The Three of His … still singing

Because He Lives, I can face tomorrow…

We had no idea the songs we sang as teenagers would find their way to be sung in a hospital room more than 50 years later.

Barb Pyke Carter, Kathy Pyke Stevens, and I grew up in the Nazarene Church at the corner of Tenth and Grant streets in Noblesville. Our parents had all worked at Firestone at one time. They came here from the South to the Promised Land of Indiana to work and raise their families.

One of the priorities for the Pykes and Harts was raising their girls in church. I will tell you that we spent many hours in those wooden pews and on the piano and organ benches. Years of piano lessons led to Kathy becoming the church pianist, and me becoming the organist. After getting her music degree at Anderson University, Barb would become the church choir director.

Kathy was still in junior high and Barb and I were in high school when someone suggested we sing a special for an evening of music, which, back then, was called a Singspiration. We did, and they liked us.

We decided we needed a name, and so the Three of His became an official group. We were invited to sing at churches and even funerals.

We could name a hymn in five notes. We knew the words to most Bill Gaither songs. We sang Southern Gospel. It wasn’t just knowing the music in our heads but even more so in our hearts. We had no idea where the music would take us. It wasn’t to the big stage, but on Friday of this week, it was to the sixth-floor Oncology unit at St. Vincent on 86th Street.

Kathy and I tag-team going to be with Barb as she undergoes treatment for an out-of-nowhere diagnosis of leukemia.

The words to the songs we sang are etched into our hearts. Our faith is wrapped in their melody. When we raise our hands, we are saying we KNOW what the words mean.

The blood that gives me strength from day to day … will never lose its power.

I’m learning to lean on Jesus … finding more power than I’d ever dreamed.

Through it all … I’ve learned to trust in God.

After 50 years, these three ladies are still singing the praises of the Lord. (Photo provided)

The words to those songs serve as a declaration of our Faith. Those songs are so deeply part of who we are. It’s not just scriptures that have sustained our Faith, but songs as well.

And so, it was on Friday afternoon when Barb’s oncology nurse came into the room on the sixth floor of St. Vincent Hospital, she asked us to sing. We had mentioned a few days before that we used to sing in a Gospel trio. We suggested she might want to shut the door. She said, “Oh no, others need this.”

As our voices filled the room and the hallway, the Bill Gaither song “Because He Lives” may have touched a few hearts … it did ours. We knew, surely the presence of the Lord was in this place. Joy filled that room as we sang of God’s love for us.

Those young girls who were asked to sing a special for a Singspiration back in the 1970s had no idea they would end up singing on an oncology floor while one of them was fighting leukemia. God’s grace remains amazing. We still stand on God’s promises. We are still leaning on the everlasting arms. And yes, we can still name a hymn in five notes.

Since we were on the sixth floor of the hospital, my husband suggested I title this column “Angels We Have Heard on High.” I don’t think anyone would call us angels, but we know a certain oncology nurse named Kim who is an angel. She listens with her heart and reassures The Three of His that we can face uncertain days … Because He Lives.

Janet Hart Leonard can be contacted at janethartleonard@gmail.com or followed on Facebook or Instagram (@janethartleonard). Visit janethartleonard.com.