What Are You Waiting For?

Yesterday, I told you about a drive through the Flint Hills of Kansas through open range, crossing streams, and watching out for cattle. We traveled to the little community of Olpe where we met our son and his family, and our niece and her family. We met at a local restaurant there.
The Chicken House restaurant has been a fixture in Olpe for years. The building burned in the mid-1970’s and they rebuilt. They continue to serve some of the best fried chicken around along with chicken fried steak and other dishes sure to please hungry ranchers and cowboys. No calamari, frog legs, steamed broccoli, or garlic mashed new potatoes here. Just a lot of food on a plate that goes down easy and satisfies.
I enjoy those kinds of places. The conversation is usually brisk and friendly. There’s much more that goes on there than just eating. People make connection again with friends and neighbors. They keep up on the latest. They reconnect with the community. They are a part of something that is bigger than themselves. And they leave the place satisfied not only in their stomachs, but also in their guts knowing that they still matter.
The church was designed to be that same way. Church should be a place to make connection with friends and neighbors. It should be a place to reconnect with the community of believers. And it should be a place that gives a feeling of deep satisfaction knowing that one matters and is loved.
If the church you are part of isn’t that way, something is wrong. It could be something is wrong with the church, but it could also be something is wrong with you and your relationship with the God who made both you and the church, and created both to be a great match.
Just as we long to matter and be accepted by the neighboring community, so we also long to be accepted by God and the community of believers. Why do we persist in being part of a church that isn’t what God wants it to be, or conducting our lives in a manner that God never intended?
There really are churches that model God’s way. There really are people who have that relationship with God that you long for. What are you waiting for?