Standing in a garage does not make you a car...

So, Marcia passed on an email today. I'd like to share the content with you, and then share my thoughts (of course! :D )...

My First Day In Heaven

I was shocked, confused, bewildered

As I entered Heaven's door,

Not by the beauty of it all,

Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven

Who made me sputter and gasp --

The thieves, the liars, the sinners

The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade

Who swiped my lunch money! Twice.

Next to him was my old neighbor

Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought

Was rotting away in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,

Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?

I would love to hear your take.

How'd all these sinners get up here?

God must've made a mistake!

And why's everyone so quiet,

So somber - give me a clue.'

'Hush, child' He said, 'they're all in shock.

No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

Remember...Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian,

any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Every saint has a past...

Every sinner has a future!!!

To say that I am currently jazzed up, would be quite the understatement! :) How powerful the concept is!!! For the last...5 years, I think...I have attended churches that are not the "traditional" churches I attended in years before.

Meaning:

- No Sunday School

- No Sunday night services

- Wednesday night church is non-existent, or is a Bible study type deal rather than the traditional "service"

- No choir

Warning: The following is my opinion I do not expect everyone to agree with it, nor will I be angry if you think I'm crazy for thinking the way I do. It it simply the way I feel. :)

Let me start by saying, that as a person that always loved being a part of the choir, and all the fellowship that that involved, not having a choir was by far the hardest thing to adjust to - but I've adjusted :)

As far as Sunday School goes, you can ask Mama...I never cared very much for it. I used to go to the Single Women's class (when I was a child, and in the beginning of my teenage years) to avoid going into the class I was supposed to because of all the drama that was involved in those classes. And then when I got "of age," I began working in the nursery during the Sunday School hour, so I didn't have to go to Sunday School.

I'm certain everyone has not had the experience I have had, but, to my recollection, every Sunday School class I have ever been in - that was "age appropriate" - didn't do very much for me. The first half of the time was spent gossiping and filled with negativity. Then when the books were finally brought out, we would all go around the room, taking turns reading verses, spit out our "Sunday School Answers," say some empty prayer about God blessing everything and everyone, and off we'd go to church.

No one was transparent. No one talked about the real things in their life. Everyone spent more time talking about others, than they did sharing what was really on their heart. It wasn't a "safe space" and it wasn't a place for growth. Sunday school was simply something I did, because I was made to - because that was what was expected. If we had not gone to Sunday School while we went to a church that offered Sunday School - because we weren't getting anything out of it - we would have been ostracized by many.

The "go to church every time the doors are opened" theme is rampant back home, and personally, it drives me nuts. DO NOT HEAR ME INCORRECTLY, I am NOT saying that you shouldn't go to church when given the opportunity. However, going JUST BECAUSE IT IS WHAT IS EXPECTED is no better than not going at all.

There were many, many times that I was drug to church seething venom all the way, because I absolutely did not want to go, for whatever reason. Am I saying that Mama was wrong in making me go? No. But did it do me any good to go? No. If I am filled with anger, hurt, or just plain ignorance and stupidity, it is imperative that you take the time to sit down and deal with the issues I'm experiencing before you try to take me to church. If my heart is closed off because of something affecting it, it isn't going to be open to anything else coming in until the current "house guest" is booted out!

So many times, I think we get our eyes off the big picture, and worry too much about appearances.

You are not going to Hell, or be "knocked down a rung" for any of the following:

Keeping your newborn baby at home for the first month or two after he is born, rather than bringing him to church.

#1 - If you are sitting with your newborn in church, how much attention are you paying anyway?

#2 - All those germy people have no business being all up around your baby trying to give him Piggy Flu

#3 - If you have a newborn, you're probably running on little sleep - so how much attention are you paying?

Staying at home when you are sick, or just feeling puny in general.

#1 - If you're sick...STAY AT HOME! I would prefer you to miss one service, and be back 100% the next one, than to come to this service - just so you can say you came - and pass on your germ to the rest of us!

#2 - If you feel puny, stay home! If you're extremely tired, or if you just feel like you're not up to par, it's ok not to come to church. You can worship God right where you are! Because the deal isn't just "press on through and go to church." The problem is, that you have to get up, get dressed, drive to church, if you have Sunday School, you have to go to that, because if you go to one and not the other, you'll be talked about for that too, go to church - if you're in the choir, you have to sing, because "if you can make it to church, why can't you sing in the choir?" But it's still not over - you have to eat, so since you're already up, you just need to come on and go out to eat with us after church like we always do."

No. NO. NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

Those words might all come out of the mouths of the people that sit next to you at church, but they are lies straight from the pit of hell!!!

Now I come straight from the woman that talked to one of her nurses (this was many years ago) who called her, vomitting, from a payphone to tell her she wasn't going to be able to do any more visits that day, and Mama talked to her until she had stopped vomitting, and was "feeling so much better." By the grace of God, Mama could count on one hand the days she's missed work in her lifetime because she was sick (she's missed more days because something was wrong with me - my back surgery, emergency appendectomy, lithotripsy, etc . - and when she had to miss with me, she always went in after hours and made up for whatever she'd missed). The lady is not a slacker - in any sense of the word - but she even recognizes that there are times when it is simply time to give your body a break. Go to bed earlier. Sleep in later. Lift your finger for nothing. RELAX!

And if my mama can recognize that, then you better believe God can! And you wanna know why? BECAUSE HE SEES THE BIG PICTURE!!! He sees your heart! Going to church is not about impressing the people in your sunday school class, or in your church, or in the choir. It is about fellowship (being in God's presence and being on a "heart level," not gossiping) with other believers, worshipping with other saints, and soaking up all God has for you! Because..."where two or three are gathered..." :D God knows what's going on inside of you. I can guarantee you, that there have been Sunday's He's shown Himself much clearer to a person sick and in bed than He has to a person sitting in a pew because that's where they're supposed to be on Sundays.

*Hopping off my soapbox...*

In other news... :D

I have to tell you how excited I got yesterday!!! Mama got me a BEAUTIFUL (it's pink and chocolate colored!) Life Application Bible for my birthday! She's had one for a while, and I've enjoyed being able to read the extras over the years from her's, but a couple of months ago, I decided I wanted one of my own, so I could dig deeper in my own Bible, and have it all right here with me.

I started on Matthew yesterday afternoon, and I am sooooooooooooooo excited!!!

You see, as a child, sermons didn't always hold my attention... So I would open my Bible and read Ruth. It was just long enough to fill the time, but short enough that I could finish it before the sermon was over. And every time I read her story, I fell more in love with it. I never knew why I felt such a connection to Ruth, but she's always been my favorite woman in the Bible. Her story is fresh and new each time I read it!

Anyway, I began reading Matthew yesterday, and the first exciting news was that I finally understand why he lists everybody and His brother at the beginning of the book... :) The LAB explained how Matthew was writing the book to the Jews, and he was writing out the geneology from Abraham (the father of their faith) to Jesus, to prove He was who He said He was. (But when Luke wrote it out, he was writing to the Gentiles, so he traced it back to Adam, to prove that Jesus came for all people.)

"Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife."

~Matthew 1:5-6

This scripture makes me POSITIVELY GIDDY!!!!!! Do you get it???

The first thing is, if Ruth had not followed the path God had for her, and obeyed the words that were spoken over her, Obed wouldn't have existed...and therefore Jesse wouldn't have come, and neither would King David - the man after God's own heart... :D :D :D :D :D

And then, if that doesn't just beat all, let's take it one step further, and note that not only is King David part of Jesus' "family tree," but SO IS BATHSHEBA!!! :D :D :D :D :D Not that I'm thrilled about what David or Bathsheba did, but to see, so very, very clearly, that God didn't make sure that His son was coming from a line of "perfect people." BECAUSE THAT WOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE ANYWAY!!! Because we're human!!! :D

What I'm trying to get at, is the fact that Jesus didn't come just to save the people that bathe daily, wear their very best to church, sit up straight with legs crossed, carry their Bible under their arm, and only associate with others that do the very same.

He also came for the people that only bathe when they can find a water source, or when the rains come down from Heaven, consider their best to be a shirt that only has a few small holes and stains, slouch as far into their seat as they can, have never touched a Bible, and hang out at bars.

We have to get over ourselves! Just because we have already gotten it, doesn't mean that we're any better than those who haven't! They are still people! And they are still God's children - even if they choose to turn their back on Him! And don't you think it breaks His heart when we treat His precious children like they are beneath us, or that they are not worthy, or worse yet, we simply pretend that they don't exist?!?!?!

..."Jesus loves the little children, ALL the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His site, Jesus loves the little children of the world..."

The song came to my head, and now God has given me a picture to go with it. The "world" in the song can mean what we've always accepted it to mean - that He loves all the little kids from all the different countries on earth. Or we can take it to mean what He really wants us to understand! :D

Ready?

I'm 24, and to my mama, I am still her child. I will be her child until the day I die. She will never see me as not being her child. And that's exactly how God is! The little children in the story, represent every human on the planet, and the "world" is exactly that - it is the world that has trapped His precious children, and the world He wants to save them from!!! WOOHOO!!!! How awesome is that?!?!?!?!?!?!?! :)

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO super excited!!!

Look how GREAT my God is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Love you all! :)