I believe I said in an earlier post, if all my favorite songs are sang at my funeral, the people there better plan to be there for awhile. Well, I don't know if I will even have a funeral or if anyone would even show up, but if I do, I sure hope "What A Day That Will Be" would be sung. Yes, this is one of my many favorites and has been for a long time.
I laid in bed a little longer, enjoying this song and I begin to think, what makes a song a favorite. (I realized there are about as many reasons as there are favorite songs. LOL) Often the words of a particular song touches your heart in a special way. Sometimes the music just blesses your soul. There may be times you have heard a song at a special time or at a particular place and when you hear it later, there's a special memory that will always exist. Perhaps, a song becomes one of your favorites because you know how important it is to someone who you love enjoys it. "What A Day That Will Be" meets all those reasons for being a favorite song of mine.
Jim Hill wrote this song in 1955, Jim Hill was disturbed that his beloved mother-in-law had become seriously ill at such a young age. While driving home one night, a scripture verse, came to his mind, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelations 21:4 (KJV) Mr. Hill stated, that this scripture painted beautiful picture of "What A Day That Will Be" and as soon as he arrived home he wrote the words to this song. I read, that the first person he sang this song for was his very ill mother-in-law.
Mr. Hill had a legendary career in gospel music, singing with the Golden Keys Quartet, The Stamps Quartet, The Statesmen Quartet and upon his retirement, he became a regular on the Gaither Homecoming video series. Even with this storied singing career, Mr. Hill of course is best known for this remarkable song, but also he was considered by the people who knew him as a humble, gracious, true gentleman and godly man. What a great way to be remembered.
One of my fondest memories of "What A Day That Will Be" was while I was attending Corinth Church in my early 20's. On several Sunday nights, we had a gentleman who would visit. This gentleman was afflicted with a disability, I believe I remember to be cerebral palsy. He would share his testimony, always telling how good God had been to him and one of the songs he would sing was "What A Day That Will Be". The Holy Spirit was with us in those services, lives were touched and it was a time of great rejoicing and praise.
I could tell several other stories of this song and it's meaning to me but I will just share a couple of videos. The first is of David Ring singing during one of the Gaither videos. This video reminds me of those Sunday nights at Corinth Church. The second is also a Gaither video and it features, Jim Hill singing, "What A Day That Will Be".
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