belonging

Hey,
When I found this picture of court street, Athens, OH, It excited me with a lot of memories of hanging out with friends on Friday and Sat. nights. As I said in the message, we all hung out on a wall to the bottom left just outside the picture. We were the townies that never stayed put in a college town always there to remind OU students that this was our town. Our place to belong.

So where do you belong? I have found that I belong in Jesus, but that doesn't just solve every problem here in my 24/7 life. Sometimes i just feel like I don't belong anywhere outside of my family and God. Not saying this to create a pity party. My guess would be that if you are an american teen or adult that you have also struggled with where you belong and who really cares about you. We live in a country that prides itself on independence.

When the Campbell Family experienced our 2nd or 3rd Christmas Parade here in LP, I realized something. After the parade there were all of these parties/get togethers going on around town. Coffee, tea and snacks. Laughter. Warmth. Love. I wanted to be at one of those places, but we didn't belong for whatever reason. How many times do we make others feel that way when we relate to each other and have family time at church or small groups and they are on the outside looking in.

Two points remain. We need to be willing to belong to this community of believers following Jesus and we also need to make others feel welcome to belong. Remember Jesus told the story of the banquet holder sending his servants to the alleys and streets then on to the country...get the beggars! get the poor! get the blind! In other words, come one, come all! There is no sifting filtering system by which we are to find people to belong to this great hope called salvation thru the grace of God thru Jesus.

I am going to try to be more approachable when I really want to just find a corner to hide in. When I just want some time for myself I am going to pray that God changes my desire to belong to a community of believers just like he did. God bless and enjoy your days off this weekend!
cya,
keith