Searching for Church

Looking back, I have to admit it. The thought of leaving Hawaii to start life in Colorado, while quite exciting, also left me with the sadness of leaving our last three years behind. We had so many wonderful adventures on the islands that will forever be treasured memories. Aside from the daily rain episodes the weather didn't often disappoint us. The quietness of the North Shore beaches made for peaceful get-aways while the fast paced life of Waikiki was always exciting and fun. There was always something to do and we were always on the go trying to get our fill over the three years we were there. Most of all, We were never lacking in friends to share our experiences with. Our military friends became close family members that filled in for our family back on the mainland. We, in turn, enjoyed doing our best to fill in for the family members they left behind when moving to the island. We also gained an amazing family through Grace Bible Church, that will forever hold a place in our hearts and will always be family to us. Leaving years of memories in the past and leaving the family we acquire, is never ever easy. In fact, goodbyes are on my top 5 list of things I dread most about military life. So far, I would have to consider this last move as the hardest. We met many local families that became our family, and chances are we won't have the opportunity to see many of them again. God knows what he is doing though. He brought these amazing people into our lives for the season that we needed them and he continues to give us outlets to keep in touch with them.

With that said, my biggest concern about every move is finding a church to call home. Our first pcs move to Texas proved challenging in this area. To make a long story short, the first church we attended just did not feel like family. Our kids weren't excited to get up on Sunday mornings and quite frankly, neither was I. However, we would get up, get ready, and head off to church almost every Sunday. The messages were great, the kids had an okay time in their classes, but something was obviously missing. God decided to step in and through a post card in our mailbox, he led us to Christian Life Church. From the moment we were greeted at the door, we knew it was our new church home. The people there quickly became our family. For the next year and a half we all loved getting up every Sunday morning to hear God's word and to fellowship with family. We also looked forward to special events and weekly bible study.

Then the orders came down. Our time in Texas was coming to an end. We had to say goodbye once again. It was time to pcs to Hawaii. As exciting as it was and as ready for a new adventure as we were, it meant leaving that chapter of our lives to start a new one. Just a year and a half before, God led us to the perfect church for us. Now we would have to start over and find a new place where we could hear God's word and worship him on Sunday mornings. You can believe I did a lot of praying. I prayed that God would lead us to the perfect place. A place we would feel welcome. A place that focused everything on God. A place we would feel like part of the family.

It was in our favor, that we met an amazing Hawaiian family at CLC. The best part was that they happened to be pcsing back to Hawaii just weeks after us. They told us about a church in Hawaii that was much like CLC, just on a bigger scale. I later discovered it was a much bigger scale. Once they arrived on the island they invited us to join them at Grace Bible Church. God is so good. He heard my prayers, he listened to my concerns, and he didn't waste any time in taking us to the perfect church. GBC instantly became our family. For three years we were excited to get up on Sunday mornings to hear Pastor Norman teach the word and the kids loved attending Kid's church. We joined weekly small groups, we attended special events, I taught Kid's Church and we all volunteered in different areas.

Then the orders came down. It was time, once again, to pack up our things. In a way, Hawaii seemed more like home than any other place we had lived. I feel a big part of that was due to our church family. I can safely say that my relationship with Christ grew more in that three years than I could have ever imagined. I saw changes in my kids and husband as well. Without that experience we certainly would not be where we are today. So, again I started to pray that we would quickly find a new church home. I prayed that we would find friends as amazing as the ones we were leaving behind. As I prayed it dawned on me to look on the internet in search of possible churches in the Colorado Springs area.

Honestly, I didn't have to search for long. The first church that caught my eye was Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. I read every single word on their website from start to finish. Everything lined up with our beliefs, they had things for our children, and it just seemed perfect. I showed it to my husband and we decided we would start there.

After dropping our kids off with grandparents, my husband and I made the drive to Colorado. Our main goal was to find a house, but while we were there we decided to visit Cornerstone. Before we left our hotel room I checked online to get the address. Where it once had the location of a school, was now the address of the pastor's house. I was a little confused. I'll admit I was also a little nervous. We decided to go ahead with our plan and set off to find our destination. On the way there I mentioned to my husband that I felt a little awkward going to someone's house for church. If you know my husband you know he doesn't get worried about things like that. He's more relaxed than I am. He just smiled and said it would be okay. He was right.

From the minute we walked in the door and saw all those smiling faces, I felt a connection to the people inside. Any and all concerns I had on the drive there were gone. God had once again answered my prayers, even quicker this time.

Two months later we closed on our house, moved in, and started the Colorado chapter of our lives. Cornerstone is a big part of this chapter. God knew exactly where he wanted us and didn't waste any time in placing us there. Everything about Cornerstone is amazing. We are blessed every Sunday morning with the messages, time of worship, and fellowship with our new family. Our kids love going to youth activities and have established some amazing friendships. The friendships we have formed and the messages we hear carry us through the weeks. They aren't something you leave at the door as you exit service. It's so much more than that. In the few short months we have been here, I have already seen each of us grow in our relationships with God. I really look forward to what the future holds for us at Cornerstone, as individuals, as a family, and as a church family.

I find it amazing how much God loves us. He heard each of my desperate prayers to quickly find a new church home and he answered. He heard every desperate plea I made in hopes of being connected with good Christian families, and he answered. Through every pcs move, through every goodbye, through every ending, through every beginning, and all those times in between, he has not and never will leave us. Not even for a second. His love and dedication to us is something that no one could even begin to describe. He is God! He is Lord of Lords! He is King of Kings! He is perfect in every way! We are merely imperfect human beings making wrong decisions daily. And yet he, our perfect Lord and Savior, chooses to walk alongside us at every turn. What an amazing God we serve!

My Perspective

Between raising a family, pcsing, and taking college classes, I don't have a lot of free time to post on my blog site anymore. When I think about writing something, I get side tracked and it just doesn't get done. However, today when I was eating lunch and taking a break from my classwork, I logged onto facebook and came across this article, http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/05/01/Breaking-Pentagon-Confirms-Will-Court-Martial-Soldiers-Who-Share-Christian-Faith. While it should have got me fuming and ready to fight back, it actually made me laugh. At the same time it made me sad for poor Mr. Weinstein and his fellow anti-Christian extremists.

Before you read any further, if you are anti-Christian and you feel offended when someone shares their beliefs, or in my opinion facts, about God, then please just click the little x at the top of your browser and close this page now. Okay:

(From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military are guilty of “treason,” and of committing an act of “spiritual rape” as serious a crime as “sexual assault.” He also asserted that Christians sharing their faith in the military are “enemies of the Constitution.”)

 

This is the paragraph that I found myself laughing at. The laughs just came out of nowhere. To me, everything about this statement is completely ludicrous and senseless. For starters, I'm not sure how Christians sharing their faith means they are against the Constitution. From my understanding, this country was founded on Christian beliefs from the very beginning. On the contrary, taking away the rights of someone to speak about God is what goes against the constitution. You  just keep telling yourself that you know what you're talking about Mr. Weinstein. (I'm going to take a minute to pray for you before I continue.)

 

(I'm not going to go do all the research to back up my statements, as I should really be studying right now and not blogging to begin with, so feel free to do your own research and correct me if you'd like.)

 

When I came to the statement, "spiritual rape", I couldn't stop myself from chuckling. What does that even mean? When I hear the word rape I think of someone doing physical and emotional harm to another human being. I can assure you that speaking God's truth does neither of these things. In fact it does quite the opposite. The fact of the matter is GOD DOES EXIST! He does not exist to cause harm on anyone. He exists to help those that will allow him to enter their lives. Not only that, but to save those who accept him from the eternal doom of hell. Sorry if you didn't want to hear that, but it's the truth, plain and simple. So, sharing our faith about our loving God is as serious a crime as sexual assault? If you say so Mr. Weinstein. (as I shake my head in disbelief) 

 

Poor misguided Mr. Weinstein, what would you suggest a chaplain do? It is a chaplains job to share their faith in Jesus Christ. That is what they joined the military to do. I know chaplains and I know from first hand knowledge that they can make a huge difference in the moral of soldiers. They have helped soldiers through deployments, they have led soldiers away from committing suicide, they have helped mend relationships, they have helped with parenting advice... really this list is endless. Would you like to know how they have helped all these soldiers Mr. Weinstein? Let me tell you. They have allowed Christ to work through them. They have used scripture from the Word of God. They have shared Christ's unconditional love, peace, joy, and forgiveness. These Chaplains, Mr. Weinstein, are the ones that have allowed God to use them to save lives, save marriages, save relationships and help build moral. That's HUGE! I personally can't imagine the military without them. This world took God out of our schools and look what happened. Imagine if you were to take God out of the military. I don't even want to think what would happen to our men and women that serve to protect our country. Oh wait, it wouldn't really be a free country anymore, would it? They'd have one less freedom to defend. The very people that are going off to war would be losing the very rights they are fighting, and sometimes dying, to defend. Hmm... I can see how that makes sense. (shaking my head in disbelief once again).

 

I can personally say that there are Chaplains and their wives that have helped me, as an Army spouse, to push through the hard times. They have made me a better person today because they have guided me to make wise Christian decisions and to put my faith and trust in God when times were rough. I can honestly say that it is God, and God alone, that brought my family through 3 deployments, months of separation due to training, three pcs moves, and all the stresses that come with this life. I have watched friends that don't believe in God struggle daily to survive this military life. I've seen their trials result in unfaithfulness, divorce, distress, depression, severe and constant worry, among other unpleasant things. They just don't seem to know where to turn or how to deal with what they face. The results are devastating. I've seen believers facing the same trials that these non believers face, but there's one difference. GOD! As Christians, we do go through trials, we get sad, we get lonely, we worry about our spouses while they're away, we grieve when fellow soldiers are lost or wounded... we have these feelings like everyone. The difference is that we give it all to God. We allow God to carry us through the difficult days. We lean on each other and we talk about God! AH. Did I just say we talk about God? Oh no! Shame on us for discussing the one thing that gives us hope and strength to carry on. (you got it, disbelief head shaking)

 

Okay, so I admit, the article doesn't point out that spouses can't talk about God. It pinpoints military members. About that... If it weren't for the Bible my husband carries in his pocket that he can pull out to read for comfort, if it weren't for the opportunity to attend church services while deployed, if it weren't for the discussions my husband has had with our amazing chaplains (that entailed talking about God by the way), I'm honestly not sure where he, or our entire family, would be today. When our brothers and sisters ask us how our family keeps growing stronger through everything we face as a military family, we are not ashamed to let them know that it's only because of God. When they ask us the secret to staying together for 15+ years, we will not hesitate to say that it's all God. I don't care if we're in our home, at a military fun day, or at his company, the answer, whether you like it or not Mr. Weinstein, is always God!

 

With all that said, you go right on ahead and voice your beliefs that God doesn't exist Mr.Weinstein. You go right on ahead and lobby that you feel the very freedoms our men and women in uniform are defending don't apply to them. As much as it hurts us as Christians that anyone would denounce the existence of the very God that gave us life and salvation, it is your right to speak your belief. The fact of the matter is, God has given us all the gift of free will in hopes that we will choose to follow him. Just remember that whether you believe or not, God does still love you and he won't give up on you. Until your very dying day, God will seek your love. (Luke 19:10) After all he loves you so much that he sent his very son, Jesus Christ, to suffer on the cross for everyone, including you. Also, keep in mind, Mr. Weinstein, that whatever the outcome of your push for change, God is still in control.  If speaking about God causes a person to lose their job or worse, God will pick that person right back up and give them something bigger and better than what they lost. (Romans 8:28) Ironic how that works, isn't it Mr. Weinstein?

 

Regardless of your efforts Mr. Weinstein, military policy or not, you will not be able to keep believers from sharing the truth about our one and only living God!