Study Buddies

Maria, me, Callie, Jenna, Daphne

These are the girls I study the Bible with every Friday night. We are halfway through Mark and have already seen God do some wonderful things. You already know that Jenna was baptized and married. Also, Daphne has begun homeschooling her son and has three weeks off work to get started - quite a miracle for a single mom. Maria confided in us information she swore she would never share with another person. As a result she said she feels free and wants to use her experience to help others. Callie has become a close friend and, though she and her husband are Catholic and don't participate in our Sunday meetings, she is always at the Bible study. She is due to deliver a baby girl in February and we can't wait to meet her.

When I asked them what they thought about the study so far, one said she has been part of a church for years and has never understood the Bible as much as she does now. Another asked why they don't teach this stuff at other churches. Please don't hear me bragging by sharing these comments with you. On the contrary, I have nothing to do with the wealth of knowledge God is bestowing on these women. I simply facilitate their reading of the Scripture, explaining the context and answering questions. I have no curriculum or fancy study guide. God is faithful in revealing himself and his truths to those who seek.

Our Little Church Christmas Party

A week before Christmas our church had a party. Since our house is the church building it made sense to have it here. We had lots of great food. Each family brought a traditional holiday dish.

We had a devotional for the families.

Then we played white elephant gift exchange.

Finally, the kids decorated cookies while the adults discussed some things they had learned this year.

It was a great party, not unlike some others I've been to in the past. There was, however, something different about it. As I was cleaning up after the last guest left, I was thinking about how much the whole evening felt just like every other Sunday in our home. I thought about how we eat together every week, discuss something from the Bible, pray together, teach the children...

Then it dawned on me that this party with people I just met less than a year ago was like a family get together. We have all grown together over the past year and whether we are having church or a meal or a party, there is a sense of family when we are all together. We are so blessed to be part of a church like this and are excited to see what God will do through us in 2011.

A House Church Wedding

My last post was about Chris and Jenna, who were baptized last month. They have been meeting with our house church since September and have become more than friends. Their children (who are just about the same ages as ours) call us Aunt and Uncle and are fast becoming three of our kids' best friends. Our families live on the same street and we feel sure God had our meeting planned all along. They were eager to hear what God expected of them, and they have responded to His call. We find great encouragement in that.

John had the pleasure of marrying them last Sunday at Chris's sister's house in a town a couple hours north of here. We made a day of it. We enjoyed spending time with their relatives while we witnessed this family become united under God. We are very thankful for their good choices and are sure He has many blessings in store for their future.

Our New Siblings in Christ

Yesterday I quoted Acts 2:42-46 because it was relevant to my blog post. Today, I have the pleasure of quoting the very next verse of the Bible, "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." because, again, it's what we are living.

Chris and Jenna were baptized today. We met at Terry and Maria's house so we could use their pool. It was cold but they didn't mind. Now they are new creations and children of God. We rejoiced as their new family. Wedding plans are underway for December.

Everything in Common

Acts 2:44-46 says, "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts."

Today we hosted a yard sale to benefit the single mom in our house church who struggles financially. Many people donated items that were sold to put money in her pocket. This afternoon the family down the street who is also a part of our house church came down to spend the second half of the day with us, and the single mom made a wonderful dinner for all of us while our kids played together. It was a good day.

Renovations

We've been discussing the possibility of renovating our house. There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, we really like it just the way it is, but we're not going to be able to fit many more people in here before we outgrow the place. As it is, the whole church meets here on Sunday morning and every other Wednesday night. Friday night is Bible study night for the women. We started out saying it was just for grown ups but the kids like to play together so much that the whole clan is here every Friday night too. On any given weekday we usually have at least one of those families here just to talk or visit. So, we're feeling the wonderful yet stressful dilemma of not enough space.We rented a building for a while in the beginning but that proved to be expensive and very undesirable to most people. So we're trying to keep it at home in hopes that it will not always be in our home, but that someone will step up and offer to take a group into their own living room. We recognize that may take some time so we are looking for an answer to how to fit them into our space until that happens.

Because we ran out of room indoors, the kids' class meets on the back patio. We talked about enclosing that because it will eventually get too hot to meet there. For that matter, it may get too cold if last winter is any indication. We also entertained the idea of taking out the wall between the living room and Andy's room to make a larger area for the adults to congregate. If we did that we would also convert the garage so Andy would get his room back. We don't have the money to do all this but we know God does so we have been praying about it.

Last week Ben's carpet was wet. We thought the boys had spilled something, but day after day it wouldn't dry and turned out to be a leak from the bathroom. It must have been there for a while because the plumber found black mold. The operation to remove that is much more extensive than we had realized - like a crime scene cleanup. There went the money we didn't have for renovations. Maybe that's God's way of telling us not to worry about taking down walls or enclosing porches but it doesn't yet address the problem of limited space.

Celebrating Nine Years

Saturday was Jonah's ninth birthday. When I asked him a couple weeks ago about which kids to invite to his party, he listed the nine others that make up our church. He knows kids at the YMCA and he goes twice a week to an athletics program where kids abound. We also have some neighborhood kids he plays with, but he chose the kids at church. So, our six-family church met at the park on Sunday.

John spoke to the group about the importance of raising our children in a godly manner, with specific regard to the dangerous media that floods our society. Then we had a barbecue and some good old-fashioned horseplay. Jonah said it was the best birthday ever. Of course, he says that every year, but it still makes me feel pretty good.