When the Saints Go Marching In, I Want To Be One Of Them

I have been reading a lot lately.  I sometimes get so caught up in books that I am thinking about the characters even while I am washing the dishes or blow drying my hair.  I finished the 500 page book "Redeeming Love" in a little over 2 days over the weekend.  It was a beautiful and heart wrenching story and really reminded me of the love God has for us.  But after I read the book, I realized that I had not read my Bible at all during the time that I was reading it.  The plot for the book I read was loosely based on the book of Hosea in the Bible and it naturally made me curious to go check the story of that minor prophet again.  As I was reading it, I realized that I am amazed when people tell me that they read through the entire Bible a few times a year, or even once a year, and yet, I read pages of novels at record paces all the time.  Now I am not saying that I don't read my Bible, but I definitely keep a novel I'm reading on a short tether and open it often!  The books I read are often Christian Fiction and the noble Christian characters are often portrayed as reading large amounts of scripture on a regular basis.  And there I sit reading about someone else reading scripture while neglecting to do it myself.  (Of couse, the female characters often have the unfortunate flaw of not being able to eat when they are perplexed and becoming too thin, which is also something that I don't do!)  I think that novels though can make us realize how God really is in our midst and if we were to write out our life story like a novel, we could see how God does work throughout our lives and that people really are as wonderful and as horrible as people on the pages.  As I read the novel over the weekend, I thought about all the women who are today being treated like the main character did and it really grieved my heart anew.  That is one of the reasons I work with Compassion.  I want the weak and unprotected to have someone come to their rescue.  It brings my heart some peace to know that there will be girls out there who will not be sold into prostitution because they are no longer a burden to the families finances or there will be a boy who will learn what it means to love his wife like Christ loves the church because of their participation in the Compassion Program.  Sometimes when I am exposed to real and horrific stories of some of these children's circumstances before they were registered, I wish I didn't have to know or that I could believe things like this only happened to people in books, but I know that I can't.  If I hide my head, it won't go away.  I can only help one child at a time.

I heard the following song many times, but when I saw Sara Groves perform it live with scenes from her trips overseas, I thought my heart would break.  I have been planning on going on a trip with Compassion for several years, but the kids have always been too young.  Now that they are older, I feel like it is time for me to go, but I don't want to go without Josh.  The reason is that I don't know if I can handle the realm of emotions I will experience without him being there with me.  I know that probably sounds odd, especially since I have been working with Compassion for about 5 years now.  But I know myself.  I know that when I went to the Holacaust Museum in D.C. that I grieved over the tragedy of the event for weeks after.  I would find myself crying as I drove to work or showered.  And that was in the past and something where there has been a resolution of sorts.  It will be more difficult to see first-hand that equal tragedies are occurring today all over the world.  Even though I know they are and have seen and heard a lot about it, I am sure it will be nothing like being there personally.


When the Saints Go Marching In by Sara Groves

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 cannot 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 want to 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 the faithful life
their courage compells 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 Pharohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening 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 sister 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 the door (in rescue)

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them