song I found this arrangement.
I remember that song, even though I’m a little younger than you (but not much). And He was my everything then, and He is now…although my faith has ebbed and flowed, He has remained so faithful!
Thanks for joining HCB>and welcome!!! I look forward to interacting with you around the network. 🙂
Dena: thanks for the reminder about the age. 🙂 I think all of us can say the same thing about the ebb and flow. Thanks for visiting my blog. See you around!
Awesome Bill, thanks! May we keep these words in our hearts and in our mouths day and night and talk about them with everyone…I have been a non-music person most of my life and have a fresh and new perspective of the power of music to the soul..thanks!
Thanks Tom. I agree with your “prayer.” I am the opposite of you with the music. It has powerfully refreshed me many times.
Summer 1968: Youth camp at Ridgecrest, North Carolina. This was our theme song for the week, and I still remember all of the words. I was 17. I hadn’t heard it in years, and this brings it all back. Wow.
Powerful memory Glynn that you can remember time and place. Hope it brought back good ones. What was so cool was having my wife listen to it last night and she was singing it the rest of the night. Thanks for visiting!
I’m part of the peanut gallery and sorry…I can’t leave this one alone, since I wasn’t alive between those dataes…I wasn’t born until the end of 1971 🙂
Being raised Southern Baptist I remember learning this song but certainly not in that arrangement…it was done in a hymnal style using either organ or piano music. It was great hearing it again, I had almost forgotten about it.
The sad news is He isn’t everything to me, although with all He has done for me, he should be. After the experiences He & I have had recently I want to do all I can to make Him everything to me. I don’t want to take a breath that I don’t make Him part of it.
This is part of my own blog post but I feel it is relevant here too.
The book “Plan B” you gave me and the time God has shown Himself to me the last few weeks has really started changing my views on the recent circumstances I have been in the last few years. Anytime I will slow down and give Him some of my time He reveals something new to me. I just have to re-train myself and give Him more of me. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
Danaye: Just remember to be kind! I know where you live!! 😛 Funny you should mention the hymn-like arrangement. It is called a hymn in the research I did. As for the other thoughts: I think we can and will all say that there have been times He has not been everything to us. One step at a time…
First I know all the music you mention and I am not near as old as you. 🙂
Jesus is my everything – most of the time. The times he is not is the time that I am in trouble.
I see you too have joined up with the High calling blogs. I did too.
Jim: according to some comments must be that Baptist thing going on. 🙂 agree on your second statement. And yep, I joined up with HCB. Looking forward to reading more.
I think I’ll answer your question with this….
Lord, I give You my heart
I give You my soul
I live for You alone
Every Breath I take
Every moment I’m awake
Lord, have Your way in me
– Lord, I give You my heart, Michael W. Smith
I’ll accept that answer Jay. thanks. 🙂
I think we had hand motions for that song in Junior High in the early 80’s. Now that’s cheesy!
But the words are true. Maybe Project 86 or Relient K could spice up a new version for us. (I sure wish I had access to Youtube here so I could listen to the version you found.)
I wish I could say that Jesus was everything to me. There’s so much distraction to take my mind and spirit away from focus on Him. I think by the time I can say “Yes” to your question, it will be my time to go home. Maybe that’s the goal after all.
Go ahead Jim…make me really feel old! Hand motions? 🙂 The version I found was the Imperials, sort of a remake of the old song, nothing spectacular. Any maybe you have it right after all. Thanks for taking time to come by.
good stuff, bill. i have made the commitment, but the best i can do is “he is becoming everything to me.”
btw, i remember (had the albums) of everybody you referenced. the archers were one of my favorites…steve archer was an amazing singer and i think he is still traveling. man, we’re old.
Thanks Randy. “He is becoming” is a good way to put it. I remember having the Archers purple album and then I remember having the gray one with Tim, Steve and Janice on the front in all their “Farrah Fawcett hair” glory. 😛 I think you and I are telling our age. LOL
Hi Bill,
My guess is the hand motions that were done to the song ‘He’s everything to me’ was a type or adaptation of sign language.
We’ve got to stay faithful to Him in these days and in the days ahead of us. Compromise for the sake of peace seems to be what is being talked about lately in the media and other areas.
I hope to be watching and guarding my mind and my heart for Jesus to make him everything to me. We need to be aware and conscious of what we are allowing into our daily lives. I’m not talking about being fearful and constantly scared and worried because the Bible exhorts us over and over again to ‘not be afraid’! On the other hand we do not want to be so lax that we have no idea what we need to do or what is going on in our lives.
We need to watch, and pray, and ask God to guide our steps in his ways. We don’t want to mix other parts of religions and spiritual practices with Jesus.
We want to love our neighbor, which includes all peoples, but we don’t want to necessarily accept what they are doing as what we should be doing. We want to ensure that Jesus is the one and only God that we serve.
In India, people can pay a very high price for making Jesus their only God. If they add him to their array of Gods, it’s fine. But no exclusivity. We want to be exclusive.
Linda: that was tongue-in-cheek. many of the earlier songs had hand motions to them. There was one called “his banner over me is love” that must have had like 1000 of them! 🙂
Hi Bill,
Zechariah Chps 7:9 and 8:16 say
that our choices and decisions matter. We are to administer true justice, show mercy, speak the truth, do not lie, etc.
I think that these things are encompassed in the 10 commandments and then again in the new testament with the teachings of Jesus. We need to take these matters to heart. God does not want us to cheat or lie. We need to watch ourselves. If we find ourselves lying, then we need to pray and repent to God and plan for how we will not tell a lie the next time we find ourselves in a similar situation.
The more we give ourselves permission to be worldly and follow the ways of the world the more danger we are in to turn away from the true God and to serve false gods and idols.
No doubt they matter. Not sure where the lie and cheating comments came from so feel free to elaborate or clear it up for me, as well as the worldly comment.
Hi Bill,
Lying and cheating were examples that came to my head. We could put any number of things in that sentence such as greed, lust, dishonesty, stealing, adultery, etc. etc.
Worliness. The way I understand worldliness is ways and practices that are opposed to the teachings of the Bible. The Bible says to be honest, so if we lie and steal we are being worldly.
Hi Bill,
Just as an aside, there is a pre-trial conference going on in Vancouver, British Columbia, right now concerning polygamy in Canada.
The issues of the coming trial apparently have come down to whether Civil law should trump Religious law or vice versa. If we say civil law trumps then our religious freedoms can be taken away from us whenever the law of the land determines is necessary. If we say religious law trumps then we are endorsing the legality of polygamous relationships in Canada.
Times are changing!!
WOW! And yes, they are changing.
No, He’s not – but like you I pray that he is more and more precious to me everyday. What am I doing? Committing to His word everyday, through the accountability of this blogging community.
Had to be a daily prayer doesn’t it Herb? we will never arrive. The blogging community sure keeps the accountability going.
Not corny… REAL! I liked it.
DS: Glad you liked it!
Yep, a lot easier to sing it then to live it. Is Jesus everything to me every day…no probably not. Should he, oh yea. Should I quit trying…I think Peter put it best when he said, “where else would I go?” Thanks for the Post.
Hey doug! Good to have you visit my blog! Have already checked yours out before commenting. I will be back to visit. Your words could echo mine. Again, thanks for coming by.
This is GREAT! It brought tears to my eyes. The first and last time I sang this song was about 40 years ago at a beautiful summer camp I attended in High Point, PA. We sang it everyday and it is forever in my heart just as He is. I am working on making Him my everything but life keeps getting in the way.
Hey Fran! It is good to have you visit my blog. Will have to email you to ask how you found me. I also attended camp in PA. Mine was Camp Christian in Mill Run. That would be near Somerset area. Where is High Point? Glad this brought back good memories to you. That is a funny thing about life, you know? Stay in touch! Thanks for visiting.
Thank you so much for this arrangement. It sounds fabulous! I remember this song from my old camp meeting days. We sang it in the camp youth choir. I had it going through my head last nite before falling asleep and had to come down and look it up on the computer and this is what I found. He’s everything to Me! Praise God!
Boy Candy. Your comment took me back quite a ways. 2010. I had totally forgotten this post for sure. Thanks for taking the time to comment. hope the song was meaningful to you.
I’ll be 60 in May and my earliest memory of this eloquent and moving song by the great Ralph Carmichael
is from 1968 on my very first day of high school. We had assembly in the gym. I was only 14 but I was deeply touched as it was sung by a fellow student. She was the daughter of two teachers at the school.
IMO, it is truly one of the greatest Gospel songs of all time.
I got you beat in age by a year and a half Tony. Once again, as I mentioned to Candy, you brought me back to this post. Thanks for the comment.
You’re welcome. Here’s a nice instrumental rendition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uU0lL2MQWE