I know I haven’t blogged in a couple of weeks, I’ve been crazy busy at work and with Emmaus and just life. I’ll get back to the “unfiltered dialogue and debate about changes that are imperative if the church is going to survive” next week, but right now, if you’ll allow me, I just wanna unwind a little…
Building the Emmaus Church has been, hands down, the most profound experience of my life. It has also been, hands down, the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
The tough part wasn’t finding a place to meet, that was and continues to be a complete “God thing.” The hard part hasn’t been finding money to fund ministry with, God has lead a lot of people to support us with a little here and there, and a few people to support us in some really big ways… again, a complete “God thing” for us.
The hard part hasn’t been to be a church that does church differently than most churches. Granted it’s been a learning process, and like we have said from the beginning, we don’t claim to have all of the answers, heck, we don’t claim to have very many answers at all. We just know we’re called (some days that’s about all we’re sure of, lol) and we’re doing our very best to keep up with what God is leading us to do.
The hard part hasn’t been finding compassionate, talented, gifted people to be a part of the Emmaus community. We’re finding more and more everyday that God is a master planner, when we come across a need, we’re finding that someone with a heart for that need or a talent in the area of that need is already a part of the community.
While all of those things have at times been challenging, I don’t consider any of them “the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” No the hardest part of this entire process has been learning the difference between my friends and the people who genuinely, truly love me. I used to think they were the same thing, but they’re not, and take it from me, the sooner a person learns the difference between the two, the better.
I knew that my decision to do what I feel like Gad has called me to do would make waves in the culture I was a part of, but I had no idea that I would lose so many friends. And the truth is, if I had known it may have given me cause to reconsider what I was getting ready to do. Like Garth said, “If I’d only known, how the king would fall, then who’s to say, you know I might have changed it all.”
So, I’m glad I didn’t know, because this has been the most profound experience with God that I’ve ever had, it is absolutely what my whole life has been building towards and if I had to do it all over I would “lose” those friends again in less than a heartbeat, because I’ve begun to realize the difference in friends, and the people who love me. Again in the words of Mr. Brooks, “I’m glad I didn’t know the way it would end, the way it all would go; I could’ve missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance.”
Friends come and go but the few people who love you, truly love you, those few people here and there who believe in you… those are the ties that bind. So I raise my glass (pinot grigio) to those friends who’ve gone, and wish them well. But to those who love me, I raise my heart and offer my sincerest gratitude, you have given me hope. Much love, always.
