My GPS has a "Places of Worship" setting on it, select it and it will start listing all the churches that it knows of close to where ever you are. I did this the other day, curious to see the mileage from where i was to my church (which is where i was going...) Well, it took me forever to get through the list to my church (which was 17.3 miles away) because there where 2 within a mile of me, about 10 churches within a 2 mile radius and about 30 within 10 miles.
Now i dont look at the town i grew up in as a big town- buts its not tiny either. think about it. thats almost FORTY churches withina fifteen minute driving from me. and as i drove, the number only got larger.
My parents and i got to go to lunch on Sunday just the three of us- and it was fun, but something happened that made me sit up and listen. As we where driving to the place of food, i started talking about the number of churches in America, there's one on almost every corner! it seems a bit ridiculous. My dad referred to the reason as "the devil's best tool- Drama within the church." Skip ahead about an hour and we are safely at the resturant talking about other things, and a woman, who is a former member of my church, walks up to the table. Almost immediatly she begins preaching at us about why she left (which apparently directly due to something my mom said at a family meeting) She talked on and on for about 10 minutes before turning and walking away I did'nt know what to say. My mom looked about to cry, my dad reached over and hugged her, then looked at me and said asked me to do something that i hope i can live up to 9since i said i would try. HE asked me to promise to try and never let drama interfere with my spritiual life like so many people do. "When you start to allow your mind to dwell on hurtful things, the Devil will take hold and use it to his advantage, it doesnt matter how he convinces you, as long as he convinces you."
Thats a big promise to live up to. Let Drama go. How different would our churches, schools, groups of friends be if we just let Drama go? Dont get me wrong, there's a time and place to be hurt, and to tell people you are hurt, but that time and place is NOT 2 years latter at a resturant in front of someones loved ones! I think i will start doing some biblical research on this subject. I'll let you know what i find.
