community

In high school and in the beginning of my college years, I was a big fan of The Real World and Road Rules. Of the two shows, I was a bigger fan of Road Rules. Although I have to confess I did have a crush on Jacinda from the London edition of Real World. Whenever they had those all day marathons of either show on a Saturday, I was there. The idea of taking an extended road trip in a Winnebago and going on various adventures in unfamiliar territory is still appealing to me today.

When I was a freshman at UCF my roommate (a buddy from high school named Vadin who is easily one of the funniest people I have ever known) and I even made audition tapes for those two shows. I remember getting a rejection letter saying I didn't make the cut. I don't think we seriously thought we had a shot of being chosen, so I thought it was great to even get just the rejection letter.

What appealed to me the most about those shows, though, was the sense of community I thought they experienced. They would all be crying at the end no matter how many people had been voted out of the house or how many times they made the wrong turn while on the road and I would think, "I want to have that kind of experience with people!" I wanted to have people caring for me and I wanted to be caring for them. I was longing for it.

Flash forward to March when I was visiting my friends in North Carolina. I love these people. To the left are Kim, Ru and their son Jacob. Unfortunately I have no pics of James from this trip, but I've got plenty video of him channeling his inner Rachel Green.

I had a great time on this trip. Good chili, St. Patty's day parade and a psycho bowling tournament, just to name a few of the highlights. On the Sunday night of my visit I got to attend Grace Community Church, which is the church that Ru planted a few years back. It came time for communion and I had a pleasant surprise. When they serve communion at Grace, it is served to you by an elder and he prays for you right there. I was slightly intimidated by this at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. It was so personal. The elder asked for my name and prayed for me on the spot. Without even knowing anything about me. All he cared about at that moment was that I was celebrating Christ with him. I came home wishing the church I attend here could so the same thing.

Then tonight I went to a Maundy Thursday service at UPC and my wish came true. Mike O. announced we would be coming up to the table and the elders would serve the Lord's Supper to us and then pray for us. I loved hearing Mike call me "brother" when I took the bread. I loved seeing the elders put their arms around people as they prayed for them. What got me even more was seeing a couple or family go and be served together. What an awesome thing.

And then it dawned on me on my way home. That is community. Coming before the Lord together as a family. What better way to do it?