The Land Beyond The River
Scripture
“Because of His grace He made us right in His sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.“
~Titus 3:7, NLT
Quote
There is a land beyond the river, that we call the sweet forever; and we only reach that shore by faith’s decree.
~Daniel de Marbelle
My Thoughts
I like a good story and I was fascinated by this one. Most of the hymns in our song books were written by preachers and theologians: some were written by housewives or businessmen but there is one hymn in our Baptist hymnal that was written by a clown. This is not a misprint. Daniel de Marbelle worked for my distant uncle James Bailey who purchased P.T. Barnum’s circus in 1891. In the early part of the last century, the circus was big. The Barnum and Bailey Circus road the rails for a half century. They had 85 cars in that train and the circus employed over 1,000 people. Daniel de Marbelle {Dion the Marvel} was a clown in that circus. He was 69 when he hired on as a clown and he may have been the most gifted clown in history.
Dion was like Keith, he could do everything and do it well. His only weakness was money. He could not manage money and in spite of all his gifts, he died in poverty, living in an old barn. Why else would a 69 year old join the circus: he needed the money. Dion was a multi-talented performer. He could sing and dance, play any musical instrument: he was a magician, actor and ventriloquist, plus he could write his own scripts and songs. One of the most fascinating things about Dion was his eloquence as a public speaker. He could speak on practically any subject at a moments notice and hold the crowd spell-bound.
Dion died broke but not without hope. Though he lived in a barn, he attended a small Methodist church in Elgin, Illinois where he sang in the choir. When he gave his testimony it was always the same…”When I was young and successful, I didn’t have time for God and then he took my success away so I could focus on Him and the land beyond the river.” Daniel de Marbelle wrote the lyrics and music for…WHEN THEY RING THOSE GOLDEN BELLS. Now you know the rest of the story.
Extra
This week flew by didn’t it: I can’t believe it is Friday
I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog. I hope we have pushed the right buttons today.