My Story- Part 8
The Lord is always on time.
As my story, now our story, continues, I can now look back and see God’s hand all over it. Preparing me, shaping me, running me through the many necessary processes to grow me into a place where I can truly see myself, and others, in a light that reflects the Father’s intent. I think I was always keen to see some others. Although I would never say it out loud, there were worthy and unworthy, when it really came down to it. And now, of course the problem of evil still exists and I would give pause to those who seem overcome with it, I can see people. People are people. We aren’t ever going to be perfect. But we all need Jesus, and with his help, with his reflection in us, we can be something beautiful. (To discuss beauty outside of salvation is another topic for another day).
When we were just about church planted out, my dad told me about a little church he thought I’d like. It had hosted a favorite author of mine a few years prior, so we decided to check it out. It was a rare breed. In my mind’s eye I now see this as our healing church. I think, under any other pastor on any given Sunday, we had the potential to throw our hands up and say “Forget it!” This pastor was different from most. Kind, unassuming, forgiving, humble. He actually answered “I don’t know” if he didn’t know, rather than feeling the need to take a theological stance on every topic within Christianity.
We had been a part of church plants that revolved around the charisma and personality of one person, and this church didn’t seem to want that. It was simple really, let’s pursue the way of Jesus together. While we *only* stayed three years, that was actually real progress for us! We made some close friendships and met the kindness of God through the pastor there. Ultimately, we didn’t feel a real sense of community beyond our little group, so we decided to leave, but as is often the case when people leave churches, there was no offense with church leadership at all. We simply thought “We don’t belong here.”
I think the nicest part of that experience for me, and I think this is where Andy and I might differ, is that when we left I no longer had a question of IF we fit in at a church but rather WHERE we fit.
Now, more than ever I knew I wanted to know Jesus more. I had questions, but I was too afraid to ask anyone. I had been in church all my life. Wouldn’t that look silly? Shouldn’t I know this stuff?
So, I actually left open to possibilities. WAY more open than I had been just three years prior.
Around this same time we went to a movie and I saw an ad for a church that was meeting in the movie theater. I secretly thought the ad sounded cool but didn’t want to admit that to Andy. I think I made a joke about it instead. A couple weeks later our friend called and invited us to that very church. Andy, still tinged with the cynicism that can only come with rejection, commented that he wasn’t interested if they had a smoke machine. The friend quipped back, he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
We were about to go on vacation to Disney, but the church/theater was close to our house, so we decided to go anyway. We visited Discover Life Church one sunny Sunday in late November at the Regal Cinema in John’s Creek, GA. That was just over seven years ago. And our life has been shifting ever since.
