June 2019
Text Box: Pastor's Thoughts This morning I found myself mentally singing, One Day at a Time, Sweet Jesus. The song was written by Marijohn Melson a country song writer, so I wondered what inspired her to pin the words to such a powerful biblical thought. Here is what I found. By age thirty-seven, Marijohn had moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she became one of the leading songwriters in the country music industry. She had written more than four hundred country songs, and many of them rose to the top of the charts. She was associated with such stars as Mel Tillis, Johnny Cash, Patti Page, Charlie Pride, Patsy Cline, Glen Campbell, and Kris Kristofferson. She published more than seventy-five of his songs. Amid the acclaim, money, and success she enjoyed as a country music songwriter, Marijohn stopped attending church and eventually became addicted to alcohol. On more than one occasion, she attempted suicide. But God, in His merciful grace, spared her life. At age fifty-three, Marijohn wrote her most famous song, “One Day at a Time.” Here’s the story I found on CBN: “I really could not understand why I was having so much success in the country music field. Although I had enjoyed quite a rush as a country writer, I had reached the end of my rope. I truly felt that I had been called to be a gospel writer, but I couldn’t seem to get there. I was in the music scene up to my ears in Nashville. Wherever it was ‘happening,’ I was there, helping to make it happen. Yet I became frustrated! I’d had it! “I stopped by a small church and asked a young minister if I could talk with him. I found out later that I was the first person he had counseled. I drove up in my new, midnight blue Cadillac, dressed in a full-length mink coat with sparkling jewelry and my cowboy boots. I said, ‘I have all kinds of problems.’ He looked at me and said, ‘You look like you don’t have any financial problems.’ I answered, ‘No, I don’t.’ He said, ‘You look pretty healthy.’ I said, ‘Well, I guess I am.’ He then asked, ‘What is your main problem?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ He didn’t seem to know what more to say to me. “At that point in our conversation, he said a funny thing, but it was okay, because it worked. He asked, ‘Did you ever think about thanking God for your problems?’ (Ephesians 5:20). I left his office and drove back home. “When I reached the house, I found it was empty, and I was glad. I sat down at the piano and began to play and sing—out loud—the entire chorus to ‘One Day at a Time.’ ‘That’s all I’m asking from You. Just give me the strength to do every day, what I have to do.’ It just dropped into my heart. And when I had finished singing, my ‘Nashville mind’ said, ‘That’s a hit!’ That was the first thing that popped into my head. I then recognized that the song was a prayer—and I got some relief. “I wrote the chorus on the back of an envelope as fast as I could write. I then continued to sing, ‘Do You remember when You walked among men? Well, Jesus, You know, if You’re looking below, it’s worse now than then.’ I wasn’t quite sure the Lord knew where I was. I’d never quit believing in Him, but I was in Nashville and God was in heaven, and never the twain shall meet. I really didn’t know if God actually knew where I was. I realize that some don’t believe that, but that was where I was at the time. “The following morning, my mind went back to the song. I had the second verse and the chorus, but somehow I couldn’t get the song started properly. Kris