Religion vs. church

This is Trevor. Jamie is really dominating me on the blog count so I thought I would post one.

I was let go from my job a little over a month ago. It was a rough couple of days. I didn't feel like much of a man. I was dealing with thoughts of not being able to provide for my wife, not knowing where I fit in the big scheme of things and that nasty feeling of rejection. Little did I know that this would end up being one of the biggest blessings ever.

I have deeply and fully experienced the love and faithfulness of God. I have also grown in my understanding of religion verses relationship. First of all, God blessed me with the most loving and supportive wife. Jamie has been everything for me. She has been a shoulder to cry on, a rock to lean on and a friend to kick it with. My family has been as supportive as you can be from 3000 miles away. Now here is where it gets even greater.

Our church, our family away from family, has surrounded us with love and prayer. Not the kind of prayer that you never know about, but this active, aggressive prayer that makes me tear up with disbelief every time I think about it. If I have a prayer cup, it is overflowing. We only told a few of our closest friends about my situation because it's hard to go through a normal conversation and avoid that topic. Out of concern and love, a huge number of people from our church now know about our situation. Since then we have received so many cards of encouragement, grocery store gift cards, money, food and most importantly, love.

This is what church is. This is what the body of Christ should be. It is not a list of do's and dont's or a checklist to be completed before you can join. It isn't a place to debate who is not going to make it to heaven or a place to create clicks in which you can feel good about yourself. It wasn't meant to be a place you go one day a week to fulfill a cheap promise to a God you never spend time with during your week.

It is people. People who are connected by many obscure ways but directly united in Jesus. People who would normally look out for themselves but instead they love others because they have recognized that their life was given to them and they live because God loves us and he died for us so we wouldn't have to die, EVER! That is the church I have been blessed with and the church I want so desperately for everyone to know.

Because the church is people and people make mistakes you can bet that there are mistakes in church. That is where God and His beautiful grace enter. I'm one of those faulty people and my mistakes are many. God is working on me because I am allowing Him to overtake my selfishness. Since I have done that I have been blessed beyond measure. I may not have much money right now but no amount of money could buy love. Nothing can duplicate love. EVERYTHING can be solved with pure, Christlike love. Science cannot explain love. Evolution cannot trace love. We cannot truly live without love.

I wish it didn't take the loss of a job for me to lose my religion about God in order to gain a relationship with Him. I wish it didn't take that but I am so glad it did. My prayers used to be, "God, give me that job because that's what I want and I would be good at it." Now I pray, "God, you know me better than I know myself. You know my strengths because You gave them to me. Help my eyes be open to whatever You have for me. I pray I don't get in the way of what You want because You can do more through me than I could ever imagine. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for all the blessings I tend to overlook. I love You."

If you don't "go to church" that's fine. If you aren't apart of God's church you are missing out on a huge, crazy, loving family and we are missing you.