A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE

PLEASE, please take the time to read this post, you may be surprised and happy you did. It's very near to my heart.

In many of my posts I talk about being blessed. Not only recently, but during my entire life. Including a time when I was 18 and walking home from a job. It was about 9 pm, a warm summer night. A time when children played outside and you could walk at night without any fear of violence.
When this guy grabbed me, the words "My God, what are you doing?" came out of my mouth. We know what he was doing and it seems so naive when I think about it now. But immediately after I said that, he let go and ran away. I truly believe those words woke him up and made him think twice. Whether that is true or not, I was very grateful. You can go back to my February 15th post to read about some other difficult things I have gone through.

Over the years I have heard some people say they don't like to go to church. And recently a friend talked about that very subject. Sitting in church this morning, I started thinking what a happy, fulfilling experience I always have at my church. The pastor gives messages that relate to everyday life, along with humor we can all relate to. The music is excellent with great musicians. It sometimes sounds like rock & roll, only the words are from scripture. Very uplifting, and of course the dancer in me is clapping and bouncing!

A church is a community of people. It's not a building. It's people who want to hear about the word of God, and see how it can help them get through their day to day life struggles. The saddest comment I  hear is "people who go to church are all hypocrites ". I understand their reasons -  they think that because of their experiences in the past. And there certainly are people who are "holier than thou". Holier  than thou means they think they are above reproach, the rules don't apply to them, or they say one thing and do another.

Remember there are phony people everywhere, in business, or politics, or education, or your work, etc. We are all human and therefore fall short, everyday. We don't always tell the truth (little white lies), we cheat on our taxes, because the government takes too much of my hard-earned money, if we buy something and get charged a lesser amount, some of us would not go back and pay the correct amount, (because we deserve a freebie), if we dent a car and no one sees, how many of us will leave a note with our phone number?

The list is endless but my point is that's "human nature". The ugly truth about being human. We have all heard the statement "It's human nature". Having the nature of people - human frailty, ways of thinking feeling, and acting.

Here is what I see in my church. Young families, older people, single people, teenagers - all different people that go because they have found a place where they are accepted. And they hear messages that relate to their own personal struggles. Our church is growing incredibly fast and that's because people hear from their friends or neighbors about the great church down the street. We get to pray for each other. Some people aren't comfortable with letting someone pray for them. I wasn't either years ago when I didn't understand what it meant. Take this morning for instance when I was sitting a few feet away from a man who has liver cancer. About a year ago his wife asked if I knew where to get a wheelchair he could borrow. She happened to know I volunteered at a place, and was hoping I knew of one. Just that day someone had donated a wheelchair and I got to say yes, we have one for your husband.

Sometimes it's difficult to relate to a story like this. But try and put yourself into a similar situation. I am sure all of us know at least one friend or family member who has had cancer or any serious illness. When we are part of a community and people can help us with something, it makes all the difference. We can borrow wheelchairs, we can carpool the kids, we can get daily dinners while we are recuperating from surgery, we can simply help each other with the daily tasks of life. I can only imagine what life was like in the 1940's or earlier when we didn't have all the technology, or even television. We had to depend on each other more. I know you're thinking they weren't always nice then either. Yes, nothing is perfect, remember that "human nature".

We have a great church of people from all different walks of life. Some people go because they were brought up in a church, others because they had no where else to go, some because they have been struggling with alcohol or drugs for years and their friend said just come once and see, etc. I could go on and on. We have people wearing shorts and flip-flops, jeans and sweatshirts,  leggings and sweaters, a few in a suit or sports coat, and some with tattoos up and down their arms.

But the common thread is we are all human with that. We all need a community of like minded friends. Now you know my strong feelings about going to church and why I think it's important.

Good night and God Bless!   Aleta

"The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer, with tears in my eyes, and say, Oh God, forgive me, or help me."  - Billy Graham