sharing.

this weekend, while at home, i got to go to oak mountain presbyterian church. i may have talked here before about how much i enjoy this church (i feel certain that i have). i took my new birmingham buddy chase along with me to the 10:45 service, expecting to worship through song and a scripture-based, thought-provoking, extremely challenging message from bob flayhart. i got wonderful music, but instead of bob's message, the plans for the service were a little bit different. bob announced that today there would be a time of sharing. a time to give an encouraging word to the body of believers. a time to share joys and struggles with a room full of people who are just as broken and just as pitiful and just as sinful as the next person. it was something i didn't and wouldn't expect in a church so large. but it was really beautiful. i heard the story of a woman struggling with breast cancer. a man shared how his ten month old daughter, who is 100% deaf, is going to receive cochlear implants, after it looked for a while like this wouldn't get to happen because of an insurance mix-up. i heard of a marriage that had ended in divorce after the husband had gotten caught up in some bad stuff, only to have the Lord bring them back together again to re-marry. these stories of real, broken, struggling people are such an encouragement. on one hand, it makes me appreciate how good i have it... that i don't have some terminal illness or a daughter with an ailment she could be stricken with for the rest of her life. but on the other hand, it shows me that, when i struggle with things and feel really alone in that sadness and struggle, i'm not alone. everyone has demons. and we need others at these times of trial. we are necessarily called into community as followers of Christ. it's so easy to forget that. we NEED each other. desperately. 

bob made the comment many times during the time of sharing that "our church is a safe place". while i don't necessarily have a "church" home, my friends are my church. these believers are my safe place. how frequently i forget this.