I want to be one of them

This Sunday morning I really want to celebrate my beautiful friends, many of whom are going through some significant challenges at present. This seems to be a very difficult season for an alarming number of my kindred spirits. It's not my place to describe the specifc challenges, but suffice to say, that all of these beautiful people manage to face heart-breaking situations with grace, dignity, generosity and humour. I am in awe of their faithfulness and strength. They personify beauty through pain.

I'm also in awe of other friends who, whilst not being challenged to the same degree, face a different kind of opposition just by being commited to raising their children to be "other" focussed and encouraging them in their relationship with God. Not a popular or easy position to maintain in this increasingly superficial society. Imagine the impact these children will make in their generation!

I heard this song a year or so ago and it has helped give me eyes to see what is really going on around me, outside my own little comfort zone. It's called "When the Saints Go Marching In", by Sara Groves. My friends ARE saints on the earth.


I've also learned alot about faithfulness through witnessing the sacrifices that many missionaries attached to our church make. This song also makes me more aware of their strength. These amazing people who pick up their entire lives, very often with small children in tow and faithfully surrender to the Lord's calling. Morgan & Anna in Ecuador, Jenny in Burkina Faso, Daniel & Domenica in Uganda, Mike & Jo in a place we're not even allowed to know because it would endanger them and a new "bloggy" friend Lindsay who with her family is a missionary in Panama. God Bless you all.

This is the only video of the song I could find, Sara Groves didn't make a video apparently. I love the lyrics though, and have them below the clip if you're interested.




Lord, I have a heavy burden
Of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But Your Word is burning like a fire
Shut up in my bones
And I can't let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
With so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the saints go marching in
I wanna be one of them

Lord, it's all that I can't carry
And cannot leave behind
It often overwhelms me
But when I think of all who've gone before
And lived a faithful life
Their courage compels me

And when I'm weary and overwrought
With so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaoh's court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the saints go marching in
I wanna be one of them
And when the saints go marching in
I wanna be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakened to the value of her soul
I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear
I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the dying man's side
I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down that door
I see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the saints go marching in
I wanna be one of them
And when the saints go marching in
I wanna be one of them