Jesus Never Fails

Preacher Brown and his wife, Emma, came to the Smoky Mountains by way of Persia. She is said to have had royal blood which must have made their descent into missions scandalous. They followed God’s leading to the backwoods of Cocke County in the early 1900’s. It’s the same county for the setting of the historical fiction Christy written by Catherine Marshall. A short description of the Christy book gives you an idea of what life must have been like for the Browns. “The novel explores faith and mountain traditions such as moonshining, folk beliefs and folk medicine.”

In the mid-forties just after the war, my grandparents came to carry on the work. At that time the Browns were not only leading churches but also went into many of the small country schools to teach Bible lessons – a work our family continued into the 80’s. Among the things they left behind was a small handmade plaque of Preacher Browns that read simply, “Jesus Never Fails.” It became a fixture in their home, and I can remember growing up with its ever present proclamation.

The plaque even impacted our family in a Balaam’s donkey sort of way. My aunt had taught her parakeet, Buttercup, to say things like, “Buttercup is a pretty girl”, “Kept by the power of God, 1 Peter 1:5”, “Are you happy?….Hallelujah” and, yes, you guessed it “Jesus never fails.” One morning as my grandpa poured out his heart in prayer concerning work for my dad, almost on cue Buttercup belted out a timely reminder, “Jesus never fails.”

Now we are privileged to have it hanging in our own home pouring forth the same proclamation it has for almost 100 years. It’s a great refrain during these days of economic uncertainty, world unrest and personal searching. I can almost hear it interwoven into Scripture (Psalm 136 fashion) as a blazing reminder of His faithfulness:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, Jesus never fails.
and all these things will be given to you as well. Jesus never fails.
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, Jesus never fails.
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Jesus never fails.
Each day has enough trouble of its own. Jesus never fails.