We are able

We have been on this journey just over a week and are beginning to settle in a little more everyday. Boxes are slowly disappearing, rooms are starting to become more livable as they no longer look like storage units, and while the laughter of new found friends fill this place we will call home for the next 3years the memories and faces of family and old friends prompt us to remember the times we hold so dear. Times we treasure.

We have met most of the new families in our area and realize we are the oldest new students on our street. We have met several neighbors which have been here awhile and a couple of them are older. Not sure what significance that really holds but I don't think we've ever been the oldest anything. The best part about it is that we are all here for the same purpose and aim...to serve God. I do think it very odd however that we have been on a Bible College Campus over a week and the first invitation extended to us to attend church came last night from a 9 year old boy who is also new to the campus.

We did visit a church on Sunday. I was very excited and have prayed about the day for the last 8 months. I had decided that I would greet everyone before they could greet me. They were very friendly and accepted my challenge returning polite smiles and handshakes with the occasional "weirdo, where did you come from" look. I get that look a lot anyway and it makes me smile even more when it is prompted by service to God.

We received directions to the area where Thomas' Sunday school class was located. Very nice, organized, and secure. I started to ask if he needed to remove his shoes and empty his pockets before passing the desk. I'm trying to guard my words however and wasn't sure how it would be received. There were 3 volunteers checking in the children as they approached the desk. They logged each child in a computer and promptly handed them a label with child/parent info. Being new we received instructions to fill out an information card. This was our "claim ticket" for our child. We asked if they would keep him if we didn't bring it back. The youth coordinator was a good sport and laughed but promptly returned with, "UH, no...we also accept your driver's license as proof of ownership." Thomas said he liked it OK, that it didn't matter too much to him if we attended that church again. Pretty much he could take it or leave it and said it was really important whether we liked it or not. WOW! He is growing up way too fast.

This day was one I had not anticipated eagerly. My church has been like a home to me. Over 1/2 of my life the past 5+ years have been spent there worshiping and working, serving and playing, loving, laughing and crying. We immediately located an old friend and sat behind her and her family. After service began I was so glad it was behind and not beside. As worship began a deep sense of loss and longing settled over me. My mind began to wonder what might be happening this morning at CCC. I felt unfaithful; like a traitor. I sobbed uncontrollably during the worship music. You know how it is when you try to control it, it gets worse. Yes, that's how it was. I guess lament would be a an accurate description. GREAT, now I felt like an idiot!

GOD! Dude, we are doing what you said to do! Why do we have to make this choice? GOD!? HELLER? Are you there? I'm pretty sure we were just talking. This is even harder than deciding to uproot our family and move to Tennessee in the first place. What do you want me to get from this pain this time??

The message was excellent. The church was beginning a new series "Body Language". It focuses on the message we send as Christians, as individuals, and as the church body. Which struck me as hilarious when we discovered that many of the established neighbors and campus workers we've met attended this church. You know, those whom to this point had not extended invitations to visit. (OK...I must say I'm not judging anyone for anything or trying to get down on anybody. I am going into counseling...I love to analyze things that's all. It's how my brain functions...it helps me process!)

1John 4:9
We love because He first loved us.
Somehow I think my brain has twisted that verse. But God clearly has revealed the truth of it.
It is not only because He loves us that we love Him. By first loving us and showing us what love IS we are ABLE to know what love is which is to say we should be ABLE to exhibit the same by following that example. He loved...we can love too because He showed us what that means.
(Bob-ay...didn't we just talk about this...GOD is love, that's how we know when it's love...we compare it to Him!! Heller!)

CCC has been an example of this ability to love. It has loved us when we were unlovable, when we walked away, when we returned, and now when God has called us out on this journey. God is still using CCC to reveal things to us and in us even while we are away. What a testimony to the work He has done and is doing through the small in numbers but mighty in faith, hope and love rising up on a corner in Georgia. WE ARE ABLE!

We desire to follow Christ in all things, to live a life worthy of the calling we have received (Eph 4:1). The same painting hanging in the lobby at CCC adorns our living room walls as a reminder to press on for that goal. We are apart from that place but still a part of those who make up that place. Same can be said for the work ahead of us in this life we are a part of this world but we who are called by His name are set apart for His purposes in it.

Hebrews 3: 6, says it clearly, “…... whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope FIRM UNTIL THE END.”
I hold onto the knowledge that I am His. I celebrate the fact that He doesn't need me but He still wants me. I pray that I can live with confidence the life that will show others whose I am. I am thankful that I was given such an example in those at CCC. I am grateful to those who used their abilities to show me that I too was able. Those who fed us when we were hungry, clothed us when we were naked, gave us a place to rest when we were weary, gave us drink when we were thirsty and when we were strangers not only invited us in, asked us to stick around.

The generosity of our family and friends have allowed us to bless others. We have shared food with our neighbors from our boxes that were prepared for us; we have given clothes away that were handed down through the ranks that no longer fit Thomas; and a sofa for a family to have a place to rest. We even had the pleasure this morning of hosting an impromptu breakfast party. A neighbor spent the night with Thomas. While serving the boys breakfast 2 cherubs knocked on our front door. We invited them in and they stayed for breakfast also! What a blessing!

I pray that the pain of being apart from home will lessen though I know it will never disappear. My heart has been forever imprinted with the faces of all those we love who showed us we were able to love. The Lord will watch between us while we are away from one another.

In His Tender Grip