Does God's = ours?

A church.

What does your church look like?

Maybe some of us share the same church.

Some even refer to it as "my church."

People all over the world have specific mental associations when they hear the word "church." These associations can be positive or negative, true or false, reality or fiction. The point is that everyone has a certain understanding of what a church is.

Some people sacrifice their everything to support their church.

Some people stick with the same church their whole life.

Some people jump churches until they find one that suits them.

Some of us have questions:

"How does God see church? Does God call church the same thing we call church?"

In the book of Acts, there is this place in Chapter 2 which talks about how the believers devoted themselves to one another. It even says they sold all their possessions and goods and gave it to whoever had a need. They met everyday; ate together, praised together, and God added to their numbers daily.

The book of Acts records this amazing event during Pentecost.

This is the beginning of the Church.

Is this what "your" church looks like?

May you
be one
within the community of the church
who is actively living the way of Jesus.

Cichorium Intybus

Have you ever seen this flower?

It is a Cichorium Intybus, more commonly known as Chicory.

Odds are, you've seen this flower a 100 times and never paid it much attention because it grows in ditches and is often referred to as a weed.

A couple days ago I had my camera with me in the woods. I noticed I was surrounded by thousands of little blue flowers. I didn't pay much attention to them because they are extremely common. So there I was out in the woods looking for that perfect "one in a million" shot. I kept looking and thinking where in the world my picture was going to come from.

We all do this don't we?

We find ourselves constantly searching for something extravagant.

We find ourselves wanting something that sticks out in large and incredible ways.

We find ourselves looking for the uncommon.

At that moment, with camera in hand, I snapped this picture. I love this picture not because it is large and incredible. I love this picture because it is small and it is common. I love this picture because of what it stands for.

It is so easy to look for the large and incredible things of life, but in our attempt to do so we limit perception.

Some of the most beautiful gifts of life are right in front of our eyes and we don't even see them.

Sometimes I wonder how much we would appreciate our life if we only paid attention to the Chicory.

Where is your Cichorium Intybus?