Face to Face

Hymn story found on NetHymnal:

Grant Tull­ar was help­ing with evan­geli­stic meet­ings in Ru­ther­ford, New Jer­sey. He, along with the pas­tor and his wife, did some vis­it­a­tion Sun­day af­ter­noon. They got back to the pas­tor’s home ra­ther late, and sup­per was rushed. Things were put on the ta­ble quick­ly, and ev­er­y­one was in­vit­ed to make his own snack. One of the items set out was an al­most emp­ty jar of jel­ly. Know­ing how much Tul­lar liked it, the pas­tor and his wife both passed it by. Tul­lar ac­cept­ed their kind­ness with a smile, say­ing, “So, this is all for me, is it?” In­stant­ly, the lit­tle phrase “all for me” gripped his thoughts. He went over to the pi­a­no and com­posed on the spot the now fa­mil­iar tune, along with some words—“All for me the Sav­ior suf­fered, all for me He bled and died…” The pas­tor was thrilled. He asked that the song be taught to the peo­ple in the even­ing ser­vice. Tul­lar de­clined, say­ing he want­ed to work on it a bit more. But that ne­ver hap­pened. The next day, a let­ter ar­rived from a Car­rie Breck. She had writ­ten a po­em, and won­dered if Mr. Tul­lar could set it to mu­sic. To his amaze­ment, the me­ter ex­act­ly fit the tune com­posed the even­ing be­fore. The two have been to­ge­ther ev­er since.

“Now we see but a poor reflection…then we shall see face to face.” ~1 Corinthians 13:12

Face to Face

words by Carrie Breck

music by Grant Tullar

Face to face with Christ, my Savior,

Face to face—what will it be,

When with rapture I behold Him,

Jesus Christ Who died for me?

Refrain:

Face to face I shall behold Him,

Far beyond the starry sky;

Face to face in all His glory,

I shall see Him by and by!

Only faintly now I see Him,

With the darkened veil between,

But a blessèd day is coming,

When His glory shall be seen.

What rejoicing in His presence,

When are banished grief and pain;

When the crooked ways are straightened,

And the dark things shall be plain.

Face to face—oh, blissful moment!

Face to face—to see and know;

Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ

Who loves me so. Refrain