Dr. J. Edwin Orr

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across a verse in Psalms 139: 23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." It stuck in my mind as I had sung this song many times at church in my youth. Sometimes a song just does not leave your memory. Years later, when I was taking piano lessons, I found this song in the piano music course of Henry Slaughter. This course was teaching augmented and diminished cords. So as anyone who knows me, I decided to search out about the man who wrote the words. I love all biographies, and since my grandfather and all his brothers wrote gospel music, the first website I visited contained a great deal about Dr. Orr. It was easier than I thought, as he had a lifetime of Christian leadership. Though out his life, he had led revivals in just about every country of the world. What an accomplishment and testimony to our GOD. He has a website and you can order many of his sermons and books. www.jedwinorr.com. The following are from various websites.

James Edwin Orr. He was born January 12, 1912 in Belfast, Ireland. He died April 22, 1987m in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. Orr was ordained an American Baptist minister in 1940, attended Northwestern University (MA-1941) and Northern Baptist Seminary (ThD-1943), and served as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force in the Pacific in World War II. After the war, he continued his schooling, attending Oxford University (PhD-1948) and the University of California at Los Angeles (EdD-1971); he also received honorary degrees from an Indian seminary, Pasadena, California. He wrote at least six hymns including "Cleanse Me."
The words were written at a revival meeting in Ngarunwahis, New Zealand, taking less than five minutes to put them down on paper. This is a "MAORI" tune adapted by John T. Benson Jr.

"Search me, O God,
and know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior,
Know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be
Some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin
And set me free."

I have included the first verse, but it can be found in many hymnals for various churches. Besides his writing, teaching, and preaching, Dr. Orr had great impact on evangelicals around the world through his friendship with other leading Christians. He was an advisor of Billy Graham's from the start of that evangelist's career.
Orr passed on to Glory on a preaching trip in 1987.

Below is a dedication for Dr. Orr's book "Full Surrender" by Billy Graham
"Dr. J. Edwin Orr, in my opinion, is on of the greatest authorities on the history of religious revivals in the Protestant world. I think that God has given him one of the greatest and most unique ministries anywhere in the nation...I know of no man who has a greater passion for worldwide revival or a greater love for the souls of men."

From F.F.Bruce, from the introduction to "Light of the Nations" by Dr. Orr
"Some men read history, some write it, and others make it. So far as the history of religious revivals is concerned, J Edwin Orr belongs to all three categories."


Ref:
www.believersweb.org.
www.cyberhymnal.org.

ANTHONY JOHNSON SHOWALTER

                       1858-1924                                        Interred at West Hill Cemetery in Dalton, GA

I recently received a message from a descendant of George Wilson Griffith referring to his oldest son. I had these people on my family tree as one of my grandfather's sisters had married into this family. It kept referring to the name "Showalter" as a middle name. I knew that my great uncle Thomas Beall had used this name for his child so I decided to google the name and see where it originated.
So I came up with the name of VAROCKIN (Valentine) SHOWALTER from the Netherlands. The family was referred to as being "Dutch." Jacob Showalter, born about 1800 in Virginia or as many refer to as the Shenandoah Valley, had many descendants, one being Anthony Johnson Showalter, born May 1, 1858 in Cherry Grove, Virginia and died September 14, 1924 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is buried in West Hill Cemetery in Dalton, GA. He married Carolyn Walser on November 13, 1881. He was a music teacher, author, and publisher. He studied music in England, France, and Germany. He published over 130 music books, which sold over a million copies. He was the principal of the Southern Normal Musical Institute in Dalton, Georgia from it's beginning in 1880. He edited the "Musical Teacher" for over 20 years, and served as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Dalton, GA. He was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2000. He published a hymn for B. B. Beall in 1922 titled "Lift Him Up." He taught many shape-note singing schools in Georgia and Alabama of which the Beall Brothers and the Griffiths attended. Probably his most famous hymn is "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." Showalter wrote this tune and words to the refrain and first verses after hearing from two friends whose wives had died. This song was sung in the 1943 movie "The Human Comedy" and was nominated for Academy Awards in five categories. It is on the sound track of "O Brother, Where art Thou."

                        "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms"

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

refrain:
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

O how sweet to walk in this Pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
refrain:

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace, with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
refrain

FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

                                                                 Saturday, July 02, 2011 9:47:41 AM

      II Timothy 1:13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me. In faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. (King James version.)
        -A devotional that I read has it worded a little different-
 "What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus." New Version
As I was reading this, I was transported back in time to a place that wasn't fun for me. Freshman class in high school, my mom had died and my depression was taking it's toil with me and school work. I am referring mainly to Mrs. Wyrick's Home Economics I. I thought I wanted to learn to sew. Just couldn't follow all the directions. Made many mistakes and in the end, I failed this class. A rule in our school was if you failed, you would have to make it up before your senior year. Failed the entire freshman class, so it was a "do over." When I finally reached my sophomore year, I thought it might be time to repeat this class. What a big difference my maturity had taken me in following directions. Passed this class with a breeze and went on to number II. I had advanced in my sewing so I made a garment that I could wear to school. At our fashion show that year, I received great reviews from my fellow students and well as the teachers. It wasn't any thing fancy, just a skirt and vest with a matching blouse. I had used a material with all the fall colors, bright orange with many shades of rust, red and brown. Light and dark gold, and stripes of amber and yellow, so I looked like a walking rainbow except for the blue. I followed every little detail of the pattern and instructions from my teacher. I made an A+ and at my age of 67, I still remember the feeling when my dad saw the project. I had been after him to buy me a sewing machine to use at home instead of traveling to Aunt Josie's house everyday just to sew on her machine. Now he told me the reason I had not received this gift from him. He wasn't sure that I would keep up with this endeavor. I had not followed through on many things that I just knew that I could do. Wasn't old enough or mature enough to have a staying power. So after this, he went to Sears and bought a little Singer portable. It had all the major attachments and I used it for many years making all my clothes. I continued to make clothes for my children and even learned to make quilts on a machine. God knew I could do this but I wasn't ready to persevere. Funny how GOD teaches his children just like our parents teach and help us grow to be the people they wants us to be. My dad was a wonderful person and he helped me even tho I gave him a lot of heartache through my teenage years.
Every time I pick up a pattern now, I remember those classed and how many projects I have made over the years. One is a cloth doll dressed in Christmas clothes that sits under my Christmas tree. Every year, it reminds me of learning by following all the instruchions from our parents and GOD.

ARBUTUS

When I first found my mom's first cousin on my tree, I was very curious about the name and where it came from.  I had found that she was interred at Rome Memorial Park (south), the same place as my dad. I did not search any further until I heard it mentioned on an episode of "The Walton's." I decided to further search this shrub since that is how it was described.

"Habit: evergreen shrub or tree up to 5(10) m tall; trunk with brown bark, flaking and peeling in thin plates.
Leaves: alternate, persistent, simple, petiolate, 8-10 cm long; blade oblanceolate-obovate to sub-elliptic, obtuse or acuminate at the apex, somewhat leathery with finely serrate margins.
Flowers: hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, hypogynous, c. 7 mm long, arranged in hanging terminal panicles; sepals 5, small; corolla 7-10 mm long, gamopetalous, urceolate, ending in 5 small teeth, greenish-white; stamens 10, free, with anthers with two reflex appendices; nectariferous disc at the base; gynoecium syncarpous, 5-carpellate, 5-locular, with a superior ovary.
Fruit: globose berry 1-2.5 cm in diam., reddish or orange, with a rough and finely verrucose surface."

I was so shocked that I could not contain myself until I could get in the yard to search my shrub. Sure enough, to my surprise, I have this very shrub growing at the edge of my yard. It has been here since before 1994. It was about 4' tall at the time of our buying this house in March of 1994. We have cut it down twice since being here because it gets so tall and obstructs the view of the road from our driveway. I have used it many times as decorations at Christmas because of the lovely berries and satiny leaves. Now it will hold a special place in my memory as the daughter of Sampson P. Jones was named for this very tree-shrub.

HENRY FOX III 6th great-grandfather

      Found some interesting facts about Henry Fox III, my 6th great-grandfather. He was born in 1698 in Brunswick, Virginia; son of Henry Fox II and Mary Kendrick. He married his first wife, Mary Goodwyn in 1721 and they had 4 children; Unity, Thomas Sr., Henry, and John Charles Fox. John Charles Fox married Mary Mollie O'Connor, a young girl who was kidnapped from Ireland and brought to America to be sold as an indentured servant. She almost died on the trip and would not try to return home. John and Mollie's granddaughter, Mary Catherine Fox would later marry Nathaniel Ellis, my 3rd great grandfather and the parents of John Milton Ellis.
      Now from the second child of Henry Fox III would result in the family of Mamie Fox, the grandmother of my first cousin, Brenda Nadine Jones. Thomas Fox Sr. was the grandfather of Michael Watson Fox Sr. Michael W Fox is the father of Pope Butler Fox, the grandfather of Beulah Garvin who married Charlie Jones. Henry Fox III is the 6th great grandfather of Beulah Garvin. How strange is that to live our lives and never know that we were related in another branch of the family tree. Miss Brenda has traced the Fox family all the way back to London, Middlesex, England. They were merchants, buying and selling with the Virginia Colony of New Kent, Virginia and later Brunswick, Virginia. Henry Fox III later moved to Craven, Richland, South Carolina and raised his family. Colonel Fox as he was later known was an eminent lawyer in Charles Town. A Cherokee War Document of July 30, 1761, mentions him as "our right trusty and well beloved Councilor, Henry Fox, Esquire" He died in 1770

JIMMY'S SURGERY

     As I sat reading my Bible this morning, it brought to mind all the things in my life that have thrown me a curve. Those things also brought me closer to GOD. Now I don't claim to be a story teller and even use correct grammar, but I like to write down the things in my life that I love and am grateful for due to the grace of GOD.
     My first child was born on February 22, 1965 and he was a joy to the whole family. I went to the hospital about 5:00 o'clock in the morning of February and it was Monday. My dad was off from work on Monday's and every other week, he would pay his bills. Since we didn't have a phone, Marvin had gone next door to wake up our neighbor and call my dad. He came to our house and drove us to the hospital. I didn't know who else was there but later I found out that many of my family were in the waiting room. Aunt Sybil, Aunt Josie, and Aunt Doris as well as Evelyn and my dad sat patiently in the waiting area. Aunt Totsie was a patient down the hall and came to check once or twice to see how I was progressing. My mother-in-law, Ruby, was there. She had taken off from work in Dalton and came all the way to Rome for the anticipated birth. About 4:29 pm James William Burns came into the world. He has always been called "Jimmy." We were expecting a girl so the boy was a surprise. We didn't have a name picked out so he has the first name of Marvin's father, James Jefferson Burns, and the middle name of my father, Noble William Beall. He has names of three of our grandfather's. James Guy Beall, James Edward Burns, and William DeLay Jones. And how beautiful he was. Dark hair and blue eyes weighing 7 lbs. and 9ozs. He was 21 inches long. Everything went fine. I went home in three days.
     About the 4th week of Jimmy's life, he starting throwing up his milk. Being a new mom, I wondered if this was normal. I knew that babies would spit-up when they burped but this was different. So I called my dad and he drove to Calhoun to pick my up and take Jimmy to the doctor. By the time we got to his house, it was late so Evelyn called her pediatrician at home. Dr Methany said he would meet up at the emergency room. I was so scared, I just knew that he was going to die. Evelyn told me that she thought he had rickets and that made me more afraid. By the time he was examined, I was told that he would be admitted and they would start an IV. I panicked!! What was wrong with my child. He was too young for an IV. How would they find a needle small enough for him. His weight had gone to 6 lbs. and 14 ozs. since he was born. He was so small that they wanted to put the IV in his leg. This did not work and they tried his head. They could not get it started. They were telling me that they would have to do what was called a cut-in and this entailed cutting a small incision in his leg to insert the needle directly into a blood vessel. Before this could be done, Dr Methany came in and got an IV started directly in his head. He made it look so easy and scolded the attendant for being clumsy. I was then told that he would have to have surgery. My goodness, how much more could this child stand. The problem was called "pyloric stenosis" which is a blockage at the opening of the stomach and intestine. I was numb. All of this going on and on a baby! I sat down and cried. Since an IV was started, the drip to put him to sleep was added and they took the bed out of the room to the OR. I went to the chapel to wait and pray. He was in GOD's hands. About 6 hours later, the Dr came and told me that everything went fine and he was in recovery. They made a small incision on the side of his stomach and clipped the muscle that wasn't working and he would pass it probably the next day. There weren't any stitched. Just held together with a spray plastic. Well after that, he started gaining weight and growing as what we refer to "like a weed." He never had any more problems in this area. I was told later that according to all statics, this happened to the oldest child's first child of the male gender. It never happened to girls. I just wonder how many families were checked to make this comparison.
     I have many more stories about my children that they will read later. Many of these stories have never been told as I was saving them until they were grown. Each of my children have different personalities but in many ways, they are the same. But they are far from perfect, yet I love them dearly. We all make mistakes and sometimes we learn from them and maybe not!!!

EDWARD LEE JONES Sr.

     This story is about my uncle Ed. Now he was a character from the day he was born. He was the youngest boy and was doted on by his mother who thought he could do no wrong. His older sisters adored him. After losing two boys, the girls thought that the boys should be looked up to and catered to them all the time. This included Cliff, Charlie, and Ed. I don't know what mischief that he got into when he was young but he was always one to carry a joke to far. His first wife, Beatrice, was a friend to me always. They lived with us right after they got married until their daughter, Jean, was born. They lived in the back bedroom and the house stayed extra clean when she was there. Now my mom was a clean person but she had just had a baby and couldn't do much. I just don't remember if Ken or Jean was born first. I was just 7 years old.
     When Ed moved to the farm with Ma Jones, they lived upstairs in three rooms. When I look back on those times now, it just seemed natural that the privy was in the back yard. Unless you lived in town, you did not have an indoor bathroom. All the water was drawn from a well and you had to draw enough to take a bath in the wash tub. There were no everyday showers, just a quick rinse in the wash pan. When I think about those times, we were healthy. So no one went to the Dr all the time. Home remedies were the cure-alls.  But back to my story. Every time I went to see Ma Jones, uncle Ed would lock me in the outhouse. He just loved to play jokes on me. I would have to hollar until Ma Jones would hear me and let me out. She would scold him by then, he was over 6' tall and didn't pay her any attention.
     Now Ed was a "con man." He was all the time having some scheme to get money from anyone. My uncle Cliff is usually the one who got hooked. The rest of the family had caught on to his schemes and just blew him off. But uncle Cliff was the one who usually went to Florida on his make-to-do get-rich-quick trips Only they never came back with any money, just fish. I don't know how many tricks he pulled on people but he never got in trouble.
     There was an episode when he worked for General Electric and went on strike. Uncle Ed was walking the picket line with a stick. Now Ed had a bad temper and when someone smarted off at him, there was a scuffle and the other man was hurt. I never did know all the circumstances for the altercation but Uncle Ed spent some time in jail.
The night my mom was killed, she had gone to a tavern called "Green Gables" on highway 27 toward Armuchee. My uncle was there and he told me about what happened on that night. Of course I didn't hear about this until I was grown. Little girls weren't allowed to hear such stories at age 15. I learned later about the fuss with her second husband and the drinking. Then she drove off at a high rate of speed. He was waiting at the hospital as we pulled up after the accident and told me that my mom was dead. This was in an earlier story.
     After I married and moved to Calhoun, I was having some problems in my marriage so I separated from my husband and stayed with Ed and Beatrice in Garden Lakes. Ed was a fisherman so he took my boys fishing. They can remember this still today. Not too long after I moved out, his son, Eddie, died. It was so unexpected that I don't think he ever got over it. His son, Joseph, died about the age of thirty. He had cancer. His girls were checked regularly for a long time after.
     Uncle Ed died about the year 2005. I sang some songs at his funeral because he loved to hear me sing. He was one of the faithful who listened to my radio broadcast on Sunday afternoon. I saw him quite a lot after he moved to Calhoun. He often had some scheme to catch someone with and this included my first husband. It happened in a car trade. We found out later, that he didn't own the car that he traded, it belonged to his brother and he was looking for the vehicle. My cousin, Jean, told me they never knew what to expect for supper. Whatever he brought home from a hunting or fishing trip. Fish or turtle or maybe a rabbit or squirrel went into the pot with dumplings. Or maybe some other surprise. Yummie!!! Maybe yes or maybe noooo....