About 20 years ago, Randall Goodgame began writing music to help his homeschooled children memorize scripture. He later started a music brand called “Slugs & Bugs.” With it, whole families can learn God’s word by singing it. Along the way, Mr. Goodgame wrote music for the animated series VeggieTales. You can hear one of those songs in The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s episode. 

Mr. Goodgame believes God used those experiences to prepare him for his latest project: the Scripture Hymnal. The forest green book has 106 songs. All are Bible verses set to music.

Mr. Goodgame hopes the Scripture Hymnal will be useful to families and churches. He says God used it to work on him during a hard year.

Picking the right scripture wasn’t difficult. Mr. Goodgame had just finished reading through the Bible in a year. He highlighted favorite passages along the way. 

“I had this whole treasure chest of scriptures already chosen to try to write songs from,” he explains. Then he teamed up with his good friend Andrew Osenga. Mr. Osenga is also a musician. The pair tested the hymns with about a dozen other artists.

Mr. Goodgame says 2022 was a tough year for him and his family. Making music sometimes felt like “a cruel joke.” But during that season, the Lord made sure Mr. Goodgame had time to think deeply about God’s word. “I see the struggle and the trial that my family was going through as a crucial part of the crucible from which this hymnal was born,” he says.

Why? God often uses great hardship to bring about His merciful purposes.