Dottie Rambo, Songwriter and Southern Gospel Singer, Dies

This is awful news for those of us who love Dottie Rambo and her music.  She was a wonderful part of the large Southern Gospel music family, and has brightened our home with her music for years.  Her songwriting was nothing short of incredible.  Rambo has had more than 2,500 published songs, including gospel classics such as “He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need” and the 1982 Gospel Music Association Song of the Year, “We Shall Behold Him.”

Dottie was on her way to a singing event in Texas when 50mph winds blew her bus off the road into a ditch in Missouri.  Dottie was sleeping in the back lounge when the accident occurred.   She was active in the role of changing hearts in our society.  It was a role she never strayed from.

Last Thursday Dottie performed in Wisconsin Rapids.  We had planned months ago to see her Wisconsin show, but with the high cost of gasoline, and not wanting to travel back home at night, we did not attend. 

She had many rocky moments in her life, but never seemed to forget that she traveled life’s road with a most trustworthy friend.  Her message of hope was transmitted through her music, and as many have described, her ability to pen a song was nothing short of a gift.

Gospel singer-songwriter Joyce “Dottie” Rambo died early Sunday when the bus she was in ran off a road in southwest Missouri and struck an embankment.

Rambo, 74, of Nashville, Tenn., died in the crash about two miles east of Mount Vernon on Interstate 44, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. Seven other people in the bus were injured, and were hospitalized in Springfield with moderate to severe injuries, the patrol said.

It was unclear if the accident, which occurred about 2 a.m., was weather-related, the patrol said. Severe storms and tornadoes hit the region about 6 p.m. Saturday, killing 14 people. Sustained winds and storms swept through the area later in the night, according to the National Weather Service. 

“She was a giant in the gospel music industry,” said Beckie Simmons, Rambo’s agent. “Dolly Parton recorded some of her songs.”

She was on her way to a Mother’s Day performance in Texas, according to her Web site.

Below is one of my favorite ones she wrote and sang.

 

Technorati Tags: DottieRambo, SouthernGospelMusic, GospelMusic

Mike Huckabee Declares War On The Constitution…On God’s Behalf

How are we to respond to this?  I have followed politics for decades and may I say I was dumbfounded, and left speechless when I first heard this comment by the GOP hopeful Mike Huckabee on Tuesday night.   The vast majority of my readers who do not know me personally might not be aware I am rarely without a response to a remark such as Huckabee made.  But what he said at a campaign stop in Michigan is so amazing that I sat on the sofa, and was left speechless.  All I could do was just stare at the TV. 

I am more than serious when I ask exactly what does a civics course in an Arkansas school look like?   Every bad stereotype about the south is being renewed daily as the Huckabee campaign rolls on.  And might I add that I find it shameful God always gets the bad rap for the nasty Republicans who wish to use him for their bigoted aims.

I did find this rather thoughtful response to Huckabee’s planned war on the Constitution, and post it for reflection.

Technorati Tags: MikeHuckabee, Constitution, Election08, God, Conservatives, Evangelicals