I was as shocked & saddened as the rest of the world when I heard a few years back- in the early morning of May eleven, Dottie Rambo slipped through the phantom walls that separate this life from eternity. Heaven must be in a hub-bub as we speak. “Dottie’s home you’ all.”
The first words I spoke to Juda were, “well, Dottie died with her boots on.” How poetic. Dottie went to heaven on Mother’s day. She died as she lived. Always the dramatic. Always the poetic. Always Dottie.
Dottie was four years older than me. She was born in 1934 & I in 1938. When we started off in evangelism in the early 1960’s, we recorded & sang mostly Dottie’s songs. The reason: I hadn’t as yet written songs good enough to sing in our meetings. Maybe I still haven’t.
I can remember the first song of Dottie’s that we sang; “Its me again Lord.”
Here’s something you’d never know if I didn’t tell you. I won a Dove Award before Dottie did. Interesting. Right? But if you’ll stay with me, you’re in for an even greater surprise.
In 1974 I was pastoring a church in Montgomery Alabama. We had just completed the new sanctuary seating just over 1,000. I booked the Rambo’s for a concert that year. They drew a good crowd & “outdid” themselves.
To be frank, Dottie didn’t really know me then & I didn’t know her very well. We never got to know each other very well. Three years later I wrote “Learning to lean” & in 1977 it won Nashville’s Dove award for- Song of the year.”
When Dottie & I were in the same room in Nashville, in a post- Dove Award party, Dottie wouldn’t speak to me. That’s right. Dottie walked right past me, nose in the air & --no speaky.
But wait. That never bothered me because I totally understood. Musicians are a temperamental bunch. The reason she wouldn’t speak was that she was upset. Upset because she’d never gotten a Dove Award. That’s right. The great Dottie Rambo hadn’t as yet ever won a Dove award. This was a travesty. To Dottie, my winning the Dove was “beginners luck.” As far as the Nashville crowd was concerned, I was a “nobody.”
I think Dottie got her Dove five years later with “We shall behold Him.” Listen; if I’d been writing gospel music since I was eight years old & had been overlooked by the Gospel Music Industry, I’m sure I’d have been steamed also.
Please don’t think I put myself on the same level musically with Dottie. I don’t. Dottie had a body of work that was almost beyond comprehension. Songwriting wasn’t something I started out to do in life anyway. Even if it had been, I doubt I could have ever come close to Dottie. She was “the bomb.”
Over the years since she went to heaven, I’ve thought a lot about Dottie. I guess it’s my way of mourning the loss of such a gigantic talent/ministry. I’ve taken another look at her work & learned lots about her I never knew. She wrote songs of unimpeachable truth from a deep well of insight into truth of the heart's experience & the soul's knowledge.
I’ve often jokingly told people “I started out young.” Didn’t we all? But with Dottie Rambo that’s no joke. She started writing songs at eight & she caught Governor Jimmy Davis’ eye when she was ten. I was just learning to wave buh-bye at that age.
Have you given any thought to the irony of Dottie’s passing? Her most famous early song was “Sheltered in the arms of God," & it talks about how she’s protected from the storms of life. Investigators say it’s almost certain her tour bus was blown off the road by strong winds that were blowing across the state at the time she was killed. One line in that song says, “I have no fear for naught of earth can harm me.”
But right here is where the Christian faith is so different, so magnificent. When we’re in God’s hands He protects us & if anything hits us it only moves us closer to Him. We also believe in Healing but if we die, God has just totally healed us, we’re with Him.
Paul said, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” Dottie suffered right up to her death with back pain & had gone through nine serious back operations in her life. To utter an understatement; Dottie’s not suffering now; she’s sheltered in the arms of God eternally
Dottie died early in the morning on Mother’s Day on a starless night somewhere by the side of the road. In years to come, should Christ tarry, every Mother’s Day we’ll automatically think of Dottie. She died so unexpectedly. I hope & pray none of her loved-ones were giving her the old “cold-shoulder” at the time, if so, Mother's Day to them will always mean something very different.
One last thing; I’ve been asking myself why I never wrote Dottie when she was alive & told her what an inspiration she was to me. It’s too late now. But I’m not going to let the Devil beat my brains out over it. Let’s see, who else is there who's still breathing I could write & give some affirmation to? So, so many, & you can believe I’ll get right on it.
Perhaps Dottie’s’ greatest song, the one that won her The Dove Award was, “We shall behold Him.” She doesn’t need that Blessed Hope anymore, she’s with The Master eternally, but you & I certainly do.
Aren’t you glad she left these words?
We shall behold Him, we shall behold Him,
Face to face, in all of His glory.
And we shall behold Him; yes we shall behold Him,
Face to face, our Saviour and Lord.
Congrats on your promotion Dottie. We’ll miss you, but we'll see you soon!
Blessings,
John
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