What's Big And Red & Filled With Treasure

My church silly

Once again it was time to go back to the old stomping grounds because a) I love Jesus and b) it's always a great ego boost to see people who haven't seen you in a while and actually seem interested in your life.

I was treated with the sights of precocious toddlers and extraordinarily tactile babies playing with their respective guardians. I even received a lovely message on stewardship that the guest pastor pulled out of his hat because the audiovisual squad was having difficulties with his original Powerpoint presentation.

But the main point of church is the fellowship with the believers, or at least that's what I think Paul wanted us to do. Theoretically, Jesus should be personal so church just strengthens what you should already have, not exactly give it to you. And so I received it in spades. Definitely from my usual source of the clique of people we hang out with at church, a bunch of married couples and families that I grew up in. But I also got some extra love from the older brethren.

The first, Sister Jones, I saw on accident but it was a blessing nonetheless. As I sat and listened to her, she gave me a story about her son who had left the church for some time, but has since returned. It was more a cautionary tale but I appreciated it nonetheless. It's indicative of what Paul I think envisioned. Ideally, your church folk should help prop you up and encourage you on the straight and narrow and that's exactly what she did.

The next was someone affectionately known through the church as "Amen" Nelson, because for some time, she was the only one with the emphatic "Amen"s. Now older, upon seeing me she didn't even recognize me, but I guess my face has changed some and the facial hair can throw off someone who wasn't exactly looking at me all the time. So when she realized who I was she did nothing but hug me and continuously say "Such a pretty boy." More encouraging words followed and also when a cute young lady introduced herself to me in the midst of our conversation, she turned to me and said "Don't worry about them. The Lord will see you through."

Priceless.

So is church.