A Moving Experience

                                                               
                                                                A Moving Experience

Tracy and I met on the day she moved in with her roommates.  I was working with Young Life and one of her roommates was the Area Director, so she had leaders and high school kids that she could call on in an instant.  Tracy thought I was one of the kids, but that’s another story. 

I have moved many times over the years and a few of those moves have been done by professional movers but most by friends.  Moving is a very stressful experience as so many things need to be considered at once.  Packing up those delicate things, choosing to keep or discard memorabilia, and timing it all so that on moving day everything is ready.

Last week Tracy and I helped a friend move.  She had told us that other members of her church would be there to help but it ended up being just me and Tracy.  I murmured to Tracy, “What kind of church says they’ll show up and don’t?”  And did she let the church know she needed help?  At this point I want to brag on my church because a few months ago when we moved many of them sacrificed a large part of a day to move us across town. 

We showed up at her home not knowing what to expect and it wasn’t pretty.  Stuff was strewn everywhere, her daughter and fiancee had thankfully gotten the truck and loaded a lot.  But it got me thinking about the true nature of a church.  The Apostle Paul points out that the church is the body of Christ.  Each of us is a member of it.  And when one member suffers, every other members suffers with it.  And when one member rejoices, all the others can do the same.

As I see it, two things need to happen in this situation: 1) Those in need have to let the church know.  How can we help if we don’t know?  There are those of us out there that have the gift of helping and we can’t use that gift unless we are notified.  2) The body of Christ has to be on constant alert.  Some of you are really good at that.  Many times you have mentioned to me people who have been missing from worship or you knew that they had a medical procedure and thought it would be helpful for the pastor know.  Absolutely!  Thank you! 

Well, only four hours later we moved this family to two different apartments:  one for the mother and one for the daughter who will be married soon.  We recognized that we had been a blessing to them but I’m afraid that my attitude wasn’t the best at all times.  I kept thinking that their church really missed out on an opportunity to bless this family.  Instead, Tracy and I got the blessing.  I’ll take it.  I suppose that’s my take-away from this experience…I can choose to be a blessing every day if I am alert to other’s needs.  Let’s be the church the way Christ intended it and show our community that we do more than just show up on Sunday mornings.

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