Skip to main content

I went to church today...


I went to church today
Last year, Suzanne and I spoke of attending going
Instead, I attended alone
Missing Suzanne, regretting it never happened
Knowing we will never attend together.

After over a year of planning
I went in search of another church
With no idea what to expect at a
Biker church
My GPS couldn’t find.

Arriving late,
I parked in the field and walked through the doors
The student who invited us last year
The first person I saw.  
Taking in the other sights
A pool table,
Plywood dividing walls,
And leather jackets, each with a patch.
I followed the sound of voices
Into the sanctuary ~
A big room filled with
Mismatched chairs.
A wooden platform up front
With a black and white painting of Jesus
wearing a crown of thorns as the backdrop.

A sea of blue jeans surrounded me
as song and harmony filled the room
accompanied today by an acoustic guitar.
Sharing the stage, a keyboard, drum set and electric guitar,
evidence of a church that rocks.
No fancy thrones for the pastor here.
Instead, he sat upon a vinyl Harley stool.

The preacher took the stage
hair in a braid down to his waist,
tattoo sleeve peeking out from under his short sleeve shirt,
wearing the uniform of the day, jeans.
He began talking about Revelations
tearing up with the thought of people perishing for eternity.
In the distance, the roar of a Harley,
He interrupted his sermon,
“Call of the wild, man!”
Back to his message without missing a beat.
Getting Jesus bumps as he shared the grace and peace Jesus brings.

Silver helmets were passed around
Collecting money to do service -
Most recently, remodeling a paraplegic’s house,
Whatever is needed to be of service to the community.

Addicts, shoplifters, people in chaos
joined in worship.
All in search of something.
Tears falling freely from many,
some called to the alter,
others lifted their hands heavenward
while the rest stayed seated.
All joined together
looking for peace
as prayer was lifted up.

The end of the service brought a loud
WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Our search of peace and grace continued.
As I walked out the door,
I knew I would be back.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Next Chapter Begins...

The first round of tears happened during the 8 th grade promotion. It has been such a wonderful year with all of them – 7 th and 8 th graders alike. The second round of tears came when I learned I do not have a contract for next year. I will not be returning to Benson Middle School unless the displaced teachers do not jump at the chance for my classroom.   Right after she told me, I did my best to remain professional and keep the tears at bay. Unfortunately, they came anyway. About the time the tears hit my eyes, an email a dear friend sent me when I first wrote about the contract situation came to mind: “There is always a reason for things. Maybe God wants you to move on and inspire other students.” I love what she says. I feel that with my whole being. However, it did not make hearing that I have no job any easier. So now what? I am floating off the edge again. My family began the year in two different states. We are reunited again in North Carolina. Both Tony and I with
7 comments
Read more

WABDR: Preparations

PREPARATIONS AND PACKING I know you are ready to hear about this epic adventure of ours. Believe me, I was ready to hop on my bike (I named her Hanaa, meaning “happiness, joy, and peace”) and go. But before one is ready to go into the Wild, preparations need to be made. Before I get into the preparations, let’s talk about the importance of naming your bike. My Shadow back home is named, Layla. I can hear you singing along to the song right now. That is exactly where her name came from, she eases my worried mind. Therefore, it was important for me to find the perfect name for the machine I would be spending the next couple of weeks with. Jennifer, my sister, had been calling it Lil Ripper. That name was not going to work for me. I saw the peace sign on the key chain and immediately started researching names meaning “peace, love, and happiness” - all necessary for life in my opinion. And I didn’t want to die on this trip. My thinking was a bit of peace, love and happiness would
2 comments
Read more

The Hardest One Yet

 From the time I began this blog, I made the conscious choice that I would be honest and open in the moment – whatever is going on. For the most part, I have done that.  After struggling about whether to write about this particular challenge (let alone share it), I chose to do the uncomfortable and do both – write and share. “Your certification has not even been processed yet. Probably won’t happen until at least the middle of January.”  I took a deep breath as I heard those words a couple weeks ago and I realized what that meant. Christmas would look very different than originally planned. The retroactive pay that Santa was counting on to make the holiday something special for our family would not be coming. I took a deep breath as I hung up the phone and walked out of my classroom, despair bombarding the hope and excitement of the upcoming holiday. A tornado of thoughts began whirling in my head as I walked to the guidance office. Playing with our budget in my head trying to
7 comments
Read more