Church

We visited the first "church" on our list today.
I put church in quotes because it is not like any church we've experienced. It was terribly, wonderfully different. Here it is...


It was held at Chatfield State Park/Reservoir. The name of the "church" is Adullum - in reference to the cave which David and his mighty men occupied and returned to over and over. It means Refuge. The service this morning was a baptism. It started with brunch - a picnic table spread with contributions from all those in attendance. Then the leader spoke for a few minutes about baptism and into the reservoir we all went - those being baptized further in than those of us who went in ankle deep as a way of symbolizing that we were part of the baptism. When the baptism was over we went swimming (at least the boys did)!

When we got home Ethan said, "I like church!"

Now, to explain what I mean by "terribly, wonderfully"...
It was terrible because it was like an exclamation point on our reality right now. The truth is we don't know anyone. That isn't totally true. We are getting reacquainted with a couple, who is now a family, we met when we lived in the Springs 10 years ago. And we are starting a relationship with Wes and Judy Roberts (you might remember Wes mentioned in Mark's blog!) These are all good, good people, but they have established lives and relationships here in Denver. We may eventually fit into the rhythm of their lives but right now we pretty much do life on our own. Which is part of what made this morning challenging. As we drove up and found a parking spot I felt like I was going to throw up. Mark and I laughed about it and got out of the van! As we approached the area where everyone was congregated Mark said, "It isn't too late. We can just walk right past and pretend we are here to enjoy the beach for the morning." We laughed about this too - of course we wouldn't do this, but it was funny to picture. It was hard to start and maintain conversations with people. I am very "small talk challenged". The whole experience stirred us in some painful ways. But...

It was also wonderful! For many more reasons...
- I was so blessed by the truth that God's people, and therefore the church, are everywhere. Because He is everywhere - at work in the hearts of mankind.

- I love having church in God's chapel - the great outdoors. It was really great to not sit in a pew.

- I was emotional about the baptism of people I don't even know because of the beauty of baptism. It is part of such a big wonderful story - redemption. And I am part of that story - AMAZING love, how can it be?

- My faith in my children's ability to adapt and thrive was bolstered once again. They are amazing. They have rolled with us through this whole process with little resistance (outside of the ordinary). Ethan and Owen jumped right in(literally, into the water) to what we were telling them was church. They just trusted us. I cannot imagine what it must be like for a 4 and 2 year old to be going through this. They are brilliant!

- No matter what our church home will end up being I am blessed to be journeying with an amazing partner. Mark is leading us with strength and humility. He is caring for us physically, emotionally and spiritually. I am humbled by God's gift of him to me. I would not have wanted to be standing next to anyone else in the universe as I went through today!