"Do you sing?"

One of my favorite memories from the first time I stayed for longer than a week in Peru was actually the walk out from the missions school after I was out there for the women's retreat. I ended up walking out with Carmen Arimborgo, the matriarch of the Arimborgo family, easily one of the happiest and most powerful women I have ever met in the Lord. She is always smiling, and almost always singing too!

As we started out on the trail back to the bus and civilization, I was mostly in my own little world thinking about the promise I made to the Lord about committing to be a missionary in Peru. Not speaking any Spanish, I really didn't expect to have any kind of conversation with any of the women around me either because they didn't speak any English. Very soon though, I found myself walking next to Carmen and she was happily humming to herself. I don't remember exactly how it all started, but very quickly I picked up on the fact that she was asking me if I knew how to sing. She would hum a few notes of a song, and if I knew it I would start singing along in English. Pretty much all of the songs we sang on that walk were old hymns. One of the ones we spent the most time on that walk singing was "Amazing Grace". I think she had me sing as many verses as I could remember on that walk. I could tell that she really liked that song, and she started singing along with me in Spanish for much of the time. I learned later that "Amazing Grace" was one of her favorite songs. It is still one of her most requested songs if she ever asks me to sing anything.

We probably went through about 10-15 different hymns that we both knew at least in part in our own languages before we ended up spending the rest of the time singing "Amazing Grace". That walk has always been extra special in my memories though, because it reminded me so much of my childhood. I can't tell you how much time I spent singing with family, but mostly my grandma whom I loved dearly. We would sing in the car, at the house, wherever we were we would always sing. I remember singing hymns with my grandma. My grandma is the reason I knew so many of the ones that Carmen wanted to sing that day. My grandma passed away several years before I ever went to Peru. Singing those songs on the way out from the missions school after committing to the Lord in my heart that I would be a missionary for Him, was kind of like having my grandma with me.

The power of music to pass communication barriers has always amazed me. It truly does create some of the most special memories. I know there is always a great debate in churches around the world about music, but personally I like all of the music that truly worships the Lord, and moves the heart to Him. Many of the old Hymns have powerful words that we would do well to revisit and remember today, while some of the newer songs and choruses help us meditate on His goodness and on our worship in powerful ways.

"Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,

I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see..."

Do you have a favorite song, old or new, that automatically transports you to another time or place in your memories? One that automatically brings a smile to your face?