Worship Arts Center
I had never heard of this hymn tune until college when we played a handbell arrangement (and where it got the nickname 'PigsGutts").
Recently I included it in worship to find that very few of our (baptist) group knew the hymn (tune or text). I should have guessed that based on the fact that I could only find it in a few select hymnals - and not in any versions of 'The Baptist Hymnal' that I have here (and I have several versions).
In preparing to lead worship for Sunday (memorial day Sunday) I wanted to somehow include something related to our military families (we have some that have served and some who have children serving).
The only hymn that came to mind was "Eternal Father Strong to Save". This is known as The Navy Hymn.
If you use any hymns that appear in any of over-5,000 common hymnals, you should take a look at hymnary.org.
This web site is a HUGE resource for all things related to hymns. It has histories of the texts and tunes as well as authors/composers.
If you ask anyone that knows me they can probably tell you that I don't have any favorites. I don't have a favorite color, or a favorite food, and definitely don't have a favorite song/hymn. But that doesn't mean that I don't think there are some songs/hymns that are better than others. And today's hymn is definitely better than many others, for a number of reasons.