move

Thursday December 5^th, Romans 13: 14 Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. Then you won't try to satisfy your selfish desires.  Twenty three years ago this week I was ordained, and I have served the same church that full time.  Over the years many things have changed besides the color of my hair.  The followers of Christ go through stages of belief and practice and so do the institutions.  First they discover this loving Christ and are in love.  Then they learn about this love of Christ for them and are in awe.  Then they get busy being a Christian, studying to be a Christian, discovering what it means to be a Christian and find themselves surrounded with what seems like work.  Eventually they ending up not working so hard, studying so hard, trying too hard, and they just fall back in love again.  It is then that others discover what a Christian is by watching the way they live, someone who simply wears this Christianity as a part of who they are and are not even aware of the wonderful love they show in the process.  They no longer even try to satisfy their selfish desires.  My prayer is that as the church moves through these stages, that it too will show the world what it means to be in love.