Journal

So I wrote in the last page of my journal today. My husband got me this journal last year for Christmas and I have treasured its special meaning. I went back and read the first couple of entries I made in the journal which would have been December of 2007. In the prayer I prayed that God would let us find a church that is home. I was struck by the fact that almost exactly one year ago we were looking for a church home, one that we could feel comfortable and that would "fit", we have tried a few this year and well, I am happy to say that we are a part of Element Church and it is home. We all really love it and find it to be a great place to worship God. It is exciting to think about raising our kids there and them knowing that church can be and is different where we worship. That we the people form the church and our heart is for our community.

In fact, today as we were driving by Riverview High School Grace said, "We used to go to church there!" I asked her which church she liked best and she said, "The one we go to now." When I asked her why, she told me because she likes her teachers and class there the best, that they do fun things and even though they don't go outside, it is her favorite, and it takes alot to be "going outside in Grace's book.

Element

So, it's been a while since we left the church Peter and I had attended for over 15 years . . . in truth it has been 2 years since we left. And in that time we have tried different churches looking for one that we could call home. This process has been very difficult because we had attended our previous church for so long and our roots went very deep in that church, plus we had been jaded and burnt out by church work. We tried a couple of different churches in our area for a while, but never seemed to be able to put down roots and begin growing again. However, for the first time in a long time I feel like we have found a church that we could call home. It is called Element church (http://www.iamelement.org/). The lead pastor there, Bobby Triplett, is someone that we have known for a while and actually was on staff with Peter at our former church home. He and his wife have a vision for doing church differently and Bobby is a leader that is transparent and real when he speaks. I feel, for the first time in a long time, excited to go on Sunday morning. Not because the worship is amazing, or the speaking is out of this world, but because it is a place that is real and authentic. And isn't that what church is supposed to be?