I Love the Church!!

I have come to a place in life where I see the value of the church! Yes, I have been hurt because of some people in the church...but I still love the church. I have been lied on and spied on...I have been told right to my face that the attack on me will not stop until I have lost everything by some of those church people, but I still love the church!

I have been hurt, but I still love the church. I have been bruised, but I still love the church! In the church, among God's people, I have found more joy than sorrow, more mercy than judgment, more kindness than intolerance, more love than hatred, more strength than weakness, more forgiveness than condemnation! I love the church.

I have had friends promoted into positions in the church that I felt I deserved...that didn't stop my love for the church. While they pastor their thousands I preach to my hundred with as much fervor and passion as them, because I love the church! I've been replaced and I've been overlooked, but I still love the church!

The pain inflicted has not stopped me from showing up multiple times a week to preach and to pray, to talk to and to walk with those "church people", because I love the church.

I have given untold hours of my life to church people--who once they have from me what they wanted--they walk away without even as much as a thank you or a goodbye. I do it again, and again, and again--because I love the church!

The church is God's special project. It is His attempt to bring diverse people together for the purpose of loving each other and promoting His Kingdom. Sometimes those people do wrong. Sometimes those people get their feelings hurt. Sometimes those people are more focused on their agenda and not the Kingdom agenda. Sometimes those people hurt me. But hey, it's the church and I love it!