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When I was growing up I spent a week every summer at Bible camp. Though most of the things I remember from those warm summer days have nothing to do with the Bible, I know that the Lord was working during those times. One thing that still sticks out to me were the campfires. In our shorts and T-shirts huddled up against the fire to keep warm, we would sing songs and hear testimonies. One song that we sang was "O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus". I remember it most often being sung in a round, as the minor middle eastern tones carried the tune. The song was one of my favorites.

As an adult, I re-entered the camp scene as a summer staff member and counselor. Years had passed, yet when campfire arrived I found once again "O the Deep. . .". The song holds a nostalgia of sorts. Not only for my past, but to the origins of the song. The following is true behind the song from the life experience of Samuel Trevor Francis back in 1890.

It was a cold winter's night, his hope all but gone as he walked across London's Hungerford Bridge. Full of sadness and weary from loneliness, he gazed down at the churning waters below tempted to give in to the whisper telling him to jump. It was at that moment that he heard God's reassuring words speaking to him, cutting through the dark lies that taunted him. On that bridge, Francis put his complete trust in Christ.

"O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus" came out of this transformational experience. It is also a reminder of Romans 8:38-39: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

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O THE DEEP, DEEP LOVE OF JESUS