If American Idol had been around in 1953 during mid-to-late summer and had stopped in Memphis to spot Tennessee talent, young Elvis Presley might have tried his luck on the Idol stage. More than five decades later, one wonders how Idol judges would have critiqued Elvis the Pelvis. Would they have praised or derided how he took others' music and restyled it with his own brand of intensity and delivery? Would they have condemned his quavering vibrato and disparaged his natural falsetto range-or would they have given him a standing ovation? And, what would they have made of his flashy clothes...

The singing of traditional hymns has almost disappeared from many churches, but these soul-stirring songs deserve to be preserved because they speak to our hearts in special ways. They focus our minds and hearts on God's presence, His love, His creation, and countless other facets of the mysterious Being we worship. There are other devotional books on hymns, but many of them are based on the history of the hymn or its writer. While this is important information, this book captures the depth of meaning from the words of the treasured hymns that stir our hearts. Exceptions exist when the story...