Full Circle...

This past Sunday, my wife and I visited a church in our neighborhood. We have gone to many different churches over the years, as a couple and before, but there always seemed to be some travel involved. We knew someone in a different part of town who went to this place and they wanted us to come, etc. Anyway, for the first time, I went to the church that was geographically the closest to us. For perspective, we left at 11am when the service was to have started, and we arrived still during the opening prayer. It's a small group, perhaps only 20 or 25 people in the congregation when we were there. It was also very traditional. Presbyterian. I was raised in a traditional Presbyterian church. It's to this day the only church service I have ever been to where I constantly wished it would be over. In all fairness, my wife enjoyed it quite a bit. I can't say that I did. However, I am not convinced that we shouldn't perhaps be a part of this group. My wife told me a story recently about how she was given advice to 'throw away her list' shortly before she met me. This was the 'what I want in a husband' list that apparently all girls have since they are young, at least the ones who aren't lesbians. Well, as soon as she did that, things kind of opened up and she ended up meeting me. Not that I would consider myself such a great prize. I'm more grateful that she decided to get rid of her Brad Pittian image of a suitor so that I could step in without obvious prejudice. I mention this because I believe the same type of casting off is required in our list of church requirements. Lively, engaging, local, opportunities to serve, all these things are relative, and ultimately come from our own selfish desires. I suspect before we find a place to attend on a regular basis, this list a qualifications must likewise be cast off. Then, more than likely, we will stumble across exactly the right place for us. And, more than likely, it will be everything we wanted to begin with.

This has been brought to you under the influence of (among others) Leinenkugel's Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout.