You pull into the parking lot about five minutes before we’re scheduled to meet. You find yourself sitting in your car and waitiing until one minute before our meeting. Last time, you felt bad getting their early because I was meeting with Paige, and you didn’t want to repeat that embarrassment. You take the few minutes to pray for Paige. As you walk in the door of the coffee shop, you see me again at a table and you recognize that Paige is there. You hang back for a minute or two and then you catch my eye. With a smile ear to ear I say, “Hey, get over here, you don’t want to be late, do you?” Before you sit down, you grab your drink that’s been sitting on the counter. I had them make it when you came in. Day four, and we’re regulars who get first class service.  Not bad, huh?

We greet each other with a hug and then you turn to Paige and shake her hand politely. You make it clear that you can give us time, but Paige says, “No, I stayed here to meet with you.” You’re taken aback by this and are curious about what Paige wants to discuss.  Paige goes on to tell a brief bit of her story. She talks about how she’d made a decision a few years back and was strong in her faith. Then she went through a time, for one reason or another, she’d stop going to church each week. Soon she found herself compromising in little areas of her faith. She prayed less, spent time in the Word less, and as time went by the little compromises grew in depth.

Paige explains that when I came into the coffee shop a few days ago and shared what I did for work, she was intrigued by my story. With that, she couldn’t imagine going back to church; there was so much guilt and shame, she’d figured that part of her life was done. She went on to talk about some of he conversations she and I had this week. We’d talked about the very same verses from the day before (Romans 5:1-11 & 8:38-39). We are at peace with God and nothing can separate us from His love.

Tears start to roll down Paige’s cheek as she speaks that truth. You feel a lump in your throat and realize how real that truth is to Paige. She goes on to say that it’s great meeting with you and just wants you to know that God is really working in her heart. She laughs as she says, “I didn’t just want to be some strange coffee shop girl who was crying.” We share a good laugh and before she heads out the door for school, I ask if we could pray for her before she heads out. I look at you as we bow our heads and you realize that I’m wanting you to pray for Paige. For a brief moment, some fear enters your mind. This is your first time praying in front of two people and you don’t really know Paige. In fractions of a second this peace comes over you as you remember, it’s not about saying the right things in prayer, it’s about being honest. You pray sincerely that God would meet with Paige. Hopefully, she’d remember that she can’t be separated from God’s love. I pray briefly for Paige and within a minute we are all exchanging hugs as she heads out the door.

Powerful, right? God’s really working on her heart right now and it’s great to see it. I am really excited to see what God does in her life. It’s incredible to see someone who is meeting God for the first time, building her relationship and another person who is reunited with God, rebuilding their relationship. It’s awesome how that same truth from Romans 5 and 8 could impact you both. There was something subtle about Paige’s story that you may have missed, but really stuck out for me. Did you notice what the first step was in Paige disconnecting with God? It wasn’t the big compromises, or even the little compromises, it was before that. Something simple happened; she stopped going to church.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if you miss a week of church and you deny your faith completely, it’s not that extreme, but it’s subtle. When you disconnect from other people who are living lives that honor God, it’s very easy to give up on honoring God yourself. Meeting together was really important. Take a look at that story you read yesterday from Acts. Now one thing about Acts, it’s the story of how the church got started. The way that the Gospels give an account of Jesus’ life, this book talks about the first few years of the life of the church.

Now the verses you read were right after Jesus had gone back to heaven. After dying on the cross and rising from the grave three days later, Jesus spent forty days around town showing everyone He was alive. If you look a few verses earlier you can read about that, and how the disciples were confused and just waiting to figure out what to do next. Then this event took place called Pentecost, this was where the Holy Spirit first came to the followers of Jesus. He’d promised the Holy Spirit would come and it did. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that the Holy Spirit actually lives in each person who follows God. Now it’s important to be clear, you don’t become god or a mini-god. The same way my house doesn’t become me because I live in it, it’s just a place I live.  You become a place where God lives.

So, the Holy Spirit shows up, miracles are taking place, Peter tells everyone around about Jesus, and now there are thousands of people who have given their lives to Jesus.  What does that have to do with the story we read? Well, that’s the context and context is very important when you read the Bible. You don’t want to read verses without knowing what leads up to them. When you understand what had just happened, Acts 2:42-47 makes sense. Take a look at that verse again. You have these people who witness a miracle, start their relationship with Jesus, and the first thing they do is meet regularly for teaching and time together. Amazing, right? I think it just came naturally to them because Jesus’ followers knew that we walk together.

So, with that said, it’s time for you to figure out what church you’re going to visit this weekend. I’m not sure if you approach church with a clean slate, no past experience good or bad. Maybe you’ve had some past experiences that have you really hesitant to go to church. Either way, it’s crucial you find a church home. I’m more than willing to talk about any issues you have and you could even talk with that close friend about some of your hesitations, but eventually you’ll come to a place where you’re going to church. So, take your phone out and text that friend to see if you can visit his/her church. If you can’t visit that church, ask some other friends if they know of any good churches. If that doesn’t work, send me an email and either myself or someone in my office can give you some ideas on where to start. Look at some church websites to see what looks like a potential fit.

I need to get going, but before I go let me say this, don’t be surprised if there aren’t fireworks your first time at church. There may not be a miracle that week, and that’s okay. You may not fall in love with the music or the speaker and that’s fine. The important thing is getting into a place where you can hear from God’s word and experience community. Read Hebrews 10:22-25 before our next meeting and we’ll talk more about community.

Same time tomorrow?

As we end in prayer, we both share with God the sense we have that finding a church is important. After you’ve prayed and I pray we say our collective Amen and then you quickly say, “OH WAIT!” You immediately bow your head again and pray a simple prayer for Paige. We both ask God to come alongside our new friend. As you head back to your car and the rest of your day, you get a text message, “I was SUPER encouraged that you remembered to pray for Paige. Great to see growing in your Love for God and your Love for People!-nick.” The message stays in your inbox that whole week as a reminder to pray for Paige.