I haven't been to church except for a couple of visits to OG this whole year, or ever since I was laid off from the Cedar Road Church secretary job. It really hurt me a lot, and even more so now when I still hear them telling me over and over "you'll be back soon, you'll come back." Yeah, right.
I have been thinking and praying about going to church for a good while now. But I just didn't know where to go. BBC is out, OG I just don't feel it anymore since they obviously have people with issues (I'm not sitting next to someone who totally ignores me). We only have 4 churches out here close enough to really consider and still be able to participate in other than being a perpetual visitor. Two I just mentioned, one is ethnic persuasion (that wouldn't bother me so much, especially after going to Cedar Road; in fact I enjoy the diversity) but I'm afraid the congregation would wonder where the hell I came from!
That leave little tiny Cava. Dan and I went there about a year ago before I got that secretary job. Like I said, I've been thinking about it, but Satan loves to use the fear factor, so it's taken everything I could to get up my nerve.
Dan went to the boat so I knew it was just me, and just me is all that really wanted to go anyway. I prayed real hard, pulled on my sneakers and fixed up my face a bit (so as not to scare people). I prayed all the way there. Now you know I'm a firm believer in signs, and that God gives us signs if we will look for them. I asked Him to just let me know if this might be ok for me to go to once in a while or if I should just keep looking. You know, I just might have gotten my sign.
When I say it's small, I mean realllllll small. I got there about 10 til 11, sat quietly, listening to a young woman tell an unseen group about us being adopted as the Children of God. It was peaceful and pleasant. Soon they all came out and I got handshakes and hugs. We stood and sang a chorus, and prayed a bit, and stood and sang out of the hymn book (that actually has "Bring Them In" in it). We chatted a bit, and prayed some more, then we sang another chorus that I hadn't seen - it was on the Back of the bulletin. It was my very favorite chorus that I'd learned at Cedar Road. I had loved it so much I'd gotten a copy of the music and brought home to play it everyday. "Here I Am to Worship" is my all time favorite because you can sing it fast or slow and it always moves me.
Anyway, that was a sign I couldn't ignore, so I'll probably be back again, just like I told all those folks who invited me to please come back again. *Note: one of the things listed on their prayer list was "Church Growth."
Oh yes, the message was about not ignoring God's call and how Moses came up with all those excuses about why he shouldn't be the one to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. But God had an answer for every one of his excuses and gave him the tools he needed to do the job.
God doesn't ask us to do anything He can't supply us the tools to do it with. He knows just what each one of us are capable of and how far above our comfort zone we can and should go. We really have the easy part. We just say "yes."
