The Other Side

Yesterday, I was on the other side and to be quite frank, I didn't like it. I've only been on the other side two other times in my life and for the most part, the memories are not too fond. The end result- great! But the process is difficult. We are looking for a new home church.

Some may say no big deal, but when you are the newbie and everyone wants to shake your hand it can be overwhelming. I'm glad I'm not in banking anymore just so I don't have to shake hands. My hands tend to perspire more than others (yuck, I know, but it's something I have to live with) and not that I'm a germ-a-phobe, but my mind does wander to where that other person's hand has been. And the meet the visitor song was probably the longest five minutes in my life.

Okay, so I'm doing a lot of complaining. I should be saying "good for you" to those willing believers who welcome someone new into their fellowship. But to be honest, I wish I were the one doing some of the welcoming.

It didn't make things better that I was also overcome with a lot of emotions that I didn't expect. I realized just how much I missed our home church (which literally met in a home like in the Roman times) who were our dear friends. The sermon was good, but it probably also didn't help my emotional state that it was over Mark 2 when the paralytic's friends went to great lengths to help him see Jesus so much that they lowered him down through the roof. That's dedication by some great friends.

I was tempted to convince D. that maybe we should keep traveling the distance we had to church, but we both knew we had made a commitment through the end of 2009 and it was now time to move on.

Trying to look on the positive side, I keep telling myself that looking for a new church will allow us to see what's going on in the Body of Christ. Until then, we'll try to be patient to God's calling. Just don't be offended if I'm on the other side of that clammy hand. I mean no harm.