Stephen Curtis Chapman: When Love Takes You In

This morning, a couple of friends and I are doing a Stephen Curtis Chapman song at church. Actually, I should be honest and say that a friend of mine, Jon Schwitzerlette is doing a Champan tune and he asked me and Keith Janney to participate. Knowing he was going to sing on Valentine’s Day, Jon picked a song Chapman wrote about the children he has adopted – it is called “When Love Takes You In.”

Unfortunately with the weather we’ve been having lately, the three of us have not had the opportunity to practice – so we are going into it cold. Jon is singing the lead and playing piano, I will play keyboard strings on an instrument that I have never touched before (the church's new Clavinova), and Keith will add his ‘cello to the mix. It should be fun – but I am a little apprehensive – but not enough not to do it this morning.

Jon has also written a beautiful narrative that he asked me to read prior to beginning the song concerning how the church has missed the boat on reaching out to people. Since the song we are doing has its roots in Stephen Curtis Chapman’s own personal experience of adopting children, Jon is encouraging us to adopt a sinner – show some love to someone who needs it. I am not including his full account here, as I haven’t asked his permission to do so, but that is the gist of it. Show some love on this Valentine’s Day.

Lyrics

I know you’ve heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be true
You’ve heard about a place called home
But there doesn’t seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream

Where love takes you in and everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in

And somewhere while you’re sleeping
Someone else is dreaming too
Counting down the days until
They hold you close and say I love you
And like the rain that falls into the sea
In a moment what has been is lost in what will be

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

And this love will never let you go
There is nothing that could ever
Cause this love to lose its hold

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in it takes you in for good
When love takes you in