Here is a post I wrote after going to church last Sunday with the Hoggard's :)
An update is coming tomorrow or the day after about my internship, USA vs. Belgium Soccer game, weekend in Gent and moving into the new apartment!
Enjoy!
The more I go through this life, the more I realize I don’t understand much. But the more I understand I need, want and am desperate to serve something that is SO much bigger than the finite, miniscule life I live. I know I make mistakes, turn to things that don’t end up satisfying me, and behave basically like a dumb sheep at a lot of points in my life. I am thoroughly convinced that I am on a constant search to know an infinite God that is so much bigger than my finite perception of Him. A God who is bigger, stronger and more powerful than my mind can conceive. A God who knows, who loves, who doesn’t fit into the box Christianity, or religion for that matter puts, Him in. I don’t know about you…but each and every day I know that I am on a search to satisfy some kind of longing in my heart that I cannot fully understand. No matter what I do, it still remains. Despite the boys that have captivated my heart, classes that challenge me, friends that love me, and family that means the world to me….I still have this longing to reach, understand, grasp, do, know, something more. And each time I learn a little bit more about my savior, there is a peace in my heart that reaches so close to the core of my being that I just know that that is why I am here. To know more about the one who created, died and rose again for me. The one who loves me beyond my mistakes, my bad habits.
This Sunday I got a different glimpse of this infinite God that I serve. I went to church with Ruth Anne Hoggard and two of my girl friends from my program. It was so nice that she drove out of her way to pick us up…and so nice that we got to sit in a car for a change. It gave my aching, blistered feet a nice break. We showed up at church after getting quite lost about 10 minutes late. Thankfully, just like everything else in Belgium, church didn’t start on time. Ruth Anne said that the Americans and Brits show up on time, the Belgians show up 15 minutes late, the Asians 20 minutes late, and the Africans…about the time the sermon starts.
As soon as we walked in, we were greeted warmly by a sea of faces from different countries. Africans, Asians, Europeans, Americans…young, old, in between…all worshipping the same, infinite God. We began to worship, and as much as I would like to say that I was completely focused on the music, my eyes kept traveling to all the different colors, faces and bodies around me…and all I wanted to was shout..”YOU KNOW HIM TOO???!!!” He’s the same here!? And in Africa? And in India? And in Brussels?
I have always been told that our God does not change and that His word brings truth throughout the world, but never have I ever felt this in such a real way as I did on Sunday. That same Bible that I have grown up reading…these people from EVERYWHERE have grown up reading. The message is the same everywhere and resonates with all people despite age, past, ethnicity or social status. All of these people at this church have heard about God’s grace, power, redemption and salvation just like I have. They have gone through hard times, and good times just like me and have seen the provision of a Holy, infinite, and soverign God. And somehow through the soverign nature of our God, it brought each of them to this church to worship this great God with me.
To say that I was moved is an understatement. I have been so blessed in my life to worship God in many different areas. : in Texas, St. Louis, my room at home, my youth pastor’s house, my dorm room, a K-Life building, a soccer field in Lampe, MO, an outdoor church at K-West, the streets of Brussels, and now, an incredible international church with voices from many different tongues singing praises to our God and King! I have said that I feel almost at home in Brussels because of my heritage…well if there is one more thing that makes me feel at home, it is finding a place to worship my awesome God. If there is one thing that remains true it is the fact that I know I need the love of my savior, and no matter the time or place…I will fight to find a place to get to know Him better. I am not perfect, but I have definitely come to a place in my life where I know I can go on no further without my faith and the Savior that is connected to that faith. I will make mistakes, but I know his arms are open wide and his love has no end. For I am convinced that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers [nor any distance or ethnicity], neither height nor depth or anything else in all creation will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. For I am humbled by His power, goodness and love today and I pray you are too.
LOVE
Bails
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