Have you ever had a song stuck in your head?

I attended a church service last week and one of the songs we sang was “Marching to Zion.”

Well, the tune stuck in my head. I was humming it, singing it and hearing it in my head constantly. So much so that by the end of the week, I was ready to catch a new song.

I shared that with the music minister at my church, Ron Ethredge, who assured me there would be a snappy line up of music that Sunday so I might catch on to a different tune. He was true to his word, and when I left church, I was humming a new song. This was great.

On my way home from church, I admired some of the beautiful yard decorations on display in the front yards of homes around Van Alstyne. In one of those I saw a penguin. I think it caught my eye because, the night before, I watched the movie “March of the Penquins” — and, by the way, loved it. If you haven’t seen that movie, you should. The photography is stunning and the story engaging. It gave me a new concept of parental dedication and sacrifice for the sake of offspring.

The story is about thousands of Emperor Penquins in Antarctica that walk 70 miles over ice to their breeding ground every year. One particular detail caught my attention and made me wonder how scientists can believe in the theory of evolution. The penquin father is the only parent present when the chick hatches. He has had no food in months and there is no food available near the breeding ground. The mother has not yet returned from her walk back to the ocean to be able to feed and store up food for the chick before wallking a third time over ice to the breeding grounds. The chick needs to be fed but sometimes the mothers don’t return for a couple of days after the hatching.

The creator in all His wisdom provided for the new chick to be able to get life-sustaining food while waiting for the mother’s return. There is a small compartment in the back of the father’s throat that holds just enough nourishment for the chick to have one feeding that sustains him until the mother returns. I marvel at the details our creator has built into all our lives.

But, back to my original story. After seeing the penguin yard art, the movie title went through my mind.

Once I heard the word “march,” the whole morning of reprogramming my brain for a new song was gone, gone, gone. In an instant, I was again singing “Marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. I’m marching onward to Zion...”

I’m delighted to think about seeing the “beautiful city of God,” but I REALLY need a new song. I’m taking a different route home from church this Sunday.