Sunday, August 5, 2012

To Church as a Family!!!

Maria's View-

So as many of you know, Griffin's first church service was in MS with Chris' side of the family while they were finishing up paperwork in the US.  But today, we were finally able to go to church as a complete family here in Germany!  It was awesome to be back in God's House.


Chris had to work today from 12-6 so we went to the early service and we did amazingly well getting out of the house on time...actually with time to spare!  We decided to put our little ones in the same Sunday School nursery class so that they could be together.  Chris had to take Little G directly into the room because she was already starting to cry and the teacher had her hands full with 2 other little ones who were wanting their mommies.  Chris gave me the look to make a mad dash for it just as I noticed Griffin standing up in the middle of the room, just as handsome as he could be, made eye contact with me, and then growled.  ha ha.  I would have loved to have gotten a picture of that but I needed to get out of Little G's sight.   I took Big G upstairs to her class, which is basically Children's Church.   

Chris and I made our way to the sanctuary for church service and realized that we were going to be able to participate in the Lord's Supper on our first Sunday back!  What a blessing.  So not only did we examine our hearts and ask forgiveness for our sins before participating in the Lord's Supper, we enjoyed a sermon based on Hebrews 5:12-"You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word.  You are like babies who need milk, and can not eat solid food."

So this is what is so awesome about actually going to church.  Yes, you can learn a lot on your own, but there's just something about being in God's House that opens your eyes and hearts up to so much more!  As I was sitting there with the combination of asking forgiveness (for the Lord's supper) and realizing that I should be doing so much more as a Christian (Hebrews 5:12) this random thought came to my mind.  If Jesus and Satan were both standing before me, who would I run to?  Who would I choose?  And then I immediately told myself, "Jesus, of course!"... but then a strong conviction came over me... In our day to day lives, in our day to day thoughts and actions, who do we really choose?  In that thought that you are thinking?  Or that action that should never happen?  Or the temper that flares?  Or the feelings we hurt?  WHO are we choosing?  If you put it in terms of putting Satan or Jesus on your thought or action, who do you normally choose?   Thank you, God.  I needed that!   It's so good to be back! 

At the end of church service, we headed down the hall to gather up our children.  Some parents had already started picking up their little ones so that got Little G upset so we heard her crying all the way down the hall.  Griffin was standing at the baby gate and went right to Chris, just as happy as could be.  I went upstairs to get Big G and away we went!  I wish that Chris didn't have to work today but he had to do some adjusting on his schedule so that he could have Tuesday-Thursday off for Griffin's procedure this week.  We are also holding off on Big G walking the aisle at church and making her public profession of faith so that we can take our time so that Chris won't have to rush or miss out on anything.  She is ready, though!

Bible school at FBC starts this week and Gracie is so excited about it!  It's going to be very difficult getting her to and from there with Griffin's stay in the hospital but we are going to do our best.  Please pray for Griffin this week.  He is having his endoscopy procedure to confirm Celiac Disease.  I'm not aware of any sedation that he has ever had so please pray that he has no reaction to the sedation and that he doesn't regress with being away from home for 2 nights.  One of us will be with him at all times (except during the procedure), but I can definitely tell that he is different when he's not at home. 

I love y'all!  Thank you for your love, support, and prayers.   Have a great Sunday!


Chris's View-

Today was awesome being back in church!

The church had two interns over the summer... one was the pastor's son and the other was his son's roommate from theological college.  It was great seeing some young guys on fire for the Lord and wanting to teach the congregation.  It was pretty neat because each of the interns and then the pastor took a part of the sermon and delivered it.  It kind of reminded me how Maria and I had two preachers marry us.

Afterward, we were some of the first people out of the sanctuary so we could get through the crowd and get the kids.  Pastor Goforth... appropriately named, I must say!... stopped us to shake our hands.  This is the first real interaction we have had with him since he took over at Faith.  There is nothing wrong, he just took over right as we were packing to head to get Griffin.  Anyway, while I was off picking Griffin up... 2 MONTHS TODAY I BROKE HIM OUT OF THE PRISON OF ORPHANAGE LIFE!!!!!... I found a documentary that peaked my interest.

I like documentaries... they teach and entertain.  Admittedly, it's all about content.  This documentary is called IndoctriNATION.  It's all about public education and religion in America.  I bought a copy and had it shipped to the house while I was away.  When I got home, and things settled down a bit, I watched it, and there he was, Pastor Goforth!  I will be adding this to the list of things too coincidental to be a coincidence!  I told him about it and he seemed pretty shocked, so I told him I'd bring him the DVD to borrow.  The video below talks about the documentary.




Anyway, like I said, 2 months today since I took our son out of the orphanage.  How drastically his & our lives have changed forever!  Can't wait to celebrate his first anniversary of Gotcha Day!

See ya'll later!

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