Get Funky with It!

Moya Family before deployment (Jan 2, 2010)

My new friend Cristina Moya and her five year old son Cristian joined me for church this morning. It was nice to have someone to sit with. I have been attending Chet’s Creek Church for a few years now… with one lengthy break when I was doing a study on another church and wanted to see if it was a fit. As I tried to think back about what I felt and initially thought about Chet’s and what has kept me there long term...these things came to mind.

At the end of the day what I love about my church is this (these are in random order)…

My pastor is a real guy, with a real accent (southern just like mine) and an undying love for the LSU Tigers, who DOESN’T have a comb-over (no offense, my daddy has a comb-over and he rocks it) or stands in front of you in some outrageously expensive suit while some members in his congregation just want to pay their freakin’mortgage. He looks like your uncle… not the weird uncle in mid-life crisis mode with the Harley gear and an earring… but the uncle who you’d call if you needed help. He talks to you, encourages you, lifts you up. He doesn’t preach at you or make you feel bad because sometimes life just sucks and things end up a little differently than you originally planned.

It is focused on meeting me where I am. Let’s just face it, I don’t have it all together (nobody even gasped in surprise). I am overly-emotional and unorganized at times. I have worn laundry that I took out of the dirty clothes basket more than once. I am a control freak at times and have high expectations on how I think people should respond to certain situations... usually too high for even the most perfect of individuals to meet up to.

I HEART the music. In my former life, I lead worship in a church for almost seven years and good music never hurts. They have a great band and sometimes I have to remind myself that I am not at a concert... "This isn’t a concert… sing! Worship how you feel lead." Some keep quiet and prefer to meditate, but I am the annoying girl who tries to sing over the rest of the congregation.

At times it gets really funky. My pastor has driven a motorcycle across the stage to start his sermon. The ministerial staff did there own version of “Stomp” banging brooms and trash cans to an original beat that they composed. They once set off a rocket in the church to teach the kids about being charitable. They send out a mission team to a foreign country almost once a month. We have days when we wear our college or NFL team colors or jerseys and talk smack about everybody’s teams. It is lots of fun!

I think Cristina summed it up great when she said… “It is nice to visit a church with REAL people”.

Cristina, Thank you so much for coming with me this morning!!! It is great when you have someone to share and spend time with... even when our sailors are away.