Friday, March 29, AD 2024 3:04am

Seeing the Light

 

Hard to believe it is seventy-one years since I Saw the Light was written by Hank Williams.  The song powerfully coveys the hunger for salvation that was always a part of Williams’ brief and tragic life.  Dead before he reached 30, Williams was a great talent, and he threw it all away with alcoholism and addiction to drugs, which shattered both his personal and professional life.  His life typifies what Christ spoke of in this parable:

The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

However, that is not all there is to say.  This song has brought comfort to millions as they call upon Christ in this Vale of Tears.  I hope it weighed heavily in the balance when Williams appeared before the God he clearly loved.

I wandered so aimless life filled with sin
I wouldn’t let my dear savior in
Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night
Praise the Lord I saw the light.

I saw the light I saw the light
No more darkness no more night
Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light.

Just like a blind man I wandered along
Worries and fears I claimed for my own
Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light.

I saw the light I saw the light
No more darkness no more night
Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light.

I was a fool to wander and stray
For straight is the gate and narrow is the way
Now I have traded the wrong for the right
Praise the Lord I saw the light.

I saw the light I saw the light
No more darkness no more night
Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light.

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Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Sunday, November 18, AD 2018 5:59pm

“Dead before he reached 30, Williams was a great talent, and he threw it all away with alcoholism and addiction to drugs, which shattered both his personal and professional life.”

But for the grace of God there go I.

Mary De Voe
Monday, November 19, AD 2018 5:42am

Arthur Conan Doyle promoted the use of drugs to increase perception in his Sherlock Holmes detective mysteries that were syndicated and spread throughout the world. Timothy Leary spread the concept that drugs increased one’s ability to perform.
Maybe drugs do increase perception… if one intends to shorten one’s life by more than 70%.

Mary De Voe
Monday, November 19, AD 2018 5:45am

Arthur Conan Doyle held seances to contact his deceased son. Arthur Conan Doyle had a misguided soul.

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, November 19, AD 2018 11:34am

ACD was at the cutting edge of science and expertise for his time. It’s just that the science has since improved, and down sides discovered.

It’s notable that he put Watson there to basically scowl at Holmes and tell him, roughly, that stuff’ll kill you.

Tried to read The Sign of the Four just last night., kept falling asleep feeding the baby, so it’s fresh in my mind.

************

Wish more folks would do songs like this, and “This Old House”, when they’re doing religious type songs.

BELT it, for heaven’s sake!

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Monday, November 19, AD 2018 11:51am

I read a biography of Hiram King “Hank” Williams about three years ago.

Other than music, his only other real option as a career was working in the shipyards. And since he had spinal bifida, that wouldn’t have worked out so well. Due to his spinal bifida, he had chronic back pain throughout his life. This fueled his drug use to a degree. If you went to a Hank Williams concert, you never knew which one you’d see, the one who could put on a great show or the one too plastered to remember the lyrics to his own songs.

Although the structure of his songs are ridiculously simple, they certainly had a timelessness to them. Garth Brooks once remarked, “If Hank Williams was born a hundred years from now, he’d still be ahead of his time.”

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Tuesday, November 20, AD 2018 10:50am

Anyone see the movie based on his life? I’m curious if it’s any good.

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