I got to spend some time with this little guy this weekend…and I loved it!
Hanging out with our nephew takes me back. Back to when my boys were that age. Reading with them, teaching them simple truths through simple songs…such sweet memories.
But just to keep it real, some of those memories weren’t so sweet, at least not while they were happening.
Like our chaotic pre-church Sunday morning routine. Getting ourselves ready, getting our kids ready, packing up the diaper bag, buckling up car seats. By the time I entered the sanctuary, I was exhausted.
And like clock work, about twenty minutes into the service, I was summoned. One of my boys usually had a meltdown and wore out one of the sweet volunteers with inconsolable crying for their mama (me).
I would then spend the rest of the Sunday service hanging out in our church lobby, cry room or walking up and down the hallways of our church.
Maybe you’re in that season…and staying home is easier than all the effort required in going to church. Or maybe it’s not the kids, it’s your own busy schedule…and you don’t have the time or energy to make it to church.
You’ll try to catch it on line…again.
I praise God for technology and I am so grateful for the online church options we have when sick, traveling or in a bind …but there is just something about physically being in the house of God.
In the book of 1 Samuel, a woman by the name of Hannah spent years praying for a child. When God granted her request, Hannah knew that her little boy, Samuel, was a gift from God…so she kept her promise to the Lord and gave her son back to Him.
Samuel literally grew up in God’s house. That’s where little Samuel first learned to hear the voice of God.
Spending time in the presence of God gave Samuel the opportunity to hear from God…and years later, little Samuel became the prophet Samuel who anointed David as King…the same David who wrote, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1)
It all came full circle.
And so it is with you and I.
The seeds of time we sow now in going to church will reap a harvest greater than we may ever know. In our own lives and in the lives of our children.
My teenage boys no longer need my help in getting ready for church, but trust me…we still have our share of Sunday morning “Hurry up, I’m leaving” chaos going on.
The devil is real and he will never make going to church easy.
So whatever obstacles come your way this weekend…an unexpected last minute diaper change, a teenager who won’t stop staring at himself in the mirror or maybe you’re just not ‘feeling it.’ Let me encourage you my friend, persevere through and make your way to the house of God!
You won’t regret it.
-Binu
