After my last post, someone asked how to endure all of
the trials and heartaches of the world.
I don’t have all of the answers, but here’s one of the most important parts
of my life that helps me stay close to God and endure what life throws at me
and my family:
Community
I don’t want this to be a brag session, but my life has
completely changed since I decided to really get involved in my church
community. Things still go wrong, I’m
still stressed out more than I need to be, we still don’t have any money, but
we can make it through. We WILL make it
through. By the way, if I wanted to
brag, I’d talk about how awesome I am at watching TV or how many donuts I can
eat. But I digress.
The key to being in community at church is that you
have to take a risk. After attending our
church for a while and keeping the seat warm, we decided to start attending a
weekly study group. The first night we
attended, we didn’t know a soul there.
We went anyway. Then we went the
next week, and the next, and the next. Now,
we can’t image not going to class on Wednesday night. From that group, we gained friendships and
learned that we aren’t the only ones going through the trials in our life; and
just knowing that is HUGE!
Along with that weekly group, I’m in 2 other small
groups. One is a men’s group and one is
a couples group. Both of these have
helped the entire family as we navigate through life. I can share with my men’s groups the things
that guys go through; and as a couple, my wife and I can share what we go
through as a couple with our couples group.
The people in these groups reassure and encourage us, just as we
reassure and encourage them.
Being in Christian community takes time and
effort.
- Do I always want to wake up at 5:00am on Tuesday mornings? Absolutely not, but I do it anyway. I do it because I know the value of the hour spent with that group of guys.
- Do I want to scramble on Tuesday nights to get home from work in enough time to get the kids ready to leave to get to a friend’s house for Bible study? Nope. It’s exhausting, but I know that when my kids see their mom and dad reading the Bible with others, they will remember that and I want that to be their normal.
- Do I want my kids to spend 2 more hours on Wednesday nights at a place they just spent the last 9 hours? No way. I would like for them to be home, but what Chantel and I learn in the classes at church gets used at home to make us better parents.
The easiest thing someone can do is try
to do it all on their own. The trouble
with doing this is, well, they will fail.
We were created to be around other people. Some of us prefer lots of people around us,
while others of us prefer just a few people at one time. Both are ok, but the point is that we need
each other.
Even Jesus had friends to help him through life. Don’t you think we need the same thing?
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