John G. Fee founded Berea College (KY) in 1855, and this piece is dedicated to the Berea Concert Choir and its director, Dr. Stephen Bolster.  Fee, an ardent abolitionist, sought to encourage other abolitionists with these words of God’s ultimate care and goodness.  I had been “digesting” the text, but just couldn’t seem to get started with the piece.  Then…that awful day at Virginia Tech happened in Blacksburg, and I experienced my own agony by “owning” these comforting words from a distance.  Although I knew no one personally who was involved with the tragic events of that day, I was involved to a degree through media coverage.  I found these words of Fee very comforting on that bleak day: “Hold on, stand still, and you will see the face of God.  The Holy Presence, Shekinah, will lead you across Jordan.”  I left the Hebrew word in the text to honor the professor (a Holocaust Survivor), who barred the door to his classroom so that others might escape…true heroism and love.  As a composer, I’ve often found that when I put my agony on the page, my healing begins.  It is my hope that others will find comfort in these words as they “speak” to fragile, hurting hearts.