Some Things I am Learning From The Crossing

One thing I have learned from The Crossing is that Sunday morning, or any other "meeting" that is held at church is only a part of what "church" is. To me, attending worship at the church, or attending life group at my house, is a discipline that keeps me connecting with God and others. It is not the end all and it is not the only place and/or time where I feed the longing within me to know God, to worship God, and to come alongside of others who are striving to do the same. While these things are important, and I do believe that I would slowly detach from relationship with others if I did not continue to have these disciplines, they alone will not sustain my hunger to have continual relationship with God and with others.

Accountability- that word used to be scary to me.  However, as I have grown accustomed to living life closely with others, I am seeing that oftentimes, maybe most of the time, accountability is unspoken. As I live life in closeness with others, I become aware of the things going on with them, and they are aware of things going on with me. I remember about 4 years ago I got sick on vacation with Jason and the kids. It was super annoying and left me unable to enjoy much because I was miserable. No one back home knew I was sick. After I got back, I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone and I remember saying something like this,  "I was just so sick for a week, and not one person other than Jason even knew about it. I feel so alone and like I could get sick and fall off the face of the earth and no-one would even notice." (Sidenote- I was going through a really rough season with my mom, which has passed, praise the LORD, and I think that was me mourning for not having a mommy to take care of me as well!) But back to the point...It was a wake-up call to me that although I had lots of people around me in my life at the time, I didn't have many who I was in an intimate relationship with. Looking back, I can also see that I was lacking some intimacy with the Lord, and a deep appreciation for it as well. All of this to say, living in close community with others, keeps me accountable. Not because I am getting called out by my friends, but because they know what is up with me. They would know if I didn't get out of bed for a week, and they would know if I started treating my kids harshly. And even if they never said anything to me about it, which I hope they would, knowing that they know, keeps me on my toes:).  Accountability. It's good.

Living in the world, but not of it. I always used to hear people talk about how all too often, Christians "live in their little bubble." This bothered me because I assumed I was doing the same, but I never knew how NOT to do this. Being a pastor's wife, much of my activities in life revolved around things that were going on at a church campus. And let's be honest, that produces a christian bubble. If simply for nothing else, but a lack of time and energy to do anything else. Add on homeschooling to this, and the opportunities to be involved in other places, like on a school campus, become even more limited for me. Since moving to Spring Branch, our life has become much more focused on our community, and less on the things that happen "on our campus."  Maybe it is because we do not have a "campus" per se... maybe it was strategic:). Either way, it has made a big difference in my life. I am finding myself falling more and more in love with my neighbors. I want to know them. I want them to be a part of my life. I want to be a part of their lives. I want my kids to play and ride bikes with the other kids on my street. I want to have block parties, and I want to have my neighbors over for dinner. Some of them are Christians, and some of them I do not know if they are, but that is not what my desire hinges on. I want to know them because they are my neighbors.  (Now of course, because my life has been radically transformed and abundantly blessed, I want others to know about the same Jesus who gives me strength and hope, who loves me to no ends, and who gives me purpose, of course I want to share about my love for Him with others, of course, of course, of course I do. But even if they don't care about that, I still want to know them. I still want to live deeply rooted in this community.) My time at "The Crossing" seems to be just a segment of my life with Christ, and of my love for people. It does not consume my Christian life. As much as I love it and as much as I want everyone to go:).

These things are huge to me and they have radically changed my perspective on a lot of things. I feel like I don't take myself as seriously, (whew!),  and I realize that I am only a micro part of God's story. It is a privilege and honor to be loved by the Lord and to learn from Him how to love others well. Those are my hearts desires. I don't want to only spend time loving those who believe the same as I do, I want to love those who God has put in my life. In my neighborhood, in my family, in my church, and in my circle of influence, and I am thankful that my influence has moved outside of my Christian bubble. To God be the Glory.