Pap sitting on Granny Gazzie’s front porch
Earlier this week on Pap’s birthday I shared a funny story he told me about a trip to get a load of peaches. On that same day Paul shared a video of Pap singing “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow.”
The song is filled with words of faith and hope. Pap lived his life by both.
He was the most encouraging person I’ve ever known. At his funeral a long time friend of the family told me “Your daddy was such an encourager. He had a hopeful word to share with anyone he talked to.”
After her comment I decided I was going to try to be an encouraging voice to people around me.
I hope you enjoyed the video. In a stroke of genius Paul got Pap to record five hymns with just his guitar in about 2005. This song is one of the songs recorded that day. I love the simplicity of the way Pap performs the song. He often set around the house singing in a similar manner.
Paul borrowed my camera and set it up on a time lapse to capture the sunrise. He planned to do it one weekend morning, neither of us watched the weather Paul just went for it. When I first seen the clouds I was disappointed, but after watching it with the song playing I think the clouds fit the meaning of the lyrics perfectly.
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Oh, Tipper, What a treat hearing a fav hymn of mine sung by your talented and handsome pap! It touches my heart as a young sister at church lost her baby preterm and she is just the sweetest little mother to one who wants many kids. It reminded me to tears of me losing mine years ago. This fit my mood so well. It brings me comfort. I love you and your as tho your family were mine!
I’m so glad I found your blog in 2008 and had so many years to enjoy Pap’s beautiful voice and Paul’s. It seems that I have heard this beautiful song all my life and sung it in church. I don’t think I remembered who wrote it or the history behind it. I’ve Got a Mansion was one I heard down south from my Grandmother’s piano and many church singin’s. Also, Turn Your Radio On was another old one.
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow still is a great encouraging message and thank the good Lord, I do know!
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Such a treasure to have these recordings of both of your parents as you do! The words in these hymns hold such rich faith, strength and hope. You may never know how far and wide or to whom these will bring blessings.
I finally got to listen to Pap singing. What a beautiful voice and what a beautiful song!
Oh, my goodness! This is just beautiful! And, I totally agree, the clouds just really, really add to this and go right along with the message of the song. Life is so uncertain, especially right now, and this song and the sunrise just encapsulate that. God bless you dear ones.
He sounded wonderful. When I was a child we sang that song at our church.
its so lovely to have such great memories of him i know we will see all our loved ones again one day i in the meantime we have each other too look after have a safe week
The beauty of folks like Pap is they may leave you, but the lifelong lessons they taught and lived will remain with you forever. Each and every day as the winds of life shift our mind calls on the lessons we learned along the way. If we stop and think, just about every decision is guided by what we learned from this greatest of “great generation.”
Not so long after my own Dad departed I was making a trip along one of those almost one lane roads on a remote hillside. These hazards can be found where they once needed housing to accommodate the booming coal mining industry, but with no upkeep after it crashed. I realized I had passed the patient’s driveway and would need to turn around. With no sign posted of the danger ahead, I had unknowingly driven ahead to where the entire bank had caved into the road. What a dilemma! I am not certain how far along I was, but easily a quarter of a mile. In my head it seemed I could hear my Dad’s words, “You can do it.” My mind wandered back to the many times my Dad had guided me over some rough spots in my journey through life. A bank on one side and a cliff on the other, I managed to back all the way back until I could safely pull into the driveway. This encouraged me more than anything to tone down my grief, and I was made aware that a part of him would remain with me always. It takes a good man to compete with these great men, but I do believe the DeerHunter is cut from the same cloth.
Thank you for this post. What beautiful singing and such a nice way to start Sunday.
A real pleasure to listen to Mr Jerry sing, and to watch the video of the morning sky in the background….
Outstanding. What a wonderful way to start the day with that inspiring and consoling song. Thank you for posting it.
Beautiful sunrise; beautiful lyrics; beautiful voice!!!
Thank you for this beautiful video. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t know & put my faith in Jesus Christ. I am blessed every time I hear Pap singing. Tipper, you are a blessing to me. I look forward to your videos & love to see you cook on YouTube.
God knew I needed to hear that this morning. Because of worrying about some things I have lost 25lbs and have had to see a doctor about my nerves and anxiety since my wife, Janice, passed away.
Randy, now you’ll have me worrying about you. I have been through it. It will get easier because you will learn to cope with it. Take the pills as a temporary fix but look to God for a more permanent cure. My wife Yvonne has been gone for over three years now and I still feel like I’m lost. I had a plan for us but it wasn’t God’s plan. Now I feel lost. Nowhere to go. No reason to go. Sometimes I think all I am doing here is waiting to die. But, as time goes on those feelings have receded some. I can handle it most of the time now. Sometimes I just sit and cry but I try not to pass those feelings on to others. Misery loves company but I don’t want to make someone else miserable just to have company.
It gets easier! God will lift the weight that seems to be on you. Maybe suddenly, probably not. But keep looking to, talking to, and trusting God. You will learn to function again. I promise! Because He promised!
I feel very much encouraged this morning after listening to Pap sing this good song of faith. I don’t know about tomorrow,and many things,I don’t understand, but I know who holds the future, and I know who holds my hand. Thank You Lord
Thank you for this video. Pap’s singing is still blessing many people. I know I could not make it through this life, if my assurance was not in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are very blessed to have these wonderful memories. You are a blessing to me!
Pap singing with just his guitar is a beautiful sound. He couldn’t have poured his heart out in the song the way he did unless he knew for sure who holds tomorrow.
A beautiful beginning for my Sunday! Pap continues to be an encourager!
What a wonderful song to start my Sunday. I believe the words Pap sang. Thank you for posting it. Your posts on Sunday always are extra special. I can tell just by watching videos and hearing him sing that your father was a very special man. I know you miss him but just think how fortunate you were to have had him in your life. I ty to encourage people also or at least not to discourage them. Thank you for this post. Dennis Morgan.
Beautiful song. What a precious keepsake to have these recordings!
Your Pap surely could sing and play the guitar!!! His song was pure inspiration for me this Sunday morning. Tipper, you’re already an encourager! It’s who you are.
Lord knows we need encouraging folks and moreso all the time. Near as I can tell, they are a rare breed. Much more common to get the opposite.
I agree with you, the gray clouds with a sliver of sun fit the song better than clear skies would have. I needed that encouraging song this morning.
I thoroughly enjoy every post you make. I could listen all day to the family singing, such a blessing. Thank you so much.
Beautiful singing….tks for sharing!
That was wonderful on 5hing Sunday morn8ng
So beautiful.
I can close my eyes and see Pap singing that beautiful song and it for sure touches my heart!
What a firing song for today. In spite of the uncertainties and upheavals of the last year and a half Jesus walks besides us, holding our hand. Blessed Assurance indeed. Thank you Tipper for sharing your Pap’s message of faith in song. I agree, the simplicity of your Pap singing, accompanied only by his guitar is very moving. I too feel the need to be more of an encourager to those around me, that is a trait we can all aspire to!
What a beautiful song , sung so lovely. To be such an encourager is such a loving ministering gift to so many hearers. I’m thankful for how Paul was moved to capture those hymns and the sunrise . My mama passed away on May 19,2005 and the next morning the worrld seened so empty and absent of her presence to me , I had her phone number on my phone but could no longer call her and hear her answer …but then the hope and faith also came shining through …that hope and faith sung ,lived, and shared every day in all of your lives and others lives too …it sure can encourage and minister . The beautifully captured sunrise was lovely. Rise and Shine and have a wonder-full day