Well, I think Hal and I have finally gotten to that point where we are really tired of looking for a church to call home.  We’ve been to several now and can’t seem to find a fit anywhere, and we are both becoming really discouraged.  In fact, we visited a church today where we were so disrespected and so brokenhearted that it was unbelievable.  Let’s just say that apparently there are assigned seats at this church, and being guests we were not aware of said assigned seating and were told so by a “watchdog” of sorts.  We scooted down to allow for those people, but apparently that wasn’t quite good enough.  And she didn’t stop at just telling us, she told everyone around us that we were sitting in someone else’s seats.   So frustrating and saddening.

What if Hal and I had been unbelievers?  What if that had been the first church we had ever been to and that was our first experience?  It broke my heart (and made me angry) that a person that’s searching for the Lord would find gatekeepers instead, people that could unintentionally cause a person to stray away again.  I literally sat praying the whole church service that the Lord would send out compassion and grace in abundance over His people so that we would scatter that around ourselves.  That we would show love when it’s easier to show arrogance.  That we would show respect when it’s easier to be disrespectful.  In that very service I repented of my own arrogance and disdain and critical spirit.  I pray that others would examine their hearts as well and would be willing to move beyond our fleshly responses to life.  It is my prayer that I would be the church to those around me and that the Lord would physically, mentally, and emotionally move me out of my own way and out of the way of others.

So although Hal and I are still unsure as to where the Lord has us headed here in Myrtle Beach I’m still confident of His presence in our lives and know that He is guiding every step that we cannot see in front of us.  I ask that you would pray for us: pray that we would not be discouraged, that we would soon find a group of believers to do life with (it’s been hard feeling like we’re on our own), and that we would radiate Christ no matter where we are or what we’re doing.  And lastly, that the church would get out of their own way so that people may readily be able to experience the Lord.  Thanks, my friends.