Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen

All Rights Reserved

   I would rather walk with Jesus with all my questions than walk alone with all the answers.

- Rick Warren.

   What a magnificent memory … me standing on the pavement in front of a Church in Bree Street in the ‘Golden City’ of Johannesburg, South Africa.  The year: 1963, one year after my conversion (at the tender age of 14) to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Messiah and Saviour of humankind.  I was there to meet a friend, in fact, the very person, Johan S., who had led me to Christ the year before, and I was on visit in Johannesburg to meet with Johan S., have lunch together and just chat about the ‘good old days’ of the previous year.  Johan S., at the time, had just left school at the age of 16 and was working at the South African Railways & Harbours in Braamfontein, a suburb of Johannesburg.  Incidentally, despite his premature detachment from the public school system, Johan S. later went on to earn a string of degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand ('WITS').  

   During 1962 we had both been pupils of the Hentie Cilliers High School in Virginia, a small but bustling mining town in the Free State Province of South Africa.  We were in the same Standard 8 (today Grade 10) class, and we seemed to naturally gravitate toward each other and become friends by finding common ground as new pupils to the school.  It was Johan S. who had first witnessed to me of the Saving Grace of Jesus Christ, and, thanks to the serious and convincing nature of his remarkable testimony, I soon became convicted by the Holy Spirit to repent and accept Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour.  After some soul-searching Bible study and contemplation I was converted in March 1962 and baptised in April 1962. 

   In some sense the year 1962 was both one of the most traumatic as well as one of the most eventful years of my life.  We were sort of poor at the time, and my khaki shorts, thin school jersey and brown shoes with the frayed shoelaces were not much of a consolation during the bitter winters of the wealthy Orange Free State goldfields.  I had never before in my life felt so small, so insignificant and so pathetically cold and miserable.  

   Bear in mind that us children were not necessarily raised as pagans or unbelievers in our home.  My parents belonged to a Christian Church and we sort of attended Sunday School whenever our situation at home made it possible.  My father was a career-mineworker and we migrated around the goldfields of South Africa a lot; so, with my father always on the lookout for more lucrative work (he was a ‘shaft-carpenter’), attending Sunday School was not necessarily always practicable.  I was the eldest of the five children, and the sixth, Deon, was born in June of that eventful year.  It was thus in the year 1962 that I had first heard (and for the first time, properly understood) the charming story of Salvation as illustrated in the four Gospels of the New Testament:

   But even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:14-17 MKJV, eSword).    

   To cut a long story short, I just adored the singing of those Christians from the start.  I soon discovered that the local pastor’s wife was the resident-organist in the Church and also an accomplished pianist, taking down music exams up to University level for music pupils.  Apart from playing the musical instruments in the Church, she also used to entertain us, amongst others, with such classical greats as Hoffman’s Barcarole from his ‘Tales of the Vienna Woods’.  As you may have guessed by now, I instantly fell head over heels in love with … PIANO MUSIC.  I simply adored the deep bass sounds on the left hand side of the piano and the crisp treble notes down at the other end.  In fact, I was hooked for life.

   One of the gospel hymns which that congregation used to sing was a classic hymn titled Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross.  Some words (I quote from two verses only):

YouTube

Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross

(Text: Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915/Music: H. Doane, 1832-1915)

Jesus, keep me near the cross,

There a precious fountain

Free to all, a healing stream

Flows from Calvary's mountain.

Chorus:

In the cross, in the cross,

Be my glory ever;

Till my raptured soul shall find

Rest beyond the river.

Near the cross I'll watch and wait

Hoping, trusting ever,

Till I reach the golden strand,

Just beyond the river.

Chorus:

In the cross, in the cross,

Be my glory ever;

Till my raptured soul shall find

Rest beyond the river.

  

   So, there I was, standing in front of the Church in Bree Street, Johannesburg, in 1963.  I was very late for our appointment, so I had to wait outside on the pavement until they had finished before I could say hello to my friend inside.  But this memory will stay with me forever … the familiar sounds of the large congregation again singing ‘Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross’ emanating from the huge tabernacle.  It was as if God were ratifying my decision of 1962 … a decision to follow Jesus and cling to the Cross and the beauty and immense spiritual significance of Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary.  This song has been translated and sung all over the world for many decades ... from Sydney to London; from Tokyo to New York; from rural America to rural South Africa, and today, 51 years later, this remains my humble prayer: “Jesus, keep me near the Cross!”

Piet Stassen

eLiterature/eLiteratuur:

1. Scribd Publishing Site:  www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
2. eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)  
3. eBook:  'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
4. eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
5. eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
6. eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
7. eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
8. eBoek:  'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
9. eBoek:  'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
10. eBoek:  'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
11. eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable):  Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
12. eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)

Bibliography

1. CyberHymnalTM.  William Howard Doane.  Accessed at <http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/d/o/a/doane_wh.htm> [online] 2013
2.  Fanny J. Crosby.  Accessed At <http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/r/o/crosby_fj.htm> [online] 2013.
3.  Gospel Music Lyrics   Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross.  Piano Score & Lyrics Available At <http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh301.sht> [online] April 2013).
4.  William H. Doane.  Accessed At <http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/o/a/doane_wh.htm> [online] 2013.