Missing Home
Rachel and I went to Lifeway Christian Books last Thursday night before we went bowling. Normally, going to the Christian book store wouldn’t seem like such a big deal, but I noticed that I was actually uncomfortable walking around the store. Since we moved from Nacogdoches to Beaumont in September, we have only been to a church service twice, once at our home church, Holly Springs Baptist Church in Garrison on September 11, and the week before when we visited Carpenter’s Way Fellowship in Port Neches. I had no idea how easy it is to get out of the habit of going to service. My only real excuse is that I haven’t woken up at home two Sundays since we moved. Rachel and I have been burning up the roads between Nacogdoches and Beaumont nearly every single weekend since our move. The reasons are many, from moving one weekend, cleaning the old house the next weekend, my dad has been hospitalized twice in that time, kids’ birthdays, and the list goes on. Probably the biggest excuse is dreading the whole process of finding a church to attend each weekend.
When we travel to Nac on the weekends, we no longer have a place to lay our heads overnight so we spend the night down south in Lufkin at my parent’s house. On September 11th, we got up and drove the 40 miles each way to go to church in Garrison. Since then, we’ve just been too tired to get up and go. I’ve written about the wisdom of the Sabbath, and believe you me, I’m ready for a day of rest! Just seems something comes up every weekend that requires us to hit the roads once again. My goal in life right now is to wake up two weekends in a row at home!
This weekend we’re driving up to Nac to move our storage building and Jeep down south. The goal is to drive up Saturday morning, drive back that night, and then wake up again at home on Sunday morning! We’re going to leave our dog, Daisy, at home so we have to come back Saturday night. The plan is to go to Carpenter’s Way Fellowship again Sunday morning.
One thing that is really different from where we lived before, not a single person has invited us to church here. Up north I was used to being surrounded by people that attend church with some sort of regularity and was invited to visit other churches pretty regularly. Maybe we just haven’t met enough people here yet (hard to meet people when you’re on the road all the time!). On the bowling team we’re on one of the members is a pastor. I don’t recall him inviting us to service. He did ask if we were Christians, but that’s as far as it went.
The lesson here is this: invite people to church, even if you think they’ll say no. If you go regularly, they (whoever “they” are) probably already know it and won’t think you’re any more weird if you ask them to go. Fact of the matter is that most people never go to church because no one ever asks them to come. Rachel & I will get back into the groove soon. We’re talking about our lack of connection to God because we’re not going to services. We don’t want to be those kind of Christians that say, “Oh yeah, I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church. You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian”.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
The Bible teaches us to seek Him and we will find Him. Let’s pray it doesn’t take us too long!
Grace ‘n peace
Danny