Find Us Faithful -- John Mohr

John is a voiceover professional, so if you’ve ever heard a pleasing, resonant baritone voice in a commercial, it just might be his. His might be called a ‘velvet’ voice. But there’s another voice that John Mohr has used, one with a background story that he may sometimes wish had never moved him to speak – one that  admitted betrayal. What he felt in the wake of his admission of guilt spurred the words he penned in “Find Us Faithful”, a hope that he indicates has grown over the succeeding years as he watches a couple of generations proceed in his footsteps. Having bloodlines to those he wanted to motivate was undoubtedly part of the impetus for John’s words and notes in 1988, but the rest of us can broaden the audience to whom we look as we think about the coming journey of offspring – spiritual or not, those we may not have even met or imagined yet.

It’s not clear where John Mohr was when he wrote “Find Us Faithful” – perhaps he was in our near California (see its seal here), where he has lived much of his life with his family – but the story he tells indicates it was a life chapter that developed while he was in many places. It’s a story that John says emerged as he looked back on several years of marital unfaithfulness. After many years of deceit, John says multiple friends convinced him that he needed confession – complete and brutally straightforward – in order to make his life right. He describes his wife Luanne’s forgiveness as nothing short of miraculous, analogous to what he reflects upon is true for all those who confess and trust God’s leading – that freedom is the reward. In the wake of this realization, John composed ‘Find Us…’, probably because he already had children whom he wanted to impress with the importance of being in touch with a godly faith. He evidently did not expect that a journey that has included touring with the Gaither Vocal Band; or singing among other believers in various venues in the Nashville area; or even living in Ukraine where he worked with hospitals and orphanages with Luanne and their six kids was a guarantee of the message’s transmission. Even though the voice he has used most often in the last 10 years (2010-19) has been in thousands of commercials and even in an audio version of the bible, John’s words in the song he wrote in 1988 still resonate perhaps most loudly and personally. They are about himself, but invite others to personalize them.    

Think about what voice you want them to hear. That’s what John Mohr might say best sums up the poem he wrote as he felt the release from a guilty conscience and considered how others might listen to his words of encouragement. You and I may not have physical offspring, as John Mohr does. But, my own experience in faith has had me crossing paths with others whom I never knew until I was an adult – friends, church leaders, ministers, and others. I hear their voices, too. And, whether I appreciate this much, others may pay attention to my voice also. The trick is to get them to hear not me, but Him. John Mohr reminds me that I’m part of a ‘heritage of faithfulness’ (v.2), a group of ‘pilgrims on the journey’ (v.1), not a lonesome soul drifting into nothingness. Join the crowd, and grab some others to bring along!   

See this link for the song story: http://www.homecomingmagazine.com/article/find-us-faithful/

See the author’s home page here, and imagine his ‘voiceover’ voice singing the words he wrote in 1988: https://www.jonmohr.com/