I love my church.  We are encouraged to “be the church” and unlike most churches from my youth, or that even exist today this church practices what it teaches and preaches.   Tommow our pastor and a two others leave for Hati yes the country , to do charity work.  We also learned today that we can help out a local area school by contributing school supplies and/or money if we’d like to.  My church did a “core weekend” with other area churches all volunteer work in and around our community.  The other thing is that this church is so open, so non judgmental which is hard to find in many churches.  People come to church in jeans and t-shirts, once a month we have a potluck lunch and we even have home groups for further fellowship opprotunites.  It feels just simple  and basic and most importantly church feels like a place you can enjoy being  and want to be at rather than a place you go to because you feel you have to which is how church was to me as a kid.  I love Sundays to be able to get up and go to church we only don’t go if myself or my daughter is sick or my back is messed up ( like it was last Sunday) and for those that know me they know me wanting to go to church is a miracle in itself (lol)

The reason I was a “relapsed Christian” for so long was not because of church but the people in church.  I remember seeing people in my uncle’s bar on Saturday nights all over somone that was not their husband/wife but acting “holier than thou” on Sunday morning.  They’d come into church dressed in their expensive suits and dresses, the ladies wearing their big fancy hats dropping their money into the collection plate acting better than everyone around them only to go outside and be gossping about somone.  I remember one day one of our water pipes in our basement broke on a Saturday night, so my mom stayed home to wait on the plumber my brother was sick so he skipped church but my dad and I went.  The only thing I had clean was jeans and a black shirt  plain other  than  it  said “Ozzy Osbourne”  I know not the most apporiate thing  for church but to have people criticize me and tell me I was disrespecting God and his house made me really upset.  I never thoguht God gave two cents about what I looked like as long as I was there and my heart was open to his message.   See one thing I like with the Crossover is that I can go to church in my jeans and tshirts and no one says anything about it.  Pastor Brian talked about following Jesus one morning and talked about how some people measure the success of a church by how many people are there and  how much money is taken up, but that should not be the measure of a church.  Jesus never said put on your best suit or best dress and bring your money and follow me, he just said” follow me.”

When I talk to God I talk to him much the way I talk to everyone in my life, and yes I ramble to him incessantly too.  I am waiting for God’s voice to say to me :” Maria shut up and breathe for 5 minutes so I can tell you what I want you to do.”  I now see God as a real person someone I can just talk to about anything and everything and I do.

As far as charity goes people always seem to think that they have to have a lot of money to donate and that is not true.  If you can’t give money give your time, if you can’t give time or money give your thoughts and prayers.  If everyone just donated the coins they get back from change at the store the amount of money collected could add up.  What about giving up those things you don’t use, need or want?  We all buy our kids lots of toys, movies, clothes, books and games through the year.  When they outgrow something do what I do and donate it. Churches, Salvation Army, Women’s Shelters , Schools, Boy & Girls clubs, Big Brothers and Big Sisters all those places will typically take donataions of things in good shape.  No you can’t donate your kids broken toys or stained clothes but the things in good shape are always welcome and most of our kids outgrow things before they are worn out.  I know people that won’t do this because they feed me the excuse of ” I want people to buy the stuff because  I spend a lot of money on things for my kids or I spent a lot on their clothes Im not giving them away for free.”  I’m always sad to hear them say that, becauase most of us are only one or two checks away from hardship.  Even with Renters or Homeowners insurance your house can catch fire a tornado can rip through your town and level your house and everything you own can be gone in a minute.  Typically insurance makes you pay a deducatble first and wouldn’t you want somone to come to your aid if you were in that situation?  Wouldn’t you like to be able to go to your church and say ” I need clothes, beds, dishes etc” and have them help you because they were able to do so?  

I’ve been in the position of needing help with various things so even though I don’t have a great deal of money I give in order to give back.  I feel that the rewards I get in Heaven will be far greater than anything I can have on earth.

I am forever grateful that I have the Crossover they have become my church family ( thats what my dad’s family calls the people you go to church with is your church family)  and they have helped me find a place to go to share my belief in God with others.  I am grateful to God for being there even when I’ve said Im not listening to you, see a good father goes where he is needed and wait for as long as it takes for you to come to him.  Im also grateful that God acts like a GPS , when I get lost he gets me turned back around to where I need to be going.