Day 5-Church & Family

Sunday morning the family went to La Mesa Church of Christ. We heard a wonderful sermon about being part of a church family by their youth minister Graham who alot of you know and love from Richland Hills C of C. This is Graham's super sweet wife Brianna and beautiful son who greeted us and made us feel welcome far from home :-) The gorgeous little girls were too quick for my camera. It really is such an encouragement and safe haven to go to any church and know there are other people out there trying to do the very hard task of following Jesus in a world that does not honor Him. Graham Clifford spoke about the "Failure to Thrive" Syndrome in conjunction with life after Acts 2:38. The Failure to Thrive theory is based on a study done a couple of times over history in that babies will physically die when not given physical touch and a human voice to talk to them. The same theory applies to our spiritual lives. Our spiritual side will die if not feed properly. Yes, all Christians are flawed and especially for this reason we need each other and most of all Christ to remind us of the bigger picture. The effective Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. See Acts 2:41-47 and John 13:34

I heard this analogy from Max Lucado once. Say you're a football fan.... I bet you like to go to stadiums, watch the games, hang out with other fans, get stats and absorb the game environment. You might not like every play and you may disagree with the refs at times, but you're still a fan. So by looking from the outside anyone could tell you are big fan of football. I'd never learn more about the game and understand the joys it can bring if I don't keep attending.

Excuse me while I veer off for a moment....I have seen this play out in my own life in my early 20's. I tried to be a good influence to someone who it turned out brought me down I think far more than I was able to encourage them closer to God. Why wasn't my light more effective? I ended up being cut off from the church. My best friends that I spend my daily time around are strong Christians, not because I believe I am any better than a non-believer, but because I need the encouragement. I have friends and family who aren't believers and I love them and do not look down on them. Of course I used the excuse I didn't need to be in a specific building to pray or learn about God back then and you don't. (I believe it's residue from the 70's hippy movement of nothing organized. EVERYTHING is organized, school, your work place, your bank.) But was I REALLY praying and learning and growing closer in my walk with God? Of course I wasn't. I was only fooling myself. Whether it's because I didn't feel worthy, didn't think I'd relate to what I thought were all the "good" people or that I'd done stuff too bad for God to forgive or were scared of change, I wish someone would have told me I was believing a very effective lie from satan that he was winning in my mind to keep me away from truly having a relationship with God. Because God isn't about trying to catch me breaking the rules or making me toe the line or scaring me to obey or he'll send me to hell. He's about love, forgiveness and acceptance and sending His son to die on the cross for you and me.

We spent most of the rest of the day relaxing after all the walking of the previous days. It was nice to enjoy a slower pace for one day. Absorbed in the beautiful scenery from the back door: while watching the Oscars on the tv: I think their view over the kitchen sink might inspire me to do dishes more often: Uncle Bruce and Aunt Saundra did quite a bit of remodeling after they bought their house, they have great taste. We played a card game called Schukens at this table a couple of times while we were there.


Here's a video clip from my camera of the backyard view. I'm sure this is the reason why home prices are 4 times as much as they are in Texas. (Update) It worked when I first downloaded..... hhmm I'll work on it