I really wish I had a more dramatic story to share with you about the writing of It’s Found In Jesus but I don’t.  It was written in my car on a rainy November day in Portland in the parking lot of a Fred Meyer store.

I really dislike shopping.  It could be that I just don’t like crowds or I am intimidated by the variety of items; regardless…I simply and completely hate it.  I’m a “go into the store knowing what you want, get it and get out” person.  Marci is not.  On a very cold and wet November afternoon it was Christmas shopping day.  I promised to go, but didn’t promise to go in.  We were at a Fred Meyer shopping center that had several other stores so the crowds were immense and the mood was frantic.  I dropped her off at the store entrance and found a parking spot as far away from the store as I could. 

As the rain pounded the car and the windows fogged up on the inside; I pushed my seat back to the lounging position and closed my eyes.  The first thing I saw was a horde of desperate shoppers all crowding into a already packed store to buy stuff.  I saw the look on their faces as they frantically searched for the perfect gift for their children. I could feel the closed-in, ball of bodies all vying for that perfect gift.  And then I heard in my head the music and words, “Where is the peace we all can rest in? Where are the arms we all can nest in? It’s found in Jesus.”

Oh how wonderful I felt to hear that sound, to feel that message, to rest in that truth.  The questions kept coming:  “Where is love that loves without condition? Where are the hands that help us up when we fall?  Where is the touch that heals our brokenness and pain? Where is the voice that calls us all by name. It’s found in Jesus.”

When Marci returned to the car with all of the bags of goods she purchased, it was hard to come back to the present moment and help.  I wanted to stay in the other moment asking the questions that all led to It’s Found In Jesus.  Later that evening I put it down on paper and guitar.  It’s one of the simplest songs I’ve written but one of my favorites.  

Anyone asking questions about where to find peace, food, love may not  arrive at the same answer I did; and I respect that completely.  But at that moment in my life; it was the only answer I could find and I’m grateful to have been there to hear it.