One of the main priorities on our to do list this weekend was to go to church! Finding a church has been much harder than I thought it would be. In between weekends filled with out of town guests and having a sick toddler, we have not attended any one church that often. And boy, can we feel the effects. I am so hungry for a good sermon and corporate praise and worship - along with the sense of connection that comes with a church family.
I believe that we have narrowed our search down to two particular churches - both are pretty far from our house, but really, at this point, I don't mind so much as both have small groups that meet in our area. It's funny, one day last week Little One walked to get the mail and met our mailman on the way. We ended up talking about area churches, and he attends one of the churches that we are considering. He really encouraged us to try the church again - and that is what we decided to do this weekend.
So, we got up on Sunday morning - and I checked the church's website to confirm the service times. Shoot! They had changed the early service time to 8:30. We prefer to attend the early service as the late service completely destroys an 11:00 naptime. Being that it was 7:45 and we needed to leave no later than 8:00 - we all got dressed in a hurry and were out the door by 8:10. Well, it had been a while since we had been to the church, and we ended up taking the longest way possible. At 8:50 we were still in the car and the church was no where in sight. I recommended that we just get back on the interstate and head towards the other church -
surely we would make it to that service in time. We headed that way - only to discover that there was some kind of triathlon being run in the middle of downtown. My sweet Husband took every road he could to get us there - only to be denied by a road block. We could see the church and the church parking lot had cars in it - we have no idea how they got there! Every road we knew to take was barricaded. After an hour and fifteen minutes in the car, we gave up and went out to breakfast.
So, after about six months of not attending church on a regular basis, I learned this weekend that going to church is not as easy as it used to be. It is now going to take a lot more effort and planning. It may seem like common sense, but we realized that we need to have a deliberate plan on Saturday night - know for certain what time the service starts, what roads to take - and all of that. When attending the same church for years - all of these kind of details are taken for granted. It becomes more of a habit and routine. And oh how I desire for our family to get back to that place again.
7 comments:
You know- I understand. I have been wayyy lax in finding another church home since we moved away from ours (that I loved!) two weeks ago. There are none in my town that fit our needs. I have to do a lot of planning to get us out of the house and to a church to try on Sunday. My daughter's preschool church has Saturday evening services so we occasionally attend that but it doesn't quite fit for us. Oh well. Thanks for the incentive to keep trying.
I meant- two years ago. Wow how the time has flown.
Oh, I miss the US churches. We attend a little church with 12 other people. No worship really, maybe sometimes and though the preaching is great (from brother in law in German) nobody besides my little family, another couple and brother in law are on fire. There is no other church, we are it. I miss the excitement people had talking about Jesus...NLC was exciting, you couldn't wait to be there, hear the message and go home and read your own Bible. Boy, we had it easy then!
When I say this, it is not to encourage anyone to not connect into a body of believers. But I have grown the most in Europe because I had to choose to be lazy or fight. It is easy to be lazy when no one is spurring you on. But when you are in a dry place, you really find out what is in yourself. But I think the Lord had grace in our circumstance because he knows we would fight like you guys to be connected in the US. I can only imagine the frustation when you couldn't get into that church!
I am with you on this struggle. It took me 5 years to find a church that I really felt encouraged and lifted up in...So, now I drive about 35 minutes to another town to attend a church, when there are about 6 within a 6 mile radius of the house.
May you blessed for you desire to find a home for your family to know and serve Christ.
And I am still sick so please excuse all of my typoes!!
Ah sweetie! I'm so sorry that this been such a struggle for you guys. Must mean God has great plans when you do find that perfect fit. I want to commend you on giving it a real try Sunday though, I know that was an effort. Having moved a lot in my life, try not to fall into the comparison game too much. No church is exactly the same and when you've attended one as long as you have, it's that much harder to find the right fit. Keep on keeping on though, it will happen and you'll connect beautifully. We'll be praying.
On a different note, give me a call...we need to chat and your silly cell phone number has escaped my phone (ugh)
Hang in there with the church hunting! It can be so hard, but is totally worth it when you find that church home.
Check out my blog today. There's something for you! :) We can arrange the details soon.
Blessings!
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