Wagon Wheel Homestead

Verse of the day: John 14:6

Yesterday I attended my second Divine Liturgy service. It was absolutely wonderful. Being in church two weeks in a row, after not being in church for two years, feels amazing.

The priest noticed that I had returned for a second week in a row with some family. Members of the parish that spoke with me after last week’s service also noticed too. I will give credit, people at this church are very attentive to who comes back. This is different for me as the last church I went to had between 1,500-2,000 people. It was much easier to hide if you wanted to at my old church.

I’ve never been one to ever enjoy being the center of attention. Doesn’t matter if it is a new space or familiar space, I’ve never liked it. Last week I was anxious when people knew I was the new guy in church. This week, I was surprised people noticed and I socialized more this week.

This week’s sermon talked about politics. Not a popular subject within most churches that’s for sure. But I appreciated the service very much. The main point of the sermon was to ensure that us as Christians do not cave on our values when it comes to voting. Something I personally feel a lot of Christians forget when it comes to politics but also life in general.

As Christians, our identity in Christ comes before anything! There are many people who claim to be Christian but do not do anything we are called to do and carry ourselves. As the famous saying goes, “even the devil believes in Jesus.” And the truth is he trembles at Jesus’s name. Christ called us to be different among the world. We are to be in the world, not of the world. Those are two very different things.

Let’s keep the biggest thing in mind, none of us are perfect. We all fall short of the glory of God. But we are called to be more Christ-like, and God gives us grace. The sermon was a good reminder to keep pushing forward. We as Christians will be hated due to how we are different. The choice to follow Christ is not an easy thing and does not guarantee an easy life by any means. But Jesus called us to pick up our cross daily and keep following Him.

God and church have always been in my life even as a very young child. God has given me dreams, spoke loudly to me (literally), and guided me. I had a dream earlier this week that God wanted me to stay at the church. In my dream, I was getting frustrated as there were a few things I did not understand and wanted to leave. But God told me to stay and keep going. So, with that, I will continue and pray on anything I have questions on. I truly believe I have found where God wants me to be.

Now I am not always the best at listening, but with this, God made it clear to me. I want to start catechism soon! I have been doing a dive deep into researching the Orthodox Christian faith and it is something I certainly want in my life. I pray God will continue to guide me through this new and fulfilling journey. Don’t get me wrong, there are some things I have questions on that simply do not make sense to me. Raised in a nondenominational background will do that.

I have been craving more in my faith, for a while now. I didn’t make much of an effort to even find a church. I hated that most churches around me mostly talked about money so heavily. I understand the purpose and reasoning behind tithes and offerings. But I hate that so many churches focus SO MUCH on money instead of God’s word. I am not opposed to tithing. In fact, when I use to tithe faithfully, God showed up and I never went without. It is the one thing in the bible where God says to test Him. I did and wow!!

Church is more than money and fancy lights. Granted I love fancy lights, but I also feel in the process, the vision is lost over time. The focus becomes more on entertainment than on God and worship. Orthodox churches do NOT do fancy lights or anything to make the service more about entertainment. The focus is on God and how we as Christians can be better. Something I never appreciated as a child but appreciate now as an adult.

May God continue to guide me and inspire others through my journey.

God bless!