The Church

What's the one thing that is really at the heart of God's love for us? What did Jesus die for? What did he pray for? What is the vehicle by which he connects people in the world to Him?

The Church.

I love the Church. I really do. My whole life is centered around Jesus Christ and based on His Church.

It is consumes almost every one of my thoughts.

I encourage you to love the church as well. I encourage you to keep the Church in your prayers. I encourage you to be faithful to the Church. I encourage you to minister in the Church. I encourage you to give to the Church.

The Church is where we grow spiritually, it's where we raise our kids, are married and possibly have our funeral.

We must do everything possible, within our means, and by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, to make the Church as strong as possible.

In her book Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott shares a story she once heard from her minister that illustrates well the necessary presence of others in our journey of faith.

She writes:

"When [my minister] was about seven, her best friend got lost one day. The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn't find a single landmark. She was very frightened.

Finally a policeman stopped to help her. He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church.

She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly,

"You could let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here."

Lamott further writes:

"And that is why I have stayed so close to [my church]—because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home."

I am thankful for our church - filled with loving, caring people who are willing to reach out to those in need.