"The Carol of the Drum"

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.


This song is completely filler. The poetic license is incredible. But, it tells us a story that is completely in line with who Jesus is and the message he brought us during his visitation to our tiny blue planet.

There were kings bringing expensive, impressive gifts because he is the king. But, this boy had nothing to give him except what he had. Jesus accepted his gift. This is how he accepts our gifts to him. None of them are significant enough to warrant even his slightest awareness, but his grace is way beyond the pride of other, lesser kings. He not only accepts our poor gifts, but he deems them acceptable.

Someone may accept a gift from you, but think it not an acceptable gift. They are just being nice. But, Jesus says that our pitiable gifts are acceptable to him and to God.

This tells us a story of living with the gifts and place in life that God has given us and offering that to God.

It is God who made us. He has given us the gifts we bear and he loves that we return to him the grace he has given to us. He isn't concerned with great oratories, gold, silver or numbers of people that we may influence. He is concerned with who he has made us to be and where he has made us to live and what he has given us. These are the things that he calls acceptable when we return the grace he has given us by giving to him of what we have even though others may consider it to be nothing fit for a king.




This may be more to your liking:



Besides all of this, it is the only Christmas Carol that I know of that is this personal with the interaction between this boy and Jesus and his family.

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God made man. He gave the man orders to take dominion over the earth. But he did not make the man the king or the judge over the earth.

Then, God found that man was alone and needed someone to help him. So, he made woman to be his wife. He, again, did not tell the man to be in charge over the woman.

But, they sinned. When they were put out of the garden, they were told how they were going to live. The curse was that man would rule over woman.

When they were sent out of the garden, God said, “The man has become like one of us, knowing good from evil.” The temptation that Satan set before the woman was that her eyes would be opened and she would be like God because she would know the difference between good and evil.

So, after man determined his own fate and found that he could be the judge of good and evil. This was “being like God.” Both God and Satan said that when man knows the difference between good and evil, he is like God.

Because man knows the difference between good and evil, he makes his own decisions on what he should or should not do. Those decisions are based on his knowledge of the difference between good and evil. In this way, he needs not inquire of God. He is perfectly capable of deciding for himself what is right and what is wrong, what is left and what is right, what is good and what is evil. But he gained this autonomy at the cost of his life and his relationship with God.

God used to walk in the garden with man. Man used to walk with God in the garden. But, now that he has gained the ability to be the master of his own life, he has become hostile to God.

Sometime later, God found a man who walked with him. That man was living in faith. His name was Enoch. After walking with God for 300 years, God took Enoch. He did not die because he pleased God. Genesis says that he walked with God. Hebrews says that he pleased God. Walking with God is pleasing God and Enoch was the only person after Adam who was reported to have walked with God since man became knowledgeable of the difference between good and evil.

Up to this time, there is no record of any human king.

After the flood, God chose Abraham to live in the wilderness we now call Israel. During the life of Abraham, there were kings and kingdoms all around them. He even walked through some of the kingdoms when going about his business and he related to them. Abraham fought with one king and honored another. But, there was no king over Abraham, of whom God chose and set apart for himself.

The tribes of the clan of Abraham lived with elders in their clan and eventually, through a series of unfortunate events, were put into slavery by a king. This was the Pharaoh of Egypt.

After several hundred years in Egypt, and after they became slaves to Egypt, while they were helpless and miserable, Moses arrived on the scene. When he had realized his identity, he decided one time to judge an Egyptian for being too harsh on one of the Israelites. The next day, he decided he could be a judge between two Israelites and found that he didn’t really have that authority.

When Moses had run off for forty years, God came to them and rescued them from the hand of the king. Moses became subject to the king of creation. And once he did that, he found that the king would make the judgments and determine the punishments. Moses wasn’t the rescuer of Israel. He wasn’t the judge of Israel. He was the voice of God to the people, but it was God acting out his own word as the king. Moses was not to respond to the people out of his own initiative. His orders were clear and when violated, they were addressed by God. Moses was not the king.

For four hundred years after Israel took their land that God promised them, they had no king. Instead, when trouble arose in the land, God would call forth a person termed “judge” who would, in some way, solve at least some of the problem by providing judgment from God. These problems were mostly in relation to outside influences. The Israelites had elders who guided their individual clans. But they had no king. When there was some problem that arose, God would solve the problem, either by supernatural means or by the hands of the judges.

After that 400 year period, the people cried out for a king. God gave them what they wanted even though God reported to Samuel that it was God who was being rejected as the king in this request. God compared this request for an earthly king as a rejection of himself. He compared it to all the other times that the people forsook him and served other Gods. This was not what God wanted. He wanted a people who would recognize him as the king and serve him alone.

It appears that since Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel and they did not follow Samuel’s ways, the elders did not want to subject themselves to those men. Instead, of asking that someone else be appointed, they asked that a king be put in place. Asking for a king to rule over them was just one more way that the people rejected God as their king.

The first king stank to high heaven.

The second king was David. This was a man after God’s own heart. The prophecies of the coming messiah refer to this person as the king who would sit on David’s throne. David was extremely unusual when it comes to the kings of Israel. From there on, they only got worse. They divided Israel into two kingdoms. They made rules based on jealousy and fear. They turned to other kingdoms for help instead of God. With few exceptions, God was very much displeased with the kings of Israel. So, he took away the kings.

When Israel and Judah went into captivity to foreign governments, the kings were deposed. There was never really another king in Israel after that. After a while, God brought the people back to Israel and kings and governors were assigned by the ruling governments. Even in the time of Jesus, there was a king over Israel. But this king was really only a subject of the Roman Caesar and not a king in his own right.

Then Jesus came. We have two genealogies recorded for Jesus in the NT. One of the genealogies links him to Adam. Adam’s king was God. The link to Adam assured us of Jesus’ humanity.

The other genealogy links him to King David. That link assures us that he is the promised messiah who is to sit on the throne of David in the coming kingdom.
Jesus’ message of good news was that the kingdom of God was near them. He even declared it to be in those who followed him. Jesus’ good news was not freedom from the kingdoms of the world. His good news was that the king that we rejected all those times is coming to establish his kingdom among us once more. He hasn’t given up on us. He hasn’t decided to just destroy us as his enemies. Instead, he has provided a means for us to submit ourselves to him as we should have always done.

Peter’s conclusion to his speech on the day of Pentecost was:
Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,[f] that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

" 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet." '[g]
"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

From that day, the church began to grow to be more than that 120 people who were in the upper room to thousands. These thousands of people who were added to their numbers were subjecting themselves to the king and messiah. This was Jesus that they submitted to.

The number of followers of Jesus as king continued to grow in Jerusalem until persecution and famine drove them from that place to others places. Wherever they went, they spread the news of the king of Israel who had died and rose from the grave as predicted by the prophet and king, David.

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I don't know how I could possibly sum up the years for Old Old Grandma.

I love what LaFonda said about her. She knows how to capture in one story what I have seen and known over decades.





I remember that she would run out to meet us as kids like she did with our kids. Her face would be all smiles and her hands out open to grab us. I remember that she would cry when we left to go back home. Most of the time we lived very far from her and it doesn't seem like we saw her and grandpa enough. There were times that we stayed with them for long stretches at a time though.

I know that when we came over in the summer, she made us lemon-aid and milk shakes. And that she baked us cookies for afternoon snacks.

In the evenings we would set in the living room. She would knit and grandpa would pretend to watch Gun Smoke - but his eyes were closed. So, we knew he wasn't really watching it. She just kept the TV on and continued knitting until it was time to go to bed.

We, the grandkids, pretty much had the run of the house and the farm while we were there. Sometimes she would go out with us and help us find the eggs for breakfast. Sometimes we would go out with her and "help" her change the irrigation water. While we were there - we were there - and she was with us.

LaFonda also posted a blog about Old Old Grandma here: Old Old Grandma
My niece, Amanda, also posted a blog for her as well: Cicada Songs and Cricket Chirps

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Mary Miller has been lovingly called Old Old grandma.


When my husband and I married I already had 2 daughters. On our first visit to meet his family, I was more than a little nervous. I wondered how his family was going to accept this already existing family.


Upon approaching the gate at the back of grandma and grandpa Miller's house, we were met with this lovely little giggly, white haired lady. She was soon to become our dearest of all grandmas! As this little spit fire of a woman came racing at us she was verbally claiming these beautiful little girls as her very own great grand daughters. Wow! What a surprise, what a blessing!

She loved us like we had always been part of her family. On our next visit she was introduced to our third daughter, this one was the first great grandchild by blood. I admit that I was wondering if she would be more partial to this child since she was from blood, but I soon found out that she was just grandma. She loved them all and received them all the same.


On one of our following visits she got to meet our fourth daughter, this time I had no wonders and no worries. I knew she just knew how to love. This is when she was given the name that has stuck with her all these years.


This name was given to her by her third granddaughter who was about 2 and 1/2 years old. Since we also visited Art's parents when we came to visit grandma the children had two grandmas and grandpas. So in order for our 2 and 1/2 year old to communicate which grandma she was talking about she lovingly named grandma Miller "Old Old Grandma".


You would have thought grandma had been given jewels for her crown by the way she received, embraced and, yes, even delighted in her new given name! Some Grandmas would have corrected the child because of the "OLD OLD" part. But not our grandma. This was a crown given to her by her great granddaughter and she wore it with Pride!


She has since been referred to as Old Old Old grandma because of the blessing of having Great Great grandchildren.

Soon after I joined the family, grandpa became ill and was bed ridden. This is where I got to see the strength in this little woman. I am still amazed at what grandma as a woman of her age, actually for a woman of any age it would have been an extremely heavy load. But grandma, even as an Old Old grandma appeared to carry this load with an ease that I can't explain.


At this same time Grandma was doing child care for 2-4 children, keeping her home in tip top condition, doing extra laundry that was required because of grandpa's needs, keeping the coal-fire burning, making meals and waking up every 2 hours through out the night to give grandpa a drink and turn him.


Because of her diligence turning grandpa, he never got a bedsore while on her watch (there were a couple of times when grandpa did get sick and have to be put in the hospital for short stays and when he would return home he would have bedsores. She treated them until they healed.).
I still can't fully wrap my mind around how she did it but she did, and she did it WELL.


After Grandpa died, life changed for grandma and she decided to sell the homestead. She made the decision to purchase a manufactured home and live in a mobile home court in Buhl.

Even though this was a big change for grandma, when we would ask her if she was happy, she answered, "I decided when I made this move if I wasn't happy no one would ever hear me complain about it." As far as I know she kept her promise. Grandma wasn't a complainer.


When grandma was making the step from living alone to living in a group home, her family tried to get her to move closer to them. We didn't care which part of the family she would go with but it was our desire to have her next to the family. Grandma choose to remain in Idaho. We believed it was important to let grandma make her own decision, and we honored her decision even though it was difficult to see her life as we had known it fading away...


Grandma now has left this life for a much better one. Even though we would never want to say good bye to her, her family believes she is in a better place, a peaceful place, and a place where we will meet again someday. So until then, Old Old Grandma, know that you are loved by the generations you have left behind.


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