Yay!! Tomorrow is Sunday & there's no place I'd rather be than in God's house with His beautiful, amazing, powerful, people!! I love them & need them so much!
But, maybe that's not your feelings. Maybe that's not your story at all. Maybe church is the last place you plan on being tomorrow, & you are confident it's the right choice. Maybe, seeing some of God's kids breeds fear in your heart or so much, anger in your head. Maybe you'd rather do anything, be anywhere, than 'there' & hanging out with 'them'. Maybe they've hurt you so deeply, that you promised yourself, they will NEVER get the chance to do that again. CUZ after all, some things take a lifetime to get over, & you don't wanna spend another moment trying to get over it. Maybe they lied about you or stabbed you in the back. Maybe, they didn't see you, or even bother to get to know your name. It's possible they have judged you unfairly, or held stuff against you, unforgiving. Maybe they made you feel unworthy, & undeserving of God's BEAUTIFUL, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE & treated you as beneath every last one of them. It wouldn't surprise me at all, if the last time you went to church, you really wished you hadn't. Could be you won't go, cuz of 'them'. Could be they acted so stupid & were a very, poor representation of their Jesus. *sigh* Yeah, it Could be they messed up, said some dumb things they shouldn't have, & looked at you like you didn't belong there at all, anyway. Probably someone whispered about you, refused to shake your hand, wouldn't look in your direction, or even bothered to care enough to ask your story. They could of been too busy to notice the tears in your eyes or the weight you carried on your shoulders. Maybe you walked away more lonely than when you walked in & everything in you screamed, 'never again!' You thought Jesus would meet you there, in your moment, but His kids wouldn't let Him. And, for all of that, I am so sorry. I'm sorry we hurt you. I'm sorry we wounded you. I'm sorry, maybe, we didn't even see you. CUZ, Sadly, It happens, & it happens more than it should & it hurts like 'hell' & it's not right & it's way too common. Too normal. Too acceptable. And wrong on so many levels. But, it happens around imperfect people, human people, trying so hard, to be like Him, but acting more like a fool, cuz we haven't perfected those things in us that have no right to be there. We're working on it, but still, at times, we have so very, very, far to go. And for all the mean, hurtful, sad, cruel, rejecting, destroying, crushing, inexcusable things we, the Church, of Jesus, may have done, probably have done, I sincerely, & deeply... apologize... To you. We don't mean to hurt. We don't intend to reject. We try hard, really hard, to love. But we screw up, sometimes. It's not OK & it's NOT Jesus. But, I know we are just people trying to Love like Jesus, trying to bring people to Jesus, trying not to mess it up & run people from Jesus. Trying to figure out how, in the world, to be like JESUS...just be like Jesus, & we blow it... A lot. We mess it up... A lot. We do it wrong... A lot. And, we have to live with it, cuz, some of us, unmistakably, know, we can't go back & undo what we've done, but, deep down, most of us, wish we could. We wish we'd never hurt you. We wished we'd never made you feel unworthy. We wish we'd been what you needed when you walked into our life. We want to be what Jesus requires. We want to be what you were looking for. We really do wish we took the time to wipe your tears & pull you close. We wish a lot of things. We wish we'd let Jesus meet you. But, wishing won't change anything...Seeing YOU will. Being with you, will!
You know what would make our day tomorrow? You know what most of us wish more than anything, would happen tomorrow? You know what would change everything tomorrow? If you'd change your mind, turn around, & walk back through our doors, & give us one more chance to love you...right. I know, with Jesus, we can love you... Right. We want to. And in spite of all our stupidity & foolishness & total, immaturity, Jesus will be there tomorrow, & He's the ONE you really need to see anyway.
Please excuse our 'mess'. We are ALL under construction!! Here's to hopefully, seeing you... Tomorrow