14 Days of Thankfulness: Day 3

Although unfortunately I had to stay home from church this morning (still am not quite back to 100%). I just wanted to write about how thankful I am for the church we are at right now. My family has been in a lot of churches here in Montana and when we lived in California. It has always been difficult to find a place where we were welcomed and that had a true desire to follow after Christ and serve Him according to the Bible, not any man's ideas. While I know that certainly our family is not perfect and definitely does not have everything together as far as the best way to go about our lives and truly know what the church is to be more than anyone one else, it has been our desire to follow by the Word that He has given us. But this has not seemed to be the desire of many churches out there, many of them seek to be appealing to the world thinking that this will draw others to Christ, they want it to be attractive to the world so in many ways have become just like the world, after all we wouldn't want anybody to be uncomfortable with Christ, would we? (sarcasm)
My father from pretty much the beginning of his walk with Christ had a tendency to be a boat rocker(well wasn't Christ one too). And so churches that sought to make things comfortable for themselves and the world were not the place for him. We went through quite a few churches when we lived in CA, and I remember sometimes being rather upset with my parents for taking us away from places just when I start to actually get to know the place and make friends. As I got older I started to understand a bit more and began seeing myself what was going in many different places. When I was 11 I left the Sunday School at the particular church we were going to because I felt like I wasn't learning anything, we simply went through the same Bible stories over and over again. I joined to adult Sunday School class, which rather upset some of the adults.
We ended up leaving that church just a few months later. (And not because of me=).
Since we first moved to Montana in 2001, we have been to 8 churches, and that doesn't include all the ones we just visited once or twice. They lasted from almost 2 years to as little as 4 months. Inevitably something would come up, a couple times resulting in church splits.
Christ's Covenant Fellowship is one we actually attended before, though under a different title and with a bit different grouping of people. At the time we left, about 4 years ago, we were very upset and disappointed, it had been the first church in a long time where we had actually felt like part of a family. But there were some doctrinal issues. A little over a year ago the elders of Christ Covenant asked us to return. Asked us! Never before had someone actually wanted our boat rocking, flow disrupting family to come to a church. Especially one that had had some difficulty's with us in the past. So we started attending, and it has really been wonderful, we are with people that we have known for some time(and they don't hate us yet... I think). Have had wonderful fellowship, and right now my father is doing the teaching. So far it has been one of the best church experiences I have ever had and I hope and pray that it will continue for many years yet.

O, church arise and put your armor on
Hear the call of Christ our Captain
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength, that God has given
With shield of faith and belt of truth
We'll stand against the devil's lies
An army bold whose battle cry is love
Reaching out to those in darkness.

Our call to war, to love the captive soul
But to rage against to captor
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole
We will fight with faith and valor
When faced with trials on every side
We know the outcome is secure
And Christ will have the prize for which He died
An inheritance of nations.

Come see the cross where love and mercy meet
As the Son of God is stricken
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet
For the conqueror has risen
And as the stone is rolled away
And Christ emerges from the grave
This victory march continues till the day
Every eye and heart shall see Him.

So Spirit come, put strength in every stride
Give grace for every hurdle
That we may run with faith to win the prize
Of a servant good and faithful
As saints of old still line the way
Retelling triumphs of His grace
We hear the calls and hunger for the day
When with Christ we stand in glory.