Finding Us Faithful

I've had a song running through my head for a week. Does this ever happen to you? Oh, it has been interrupted several times by the song Harry Karabel wrote for our VBS kids (water - otter - ought'er; ask him about it!) but by and large, it keeps streaming. And this is good, because the lyrics are wonderful, and still apply. Called "Find Us Faithful," and written in 1987 by Jon Mohr, it speaks to our lives of faith: not only how we have received our faith from others, and how we are living it out now, but also the impact our lives make upon others and their faith.

The reason it has been running through my head is because Claire Lewis Bellamy sang it for her father's installation last Sunday at Immanuel Presbyterian Church (Schererville,) beautifully, I might add. What a tender moment, to see this daughter sing about her faith, and clearly how she received it, and how she is living it out now because of the impact of her father, Dan Lewis, and her mom, Jennifer Burns Lewis.

The song keeps running through my head because we've just finished an amazingly successful and wonderful and fun Vacation Bible School (KUDOS to Jason, Becky, and Isabel Gordon for leading it!) And all this week I've had the privilege of watching the Spirit of God at work all throughout our building and grounds, as so MANY hands worked together to share the gospel with close to 50 kids!

Faithful adults, working behind the scenes, working in front of the scenes, using the gifts God has given each to make our corner of Bullseye Lake and Valparaiso Street turn into a glorious River Rampage! The number of hours put in would astound you. But that's how we roll here at FPC.

Over half the kids that came are not 'ours.' Yet they came back night after night, knowing they were welcomed, and loved (and fed!) They heard how much Jesus loves them and how God will never leave them, but I know they experienced that love through so many of our hands and feet and voices and hearts!

So, thank you. Thank you so much for continuing to be faithful to God's call upon your lives, sharing the gospel of grace and love so that our children - and all the children who come here - will know they are loved by God, and us.

Here are the lyrics that keep running through my head; may they ever continue to run through your life, for generations to come, and a link in case you want to hear it:

Find Us Faithful*

1.

We're pilgrims on the journey / Of the narrow road / And those who've gone before us / Line the way / Cheering on the faithful / Encouraging the weary /Their lives a stirring testament / To God's sustaining grace

2.

Surrounded by so great / A cloud of witnesses / Let us run the race / Not only for the prize / But as those who've gone before us / Let us leave to those behind us / The heritage of faithfulness / Passed on through godly lives

Chorus

Oh may all who come behind us / Find us faithful / May the fire of our devotion / Light their way / May the footprints that we leave / Lead them to believe / And the lives we live / Inspire them to obey

3.

After all our hopes and dreams / Have come and gone / And our children sift through all / We've left behind / May the clues that they discover / And the mem'ries they uncover / Become the light that leads them / To the road we each must find