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Thursday, May 26, 2016

THE LIGHTHOUSE

Mary Marcia
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking


LINK:   http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-lighthouse.html

 

CLICK on image to enlarge.  LIGHTHOUSE at the Lake of the Ozarks.  Copyright 2016 Marcia Norwood


I have always loved lighthouses, and every time I see one I break out in song.  

I sing:  The Lighthouse, by songwriter Ronnie Hinson.   

My singing voice is just for fun and praise, and normally I don't sing in public, but when I see a lighthouse I just can't help but sing:   
" And I thank God for the Lighthouse
I owe my life to Him
For Jesus is the Lighthouse
And from the rocks of sin
He has shown a light around me
That I could clearly see
If it wasn't for the Lighthouse (tell me)
Where would this ship be?"


 

The first lighthouse I saw was in St. Augustine, Florida.  It was love at first sight.  I was captured by the beauty, and majesty, and the purpose of the lighthouse.  

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=C111US0D20151228&p=lighthouse+st+augustine+florida+images

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=C111US0D20151228&p=lighthouse+st+augustine+florida+images

 Navy Pier, Chicago
Shoreline of Lake Michigan

I had a surreal experience on a dreary, rainy day in Chicago as I watched a sailboat sail past the lighthouses near Navy Pier. 

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Daughter Faith.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

 
CLICK on image to enlarge.   Navy Pier.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood


CLICK on image to enlarge.   Navy Pier.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood


CLICK on image to enlarge.   Navy Pier.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood
 
Lighthouse near Navy Pier, Chicago.  Copyright 2010 Marcia Norwood

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Navy Pier.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

 
 
CLICK on image to enlarge.   Navy Pier.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

 
CLICK on image to enlarge.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

 

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

 

Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri

We had a condo on the shore of the  Lake of the Ozarks.

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Lake of the Ozarks.  Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood


CLICK on image to enlarge.   Lake of the Ozarks.  Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood



Family and Friends!  Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood

Daughters Kristin and Sarah.  Copyright 2003 Marcia Norwood

Daughter Sarah, Nephews Taylor and Connor.  Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood

Our condo had a blank wall that was perfect for a mural.  I found a beautiful lighthouse cove mural online, and used wallpaper paste to apply it on our wall.  The mural was an enlargement of a painting, and the brush strokes made it appear to be a hand painted mural.  It is gorgeous. 

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Lake of the Ozarks.  Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood


CLICK on image to enlarge.   Lake of the Ozarks.  Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood

You can still purchase the same lighthouse cove mural.

LINK:   http://www.wallstickeroutlet.com/wall-decor-detail.php?RecordID=70086

  

There is a real lighthouse at the Lake of the Ozarks, and it's beautiful.   

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Copyright 2015 Marcia Norwood

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Copyright 2015 Marcia Norwood

 Each and every time over the years as we cruised by on our boat - you guessed it - I broke out in song:  


" And I thank God for the Lighthouse
I owe my life to Him
For Jesus is the Lighthouse
And from the rocks of sin
He has shown a light around me
That I could clearly see
If it wasn't for the Lighthouse (tell me)
Where would this ship be?"

 

Sometimes my children and grandchildren sang along, and sometimes they said:  "Oh!  No!  Make her stop!"

I have always loved lighthouses, and every time I see one I break out in song.

  The Lighthouse

Ronny Hinson, Songwriter


There's a Lighthouse on the hillside
That over looks life's sea
And when I'm tossed it sends out a light
That I might see
And the light that shines in darkness now
Will safely lead us o'er
If it wasn't for the Lighthouse
My ship would be no more

Chorus:
And I thank God for the Lighthouse
I owe my life to Him
For Jesus is the Lighthouse
And from the rocks of sin
He has shown a light around me
That I could clearly see
If it wasn't for the Lighthouse (tell me)
Where would this ship be?

Everybody that lives about us
Says tear that Lighthouse down
The big ships don't sail this way anymore
There's no use of it standing round
Then my mind goes back to that stormy night
When just in time I saw the light
Yes, the light from that old Lighthouse
That stands up there on the hill

Read more at http://www.lyrics.com/lighthouse-lyrics-bill-gaither.html#TI3rRMS6TJlVuveB.99

History of the song:

THE LIGHTHOUSE

Ronny Hinson, Songwriter


LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohtxMKHtMbQ 

Ronnie Hinson wrote The Lighthouse when he was a teenager.  It's amazing that Hinson had never seen a lighthouse before he wrote the song.   

Hinson's family sang in church, and as a warm up group who sang at gospel concerts. 

Hinson  wrote The Lighthouse on a piece of toilet paper in the little boys' bathroom, and when he sang it for his family, one of them laughed and wadded up the paper and threw it in the trash can.  

When the family couldn't decide on which song to sing at a church concert, Ronny's brother, Kenny said:  "Get the piece of toilet paper out of the trash and open it up." 

Kenny started singing and the presence of the LORD filled the place, and from that point on the song took off.  

At first, Hinson didn't understand what was so important about his song, The Lighthouse.  When Hinson was in Santa Cruz,  California, and he rode his bicycle 30 miles to find a lighthouse.   He parked his bike, chained it to a fence post, climbed up on a sand dune and for the first time Hinson saw a lighthouse:  the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.   

 LINK: http://www.southern-gospel-music-lyrics.com/the-lighthouse-ronnie-hinson.html

" I sat there and I saw the lighthouse and I thought, ‘What a picture. What a scene.’ The ocean was gray. It was desolate looking. It was like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie but there stood the lighthouse; hope in the middle of all that dreary hopelessness.” 

“Then I looked at my paper, my toilet paper, and I saw the picture that I’d never seen before. It came to life on that paper and tears ran down my face and I knew that there was something God had orchestrated.  I have learned how to write and have received a lot of awards for writing, I always look back and remember and God always keeps me humble with that one trip to the Lighthouse and remembering that I didn’t even know what a lighthouse was when I wrote it."


 LINK: http://www.southern-gospel-music-lyrics.com/the-lighthouse-ronnie-hinson.html

Ronnie Hinson is one of the great songwriters of our day.

Songs such as "The Lighthouse" have become some of Southern Gospel music's Greatest Hits

 LINKhttps://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=C111US0D20151228&p=story+of+ronny+hinson+wrote+the+lighthouse

Hinson was a founding member of Southern Gospel Hall of Fame group,  The Hinsons.  Many famous singers recorded THE LIGHTHOUSE  including Elvis Presley.

 

The Lighthouse

Elvis Presley


SONG LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRRHrFm9GpA


 
CLICK on image to enlarge.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

The Light House

The Crabb Family

 SONG LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOJrT5H2zco 

 

 
CLICK on image to enlarge.   Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

The Lighthouse 

The Happy Goodmans

  SONG LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl--4pJ_oeo

 
 
CLICK on image to enlarge.  LIGHTHOUSE at the Lake of the Ozarks.  Copyright 2016 Marcia Norwood

 Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend.

CLICK on image to enlarge.   Navy Pier ,Chicago.  Daughter Faith and Marcia.  Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood

Mary Marcia
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking




LINK:  http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-lighthouse.html

 
 

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