September 1, 2026 - Good Morning! It’s Tuesday, September 1.
Here’s another devotional coming to you from New Orleans, Louisiana - The Big Easy - The Crescent City - Paris of the South - The City That Care Forgot... my favorite place. I’ve travelled here a couple of dozen times over the years and had the opportunity to repeat a number of memorable experiences. But there’s one experience that I’ve had only once. The day that I was part of the “Second Line.“
On that day, about twenty years ago, I was walking through one of the cemeteries, the “Cities of the Dead”, with their white-washed tombs that sit above ground, above the ever-threatening New Orleans water table. As I was examining one of the monuments, some of which are several centuries old, I suddenly heard music. It was a brass band, playing a slow and mournful rendition of the old gospel hymn “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.” I followed my ears and came upon a solemn group of mourners. I kept a respectful distance. When the service ended and the crowd turned to exit the graveyard, the music began again. But the tune and the tempo had changed. Now the brass band was playing a sprightly and joyous “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
The mourners began to step lively and even dance. And the spectators, like me, fell in behind the family and friends. That group, in New Orleans, is called “The Second Line.” And it’s a show. I didn’t dance (no one wants to see that) but I did step lively. This tradition is unique to New Orleans, but in a larger sense it represents the dual nature of death to the Christian. Loved ones certainly mourn and grieve and feel loss, but at the same time there is peace, comfort, and confidence. There is an eternal hope, the hope of an eternal home with the Lord.
Lord, I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
