What a Friend I Have in Jesus..

What a Freind I Have in Jesus is the last and only song I heard my grandmother Bastin sing ..she was in the nursing home the last few years of her life…I walked in one day and she was singing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”..she didnt usually say anything except that I want to go home sometimes .The only other time I can remember us saying anything about the Lord was once when she said in a voice that knew heartbreak …{ I coudnt have made it without HIM } 
We would walk to church on old highway 13..or Cherry St..I didnt get to do much lagging behind discovering what I wanted to look at on Sundays.. some how we always stayed together..I loved the church it was a one-room building with high ceilings I want to say three or four windows down the side painted white inside and outside.. and it got out quicker than the Church of Christ in town…. In the summer the windows would be open and the hand fans would be fanning . Different people had a different way they would fan. I always wanted to try the different methods that I saw people using with my fan but grandmother wouldn’t put up with any nonsense in church..

I especially liked Ill Fly Away on those hot days as a kid I could see myself flying out the window way up in the sky soaring around those beautiful Tenn hills ..after church we would walk home till the next month when the preacher would come back…Grandmother loved to cook for the preacher and he would come by the house and eat after church .. you can bet grandmother gave me and Johnny a talking about how to act.. all she would do is bend over ,grab our sholders and look us in the eye and say “be nice” she wanted to make sure we understood her and we knew that covered a whole lot of area…We couldnt wait till that Sunday dinner was over and glad when the preacher didnt want that second cup of coffee .as I had to help with the clean up ..
As soon as cleanup was done and Johnny and Granddaddys checker game was over we was off to our adventures we had a tree limb we could get on and ride like a bunking bronco that we had watched on one of the westerns on Saturday afternoon ..getting to ride in the back of the 56 Chevy pickup we didnt care if it was even going to far ..a creek we could dig out a swimming hole on those hot days, a hideout in the barn ,a sling shot ,.trails to explore . being cowboys and indians or looking for buried treasure ,climbing to the top of the hill and climbing a beech tree to look at clouds as they went by ,.when we came back in Grandmother would have out her Sunday best drinking pitcher and glasses with fresh made lemonaide and Johnny some lemon icebox pies made in a ice tray on the front porch I believe they knew what beautiful memories would do years down the road …yes they knew what love would do ….yes they knew
Thank you Lord I have a friend in YOU and Grandmother and Granddaddy ..Mrs.Belva Rainey Bastin and Mr Harold Coy Bastin
What A Friend I have In Jesus Belinda