My Great-Grandpa

It happened to me again that Sunday evening.  We were singing at the local nursing home.  Our leader picked Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me and as we started into the old familiar song my throat choked up.  I sang with tears sliding down my cheeks, paying close attention to the words.
 

A picture of a flock of little girls came to mind.  My sisters and I all had brown hair falling to our waists.  We had dresses with full swirling skirts, belts tied in big bows and puffed sleeves.  White socks and black patent leather shoes finished off our Sunday best.  We tiptoed along as we followed our aunt Leah like shadows.  We were a subdued group, quite a change from our normal hopping and skipping and chattering.  She took us to visit our great-grandpa; an old, old man he seemed to us.
 

An adult lifted me up on my great-grandpa's knee.  I was afraid to breathe for fear I'd be too heavy for him.  Someone suggested we sing a song.  Leah is three and a half years older than me . . . almost like a big sister to my sisters and me.  She leaned against the arm of Grandpa's chair and started singing Rock of Ages.  Grandpa's deep voice joined her.  I tried to help but I didn't know the words.
     

Rock of Ages, cleft for me Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood, From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure; Cleanse me from its guilt and pow'r.
 

Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill the law's demands;

Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone, Thou must save, and Thou alone.
 

Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace,

Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
 

While I draw this fleeting breath, When my heart strings break in death,

When I soar to worlds unknown, See Thee on Thy judgement throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.

 

-- Augustus M. Toplady, 1740-1778                           Thomas Hastings, 1784-1872
 

Later my dad recorded Great-Grandpa and Leah singing together on his old-fashioned tape recorder. My sisters and I loved to watch Dad set the tape player up and wind the open reel -- getting everything just right.  There was a distinct smell of the tape that is hard to describe.  (We miss all of this drama when we casually pop in a cassette tape now. . . these cassette tapes that are going out with the 8 track tapes.) 

 

Get ready, get set, go!   Breathless and wide-eyed we'd wait impatiently for just the right moment and . . .

 

there they were . . . Grandpa and Leah singing Rock of Ages just as if they were in the room with us.
 

I can't explain my tears. This song stirs up a lot of memories.

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