Who will call Him King?

Throughout elementary and middle school, I wanted to be this woman.

Some of you may no longer recognize her face, but if you followed Christian contemporary music in the late 80s and early 90s during her heyday, you probably knew of her.

I'm referring to Sandi Patty.

You may remember her like this:



(A little side note: Her name was misspelled on the album cover of her first recording, so throughout most of her career, she was known as Sandi Patty.) By the way, that's a fabulous tape in the picture above. Yes, I still have this on tape some where. I had most of her tapes and the majority of my accompaniment collection is made up of songs performed by her. Let's just say my lofty childhood goal of being Sandi was never met in the least bit but I still like to try.

So why Sandi? No, I didn't want to be Sandi, but I wanted her voice. If you ask anyone who knows about Sandi what's the first thing they think of, I guarantee you they'd say, "She can sing high!" That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to sing high. Sandi was known for her triumphant songs with a massive explosion finale that resulted in her rocking the rafters with some crazy high note. She'd effortlessly hit a high C. Her songs were always powerful, and I'd sing them (or try at least) at the top of my lungs.

Obviously, I never became Sandi, but I do think listening to her for all those years developed my voice into a first soprano range. Most people don't know, but I can actually sing rather low - I could easily be a tenor. In fact, my high school music director insisted that I was an alto, but I sang second soprano. The following year, when we had a new director, he put me on first soprano. I was happy. Thank you, Sandi!

Now that you know my Sandi Patty history, I wanted to introduce you to one of my favorite Easter songs she used to sing. This song was released back in 1990 on her "Another Time, Another Place" album. It's called, "Who Will Call Him King of Kings?"

This is about the only version I could find on youtube of it being performed, but this will give you an idea. Keep in mind that this song is 20 years old.



Here's the lyrics:

In cold despair
They'd laid Him in the tomb
The body of their Master fair
Third morning came
As they returned to pray
Light was shining everywhere
But Jesus' body was not there

And as they gazed at an empty grave
The earth around began to shake
And they were so afraid
But voices of angels filled the air
Their shouts proclaimed "He is not here"
And you could hear them say

Chorus 1:
Who will call Him King of kings
Who will call Him Lord of lords
Who will call Him Prince of Peace
Such a wonderful counselor, Mighty God
Who will call Him King

Their spirits soared
As fear was turned to joy
Standing there before their eyes
Jesus clothed in radiant white

And with a voice they'd heard before
He told me "Go and tell the world that I'm alive"
They ran as fast as feet could fly
"The Lord is risen" was their cry
And you could hear them say

Chorus 2:
We will call Him King of kings
We Will call Him Lord of lords
We will call Him Prince of Peace
Such a wonderful counselor, Mighty God

Repeat Chorus 1

Just like He said
He is risen from the dead
And the people say

Repeat Chorus 2

I will call Him King of kings
I will call Him Lord of lords
I will call Him Prince of Peace
Such a wonderful counselor, Mighty God
I will call Him King
I will call Him King
I will call Him King

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I wanted to share this song with you to ask, do you call Him King? Not just today on Good Friday, or in church Sunday for Easter. Do you call Him King every day?

This is a question I also have to ask myself. It's so easy to get dressed up on Sundays, head to church, and call Him our King. We pick Jesus up off the shelf for the day and feel like we've done something great.

Do you ever wonderful if Jesus looks down on our world today and asks, "Who will call me King?"

I was humbled this week while Matt and I were reading several chapters together of Christ's journey to the cross in His final days. We read the accounts in both Matthew and John. I thought I knew the "Easter story" forward and backward, and yet, I was surprised (and sadden) at my lack of knowing several particular details about what happened in His final days before being nailed to the cross. The death and resurrection of Jesus is what paved the way to us having life everlasting, and yet, I've taken it for granted. It is easy for me to call Him King, but do I serve Him as a King? Obviously not like I should.

I don't want Jesus to be my Sunday King. I don't want Him to only be my King when I'm struggling and need His guidance. I want Him to be King of my life always. He gave the ultimate sacrifice for me when He was blameless and sinless, and yet, I struggle to surrender to His will. What would we do without saving grace?

Who will call Him King?