Thought I’d tell a funny tale on myself today.   My long-distance grandkids and I have been having a blast lately enjoying songs we can sing together on the phone. It’s so much fun, especially when we sing a song that has two-people parts for a reply. For instance, I sing “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” Then they pipe up, “rejoice.” In a few years, we should be able to do rounds together on the phone. How fun is that!

One of my little darlin’s had me so confused the last time. She sang “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” to me. I recognized the tune but the words seemed all wrong. She is quite young and my hearing isn’t great, so I couldn’t quite make out WHAT she was singing other than when she would get to the name “Jesus” she would say something like Yesu. I asked her if she learned it at VBS and she said, “No, Grandma.” Then I asked if she learned it at church and she again replied, “No.” Finally I asked if she learned it from me, and she said, “Yes.”

My first reaction was, “Oh my, I must have really sung it poorly. I’ll have to speak it to her first, then sing it,” which I did. She followed me nicely, then sang it different all over again. I was SO befuddled!

Next, her older sister got on the line and said, “Grandma, listen to me sing in Russian.” She promptly sang the same song as her younger sister, with the same strange words. Immediately a light bulb went off in my head. Her mom had gone overseas on missionary trips with our church when she was younger and had learned several praise and worship songs in different languages. She must have taught it to the girls in Russian, while I had taught it to them in English.

I had a good laugh at myself and then explained what happened to my daughter so she could explain it to my younger granddaughter. It was definitely a fun conversation! I am so grateful for telephones and email that make our long distance family seem so close much of the time and great songs we can sing together. It makes for a joy-filled time for all of us!