NOTE: Many apologies for my failure to post anything last Wednesday. My wife and I were flying to Memphis to celebrate her mom’s 100th birthday and I didn’t have my laptop with me.

I can’t believe I never posted this song before, but it’s definitely one of my oldest ones and still my favorite.

On August 18, 1976 my wife of that time, Debbie, gave birth to our first and only baby. In spite of a normal delivery, Beth died unexpectedly three days later of what turned out to have been an abnormally formed heart. We were distraught. A short time later I heard about a well-known minister who found comfort in Isaiah 40:31 following the death of his daughter. That verse

“…those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint”

brought us comfort, too, and led me to put it into song.

All those who wait upon the Lord
Shall have their strength renewed.
They will walk and not get weary
And run, but not run down.

Yes, they’ll walk and not get weary
And they’ll run but not run down.
They’ll walk and not get weary
And they’ll run, but not run down.

And they’ll rise up on wings like eagles
And fly, they will fly, they will fly.
They’ll fly, yes, they’ll fly, yes, they’ll fly.
They’ll fly, how they’ll fly, how they’ll fly.

They will fly.

If you’re interested in learning more about our experience, feel free to read my personal essay Memorial to Time.

On a more humorous note, I was attending a writers conference many years after that. Lynn DeShazo, the composer of numerous Christian songs (“More Precious than Silver” is one of them), was the worship leader. I asked if I could share a song with her after the session one day. Although she was reluctant to let me use her nice Taylor guitar, she relented and I sang this song for her. When I asked what she thought, she seemed hesitant to answer. But then with whatever else she said, she told me that the “run, but not run down” reminded her of the Energizer bunny. I certainly hadn’t knowingly borrowed from the Energizer ad, but I am still apt to think of it and smile whenever I sing this song now.

You may listen to “All Those Who Wait Upon the Lord” here. The lead sheet is available here.

Hopefully, the front/back cover image of The Elder (the next to the most recent of my novels) shows up below. Beneath that is a postcard graphic showing all twenty-four of my novels.