church

Will and I laugh that when things happen in our lives, they typically happen pretty quickly.  Everyone knows we had our house on the market.  Our plan was to sell and move to Oxford.  Obviously that was OUR plan and our plan only, because after two years our house didn't sell.  Our contract with the realtor expired during the middle of June, so Will and I decided to take it off the market for the summer.  Our summers are crazy with weddings, and it was stressful to think about trying to sell it by owner during our busy season.  Our therapist and friend Dr. Meek tells us that we have to live our lives in Columbus because this is where we are for right now - we can't live in Columbus with one foot and our hearts somewhere else.

Will had been praying that it would be a lot easier for us to live in Columbus if a certain family moved.  About a week after we took our house off the market, we heard this family was moving!!

And then we had the opportunity to open the studio downtown.

Saturday night we were cooking supper, and Will asked me if I've thought about joining First Baptist.  That is where we've been going to church.  The pastor, Shawn Parker, is amazing.  And our friend, Alex Holliman, is the worship pastor.  When we are in town, Will plays guitar with Alex in the band.  When Will asked me that, it was just confirmation in my heart that we were supposed to join.  A few weeks ago I almost went down front during the invitation to join, but Will and I had not talked about it (and Will was playing that Sunday and would not have had a clue as to why I was going down front!).  So yesterday we joined First Baptist Church Columbus.  When we walked down front during the invitation, Will told Dr. Parker we wanted to join.  Dr. Parker said, "I have been praying for that!"  How awesome is that?  And he also told us he saw the article in the Columbus Dispatch about the studio and was also happy about our business.

I was trying to explain to Garrison what it means to join a church.  I know all the "church" words to use, but using plain words is kind of hard. 

It is a place to serve.
It is a group of people who accept us - flaws and all.
It is people we can worship with.
It is a group of people who are also trying to raise their children to know Jesus.

For now, for the time we do live in Columbus, we are happy to be an official part of First Baptist.

Yesterday was very redeeming for us.