Why I love our church

If you are ambivalent about Christianity and Jesus (which I was for 26 years) you don't need to read any further. Okay, but fair warning it's about God.

I have been thinking lately about how crazy scary the world we live in is. I don't ever watch the news because it makes me cry but I overhear people talking or I switch on the radio and there is a news report or my husband Sam will ask me if I have heard about the latest horrifying incident. Before becoming a Christian I would literally shut down with fear, with hopelessness. I didn't know God so how could I have any shred of relief? It all seemed to pointless and so unbearably sad. Somehow the Lord pursued our family and I ended up nine months pregnant with our first daughter in a church and I experienced a little tiny bit of hope. I didn't even know Jesus yet but I found comfort there. I liked they way the people I met were living there lives, not without trials but with faith, with hope. Today as a parent I cling to Jesus, to heaven, to church. It's my safety in an unsafe world. Being part of a community that knows me, knows my children and cares for us is just a part of it. Knowing that God loves me and my family gives me the strength and hope to keep parenting, keep living, keep pursuing goodness even when I fail miserably. Yes, there are things I don't like about our church, sometimes the sermons are boring, I'm not a huge fan of the donut holes they have there that make my children crazy with sugar. There are mornings when the thought of getting three ornery kids into somewhat weather appropriate clothes with teeth and hair brushed seems like an overwhelming task. However, none of it matters one single little bit because I love my church more than those things, more than anything really because it keeps me grounded. It is a safe welcoming place for my family. It is where we learn more about the Lord and his love for us. It is where we go to hope.

A couple of weeks ago at church Sadie our oldest received a children's bible for graduating into the Kindergarten class. From the moment she got it she has insisted that she sleep with it and that we read it every night. When she is afraid we pray. When we see something beautiful we thank God. Yesterday Sadie told me that, "God is our father even daddy's because we are all his kids". Ruby says the same prayer every night,"Thank you for the whole family even baby Charlie in mommy's tummy, I LOVE YOU GOD!" Poppy just looks at us, she is still not talking, but any day now she is going shock us all by saying Amen! All of this we learned and experienced because of our church. So church, rain or shine, staff changes, members leaving, members joining, messy human interactions, donut holes and all, that is why I love you.

-Greta Coalier