Yesterday Higdon and I were planning the service when the idea of using an old invitation hymn came up. Of all the great ones, "Just As I Am" stands out. It was made popular in our generation during the Billy Graham crusades. So we started thinking through how we would do it. We don't usually us a traditional instrumentation in our services, so we were thinking of how we could make it work with our set-up. Anyway- yesterday and today the song has been on my mind and heart and hopefully this Sunday we'll have something that should sound pretty fresh, maybe even a new chorus or something.
The history of the song is interesting. Here is a brief story I took from the wiki entry:
An elderly man asked
Charlotte Elliott if she were a Christian; she felt insulted, and told him to mind his own affairs. But after the man left, she could not get the question off her mind, and she went back to ask the man how to find Christ. He told her to come just as she was. She did, and wrote the beautiful song, "Just As I Am." - By B. A. Scherr
