An amazing thing has been happening to me.
Three years ago i and my family went through a wrenching life change. We felt - and ultimately believed - we were at the ‘wrong’ church. i won’t say much about the church we were at except that it was a more traditional denominational setting. The doctrine was sound and the people were great, but there were many things that just weren’t “right”. The odd thing is, now that i look back on the events in their entirety i’m getting a clearer picture of what God was doing and not just what we were doing.
If you asked me a about this a year ago my answer would probably be different. When we left our old church i was convincing myself it was because God wanted us to be in fellowship closer to home. We had been traveling 35 minutes each way three times a week to the town in which my wife and i grew up, where our parents still live, and where the surroundings said, “home”. But it didn’t feel like we were building anything or really part of the community at large because in reality we weren’t. The problem i had internally was that i felt like i was running from a failure and not being ushered into a ‘call’. Sure, my mouth was saying the right things, but it never felt quite right.
To be certain, there were many failures – personal and collective – at our old church. In fact, that church closed over a year ago (oh, the guilt!). Certain again, there are many people who feel a deep sense of loss and personal responsibility for that closure of a church family which began in the early 1800’s. But God only knows, he makes his plans, and we thrust our paddles into the rapids in anxious desparation at times to navigate the river. Thankfully, most of the people who called our old church “home” have not been deterred by the beaching and have found their way back into the rapids – better off.
And so have we. i’m glad to report that the meaningful departure i so wanted to be true but was belied by my feelings, has come to fruition. The whole while i felt like a traitor and a liar and perhaps worse, God was actually calling us out of the old and into the new. He really did want us at FC Holden. There, there is life and growth and a purpose beyond right believing. It’s a flawed community of earnest people who are trying, trying, trying to live the life full and free promised in Scripture.
It’s a life in Jesus, for Jesus.
It’s really quite simple and not as dower and intimidating as the world would portray. The details are often sketchy and hard to work out, but most of the time we make it harder than it is. You see, if God is asking you to consider the needs of others as well as your own, you have to make the choice – a lot. That can get uncomfortable at times to say the least, but the rewards are fantastic!
Don’t believe the hype of metaphysics; a relationship with the God who made you isn’t like; you, a Candy Machine, and pocket full of change. You don’t get to speak reality into existence. That’s been done the proper way when existence was spoken into reality. You quite simply get to be awed, and then be happy about it.
There are few people who wouldn’t argue that Jesus was a great man and teacher. So ask yourself, “If Jesus were alive today, would you go see him? Would you invite your friends to come hear him?”
Would you follow him?
Will you only ‘feel’ your way through life?
or will you reason also?
A point worth making though it’s much less important than what you shared here:
FC Holden has been blessed by God bringing you, at least as much as you have been bettered by coming.