Where Are You, Church?

Aaron is sharing with Sollie his letters and his pumpkin stickers. He loves without qualifying. Seeing love in my home, struggling to see it in the world. Where is the Church? I still can't seem to write anything remotely publishable. My heart is hurting for refugees washing up on shores, Christians being beheaded and the deafening absence of Christians. How have we lost our identity? Too busy taking our toddlers to soccer. Too scared of hurt to take in a child we will outlive. Too busy earning money to pay for that Lexus to drive to church. Too distracted to help your neighbor.... Many people we know who are living sacrificially are struggling right now as well. We are very far from perfect, and that's part of the beauty.

With Christ, even losers like us can live a miraculous life. But we are not meant to be alone. We are trying to do by ourselves what is meant to be done by the body of Christ on earth. Too busy to help at the shelter? Did you find something more interesting to do? Did you get bored? Was it too hard? Well, guess what, those people needing help in that shelter are still there. No problem, the government will step in to run that shelter, with no Christ to be found. Don't like that Planned Parenthood sells baby parts? Does it make you squeamish? Well, support those mammas. Get your walking boots on, organize supports, go to the "bad" part of town. You may hear cuss words, dear marshmallow. You will most certainly be uncomfortable. But if we keep droning on, comfortable and busy, He will be gone, not so much by government mandate, but by the lack of Christ followers actually following Christ.

Following requires intentional movement, commitment and attention. If you identify as a Christian, can anyone tell? I don't mean that you wear your cross necklace and clean the church once a week. I mean, are you fundamentally living for Christ as your lifestyle? This is harsh, but I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't show up at the synagogue in a Lexus... Like I said, not really writing anything publishable right now. Loving my kids, praying for a conversion of our own absent Christians, and drinking a whole lotta coffee.