Showers of Blessings

This past Wednesday our sponsoring church hosted a housewarming shower to help get us outfitted for life in the U.S.  Even before the shower, people who heard that we needed to furnish an apartment responded generously by loaning and giving us furniture.  My sister Ramona mobilized her church in Morris, AL to provide us with a “pounding” of common household staples—sugar flour, paper towels, window cleaner, etc.  That saved a trip to the Stuff Mart and quite a bit of money.

Our home church, Homewood, has been through a lot of turmoil over the past few years and a lot of people have left to worship elsewhere.  In the meantime, those who have remained at Homewood and many new people who have come, continue to make it a life-filled church with many vibrant ministries.  As word about our return and the shower got out to both current and former Homewood members, we were indeed showered with gifts and encouragement.  But what was most encouraging was to see old friends who now worship in different fellowships reunited, mixing and mingling together as we sorted through the abundance of gifts.

It occurred to me that the four churches in the Birmingham area whose members have so graciously welcomed us to America represent four very different places on the spectrum of Restoration heritage churches.   There are differences of style between the congregations, and some differences that go far deeper than style.  I agree with some things in all of these churches, and I disagree with others.  But I am deeply impressed with the fact that they are all filled with loving, giving people who are seeking the kingdom of God.   I dare not judge the authenticity of another’s discipleship just because they don’t choose to worship where I do or do things the way I do them.  Oh, how I wish we could all be together now, and I so look forward to the day when we all are.  When we stand in the presence of God, there will be no thought of “worship wars” or any other kind of conflict, because our focus will be totally on God and not on ourselves.  But we will only be able to participate with joy in that assembly if we extend grace and acceptance to all of our brothers and sisters, wherever they fall on “the spectrum.”

Thanks for all of the input we received regarding our schooling decision.  As we prayed and sought counsel, it became clearer that the public school was the best option for our family.  We have so much admiration for families who can successfully homeschool, but we didn’t think that it would work as well for us.  The transportation issued remained, but yesterday we were offered the loan of a 2^nd car for a month, and this just confirms that God will continue to work out the logistics—not just for this, but for all of the major transitions that we are facing.  He is faithful!