Ah-Ha

My family and I headed to a church not near our house one Sunday morning.  I was broken from a failed church plant experience.  My wife was wounded from a series of church experiences including mine. 

            We picked this particular church for a couple reasons.  First, we hadn’t tried it before.  Second, my co-worker and long-time friend highly recommended it.  It sounded interesting.  They didn’t have a lead pastor and on Sunday mornings a rotation of powerful speakers took turns.  The first speaker captivated me.  I said, “Ok God I will let you teach me here.” 

            Haha, what a funny thing to say.  He was going to teach me no matter what.  But that gives insight to where I was.  I felt abandoned by God.  It’s a scary place to be, even if it’s fully fictional. 

            My wife and I attended the New Comers class and shared our story.  I was fascinated that nobody was impressed with me.  I was a former pastor that teaches Bible 5 days a week.  Please say, “Oooh.”  What a funny thing to expect, but I was insecure in Christ.  One Sunday they asked us to go around the circle (the bane of my existence by the way) and share our…ok I have no idea what they actually asked.  But I interpreted the question as “What do you do with God that is fun or cool?”  I shared with the group about my Live Like Jesus class.  The lady who seemed in charge bristled and said, “We don’t really stress on checkpoints of spirituality here.” At first I was mad.  Then I was confused.  Then I was illuminated.  Of course!  Why was I stressing checkpoints?

            As the weeks went by I asked questions about the churches biblical soundness, their selections of leaders, their youth ministry, etc.  I came away disturbed but with resolve to stay because I told God He could teach me there.  (I wasn’t disturbed because they were wrong, but because they were different.)

            Sunday after Sunday passed by.  I told friends that I was going there because my family was already solid on the “black and white” this church could teach us love.  They did teach us love, but they also kept freedom and grace in front of us.

            The funny thing is I should have been transformed by the Sunday messages.  But I wasn’t.  (Maybe nobody is anywhere?)  Maybe because I was infrequent in my attendance because I serve as a substitute pastor for the denomination I grew up in.  Maybe not. 

            Over the span of a year I drew near to God and through personal study and walk/talks with Him I discovered freedom and opportunity where I once only saw obligation and standards.  As this occurred everything being said and done at church made sense.  It was a total ‘ah-ha’ moment.  A moment that happened in the middle of writing Opportunity Jesus.

            Don’t get me wrong.  I didn’t discover a new better Christianity.  Haha.  But I joined the many men and women before to me to find Jesus’s freedom and grace (post-salvation even) to be overwhelming, satisfying, and life changing.  

Will this be your story too?