Greetings!

We have internet at home again so, Lord willing, I will be writing and posting a little more frequently.

I am currently working on the next installment of our study in Romans as well as  some things concerning prayer and our Lords desire for unity in the church.

For now, however, I wanted to give you a little insight into my own personal and spiritual background.

If you are new here, or one of  —or should I say— my only faithful reader…

perhaps this  will help you to understand where I am coming from personally.

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I am a man who didn’t grow up in ‘Christianity’, but I did grow up in the midst of it.

While my home town, Pensacola, is very heavily populated with churches and the local culture is permeated with ‘Christianity’, I grew up viewing much of it as  nothing more than religious fodder.

Why?

There are a few different reasons for this, but at this time I would like to zero in on just one:

My mother is a Christian….

but she will not ‘go to church’.

Every since I can remember, whenever she would comment on why this was so, it went something like this:

You  don’t need a man preaching at you all the time. All you need to do is love God and treat people the way that you would want to be treated.

You don’t have to dress up and go visit God. He lives on the inside.

And she practiced what she preached.

I can already hear the theologians squirming in their seats.

Rest easy. I hear you, and I ‘amen’ much of what you are thinking, but hear me out.

I don’t know if I can ever remember a time growing up when we didn’t have some displaced soul living at our place with our family.

There always seemed to be someone there who, due to poor choices or unfortunate circumstances, found themselves in a desperate situation….usually a friend of one of my mothers children or an acquaintance of some other acquaintance…

Sometimes it would be an extended family member…

but my point is this:

Her home was also the home of anyone that needed a home.

“That’s nice and all, brother, but we need the church. We need the gathering of the saints!”

Let me tell you, oh compassionate friend, she knows more about ‘the church’ than many of these so called church’ “leaders”  that we have  today.

As I sit and write this article I vividly recall Sunday mornings at our little single wide mobile home on Navy Blvd.

Mom would get up early in the morning to begin making “brunch”.

The meal would always consist of some kind of good old fashioned country cooking, often with some variety of fresh Gulf seafood:

Baked ham, pork chops, fried chicken, collard greens, green beans, lima beans, corn fritters, corn bread, rolls, crawfish, fried catfish, mullet, brim,

banana pudding….

Did you hear that?

Was that the sound of an artery hardening?

But I don’t want to miss the point here…

The food wasn’t just for our family, but it was for everyone.

But it wasn’t just all about the food.   That would miss the point…

There was fellowship.

Acceptance.

Care.

Love.

LOVE.

L O V E !

It was for the person that we housed at the time.

It was for the folks that we had housed in the past.

Sometimes, as it turns out, it was for the people that we would house in the future.

It was for close family and extended family.

It was for friends of the family.

It was for people that we had come into relationship with somehow….

It was even for the ex-girlfriends and ex-boyfriends of moms kids.

We had hippies, druggies, alcoholics, bikers, preachers, Christians, heathens…

Blacks, whites, Asians….

And they all loved “Mrs. T”.

And as far as i know, they all do still.

(And they all had a certain respect for “Mr. T”.)

(That’s Mrs. and Mr. Thomas for those who weren’t aware of my last name.)

Now, we didn’t really ‘pray’ then…

and we didn’t talk about Jesus much or share bible verses…

But what I didn’t understand at the time, and what I am so blessed to understand now is that we embodied much of what the bible pointed to.

We embodied the living Christ.

My mother cooperated with God to answer the prayers of these hungry, displaced and confused souls.

Not only that…

but she also

cooperated with God to answer the prayers of  many saints.

While many dear saints have felt obligated to the religious duties of attending stale sermon meetings, and routine “worship services” they have also prayed that a deeper and more authentic expression of the church of Christ would become a living reality.

In their hearts, they have all asked the same thing:

Is this it?

Could there be more?

Something more than a ‘worship service’.

Something more than a ‘bible study’.

(I can’t help but wonder if these prayers are not just as prevalent today. I know that they are in my own heart.)

In This way, we did not miss the point.

In this way, we were without sin.

This was ‘organic” before ‘organic’ was cool.

Sadly, these Sunday meals fizzled out about fifteen or so years ago and perhaps that’s another story for another time.

These gatherings were special. So very, very special.

Now, I’m not trying to paint an unrealistic picture here, just because she’s my mom.

She is human.

She is not without her own personal flaws.

But if you were to ask anyone who knows her, I assure you, you would not receive one bad report.

She is an earthen vessel of both grace and humility.

This is the foundation of my own personal Spiritual journey.

It is thoroughly rooted in the Spirit and Truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Perhaps I will be able to continue this train of thought soon as it is a good reminder for me to bring these things to remembrance.

It’s a good thing to reflect on the things which help to define who you are from time to time.

And maybe this testimony will provide a slightly different perspective on what authentic Christianity can look like.

God bless.