by Ken Lawson

My favorite gospel chorus is “There’s Something About That Name.” It is almost constantly going through my mind these days, having sustained me since my open-heart surgery about a year and a half ago. A nine-bypass surgery with pneumonia will certainly bring about a change in your focus!

The words of this Bill and Gloria Gaither tune fill my repaired heart with joy, peace, and hope. I hum it during the day, at the store, or while fishing, but especially at night when I’m ready to go to sleep. And then I start over again as soon as I wake up. I especially focus on two key words about our Lord.

Master, Savior. These words give me strength and courage because they are about Jesus. My walk of faith began seventy-plus years ago when one of our ministers, Elder Carl Stacy, came to my home church in Elmira, Oregon, and preached a simple and beautiful sermon about a man named Jesus.

For perhaps the first time in my life, I really listened to the sermon! The Jesus he preached loved me so much that He willingly gave His life on the cross to cleanse me from sin and save me for a beautiful eternal existence, right here on this earth.

Back in those days, we heard a lot of sermons about the end times, with terrible beasts, massive armies, gigantic wars, earthquakes, plagues, and other earth-shaking calamities. We’d better repent right now because Jesus is coming back soon and will shake the earth, and all the cities will crumble into rubble!

Unfortunately, those sermons just kept me up at night. A lot of what I heard will eventually happen, in some manner. However, the sermons themselves didn’t really offer me much personal or practical purpose — the why or how to make faith and hope come alive in my heart. Sermons that sponsored only fear and sleepless nights were not very attractive to me. But Elder Stacy’s message — now that sparked a willing response to a name, and that name was Jesus!

I believed and was baptized. My life changed. I became a learner and a disciple of this one called Jesus. A few years later, I felt God’s Holy Spirit call me to “Go and preach Jesus!” I did that for about sixty years, and I did my best to preach mostly Carl Stacy-type sermons.

I’ve witnessed many wars and national changes. I’ve seen presidents come and go. Human power and politics invariably disappoint, and gained riches disappear quickly. Scandal, fraud, and hate dominate the news, along with anxiety and fear. Friends and family often divide, and even faith can be shaken and lost amid the turmoil.

But the sermon that presented Jesus to me changed me, and He removed my sin and fear.

And so today at age 82, even while watching the stress-inducing news, I find myself happily humming “There’s Something About That Name.” Why? Because salvation is found in no one else. “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

So trust Him! He is coming back, and He will clean up the mess man has made. Give Him your heart and hope, and hum along with me.Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. . . . Come quickly!

Ken Lawson and his wife, Sandra, live in Cottage Grove, MN.