Appreciation for what we do have

I have a goal this year, which might actually fail when I go to college, but my goal is to miss only one Sunday of my church a month. So far so good. Last month and this month, I've missed church because I was with other people at their churches.

Last month, I was in Virginia with my old youth pastors, Matt and Lindsay. That church, which is now their old church, is pretty big. The way they do their worship part of the service is a lot more different than my church. I didn't feel as if I was welcome to sing. They had a choir up there singing and words on the screen and also a bit of a band, but I don't recall many of the congregation singing. It was just different from what I'm used to.

This past Sunday, I was at a church while at Ferris State University. A lot a huggy people, but there's nothing wrong with that. It was different once again. They have recordings of all the music. And they sing a lot of hymns, but there's nothing wrong with that. I like hymns a lot. The church reminded me a lot of my dad's Episcopal church. There were a lot of elderly people and the pastor's wife was telling us on the way back to the dorm that they're trying to modernize the music, but it's going really slowly.

I know I shouldn't compare churches, but I just did. I'm not judging any of them because that's God's job. Visiting these two churches have made me come to a conclusion.

I love my church. I love what we have. I love that we have a band with singers. I love that the people in my church care about each other. I love that we're growing. I just have a great appreciation for what my church does have right now. I'm thankful for how we do our worship part of the service.

I'm not saying those other churches don't do worship correctly. We all have different ways of worshiping God. It's good to get out and visit other churches sometimes. But I'm also happy to be where I am right now. I'm thankful for my Aunt Ann for bringing me to this church. I'm thankful for my pastor and piano teacher for all the spiritual talks during lessons. I love going to church. I love God! I love Jesus! And you know what else? Jesus loves you!