We look at the circumstance of this world and wonder, “What in the world can God do with this?” How can God use a tragedy to bring about good? Where is God when we are hurting so much? Sometimes we focus the spotlight on ourselves, “How could God ever use someone like me?” Our ability to imagine – our vision – is often short-sighted.
How does God want to use you in this circumstance to accomplish more than you could possibly dream of?
The name Bob Benson may not mean a lot to you. But if you have touched on the edges of anything having to do with contemporary Christian music over the past fifty years, you probably need to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for Bob Benson.
Bob Benson (1930 – 1986) was an author, speaker, publisher and mentor to many. The Benson family owned the Christian music publishing company Benson Music. In 1961 Bob Benson and his father John formed HeartWarming Records to be a part of the Benson Music corporation. HeartWarming eventually became the home for the Imperials, the Bill Gaither Trio, the Rambos, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Downings, the Speers, Doug Oldham, Sandy Patti, Larnelle Harris, the Stamps Quartet and a host of others. If you have watched a video from the Gaither Homecoming series, the singers on the stage were in the Christian music business thanks to Bob Benson.
At his death, Reba Rambo McGuire, herself a part of the Rambo music legacy, said of Bob Benson, “On a tombstone you usually find the birth date and date of death. The tiny dash…that one mark between our entrance and exit represents the totality of our earthly existence. Nobody did the dash better than Bob Benson. He carved a deep and precisely etched impression, not only on his family and friends, but also the foundational bedrock of the creative Christian culture of his day.”
I became acquainted with the person of Bob Benson through the series of programs sponsored by Bill and Gloria Gaither known as “The Praise Gathering.” Benson, whose body was frail because of battles with surgery and cancer, would give daily devotions when he was healthy enough to do so. Few people told stories better than Bob Benson. Benson’s voice whispered, often struggling just to get past his lips. You found yourself leaning in to hear him, creeping closer to the edge of your seat just to absorb what he wanted to share.
A few of his books are still in print. This video is lengthy but gives you a picture of the man and the immeasurable impact he had. The video is housed on the James Dobson website. The two were close friends and Benson was a frequent guest on Focus on the Family when Dobson was the host.
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