HOUSE HUNTING

My husband and I just signed the paperwork to purchase our next home. This one is in Tennessee. Work and school have afforded us the grand adventure of moving around the country – a lot.

Home shopping can be exhaustingly fun. We engage the services of a Realtor who knows the area, and then we start with the basics – what’s for sale, how much it costs and where it is in relationship to shopping, schools, churches and work. And, of course, we do the mental gymnastics to figure out whether or not our belongings will actually fit in the new abode.

When we moved to Virginia last year, we searched for a new church home as well. On the Saturday before Lent, we received the 2004 Lenten Devotional booklet in the mail. We were going to go and visit another church the next day, but decided to visit The Church of the Good Shepherd instead. We were warmly greeted and made to feel welcomed, and I wish to share with you why we joined this church.

It was here that we found a wonderful place of worship. The moment we walked in to the sanctuary a peace of the Lord descended on us. We felt the presence of the Lord and a communion with His people. We sang and prayed and worshipped in His house. Here we found Jesus Christ’s message preached from the pulpit. Here we found the teachings of the church to be the teachings from the Bible and of Jesus. Here we found adult studies that feed our thirst for biblical knowledge, Christian growth, Christian companionship and support. Here we found a place to serve on committees, in groups and in our community. Here we found a place to serve the Lord with our time, our talents, our presence and our resources.

We will be ever grateful to those dedicated souls who stepped out in faith and wrote, published and distributed the 2004 Lenten Devotional. They are our “church realtors” who directed us to this house of worship and place of service. As a result of this devotional, “I rejoice with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”

— April Dugger

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist