Tell me the old, old story - in a brand new way.

I just finished reading this book. The church I grew up in was the Foursquare Pentecostal. This wiki link explains it well enough. After my divorce at age thirty, I basically left the church. I still love to attend there and do so on a rare occasion with my parents. I now live two hours away from the church in New Castle where I attended. My membership will remain there until the day I die. PBS recently ran a very interesting show on the life of our founder, Aimee Semple McPherson. I just googled PBS to share the link with you and found they have featured her twenty-nine times. My great-grandma told me that Sister Aimee was quite scandalous in her day. I admired her just because she was a leader in days when it was unheard of for a woman to be a leader, never mind a leader in the church. Now, when I do attend, I attend this church, which is a good place of spirituality for both Doug and I. I love this poem, which sums up how I now feel:

My church has but one temple,
Wide as the world is wide,
Set with a million stars,
Where a million hearts abide.

My church has no creed to bar
A single brother man
But says, "come thou and worship"
To ever one who can.

My church has no roof nor walls,
Nor floors save the beautiful sod
For fear, I would seem to limit
The love of the illimitable God.
author unknown.

All these years, I have carried my faith inside. It is personal and I keep it close in my heart. And when I feel as if I am most at worship, I am in nature.

As I finished this book, there were tears running down my cheeks. The scene where his eyes are touched so that he might see as they see was beautiful. Each creature worshipping. It brought to mind all of the places where I have found most holy- the Smokey mountains of Tennessee, the Rockies of Colorado, sitting beside Lawn Lake with a sky full of stars pressing down on me at midnight, the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, the Grand Canyon, sunset at Cedar Bluffs which is very near my house, laying in the grass to photograph daffodils and literally hearing the grass growing...these are the times I listen and hear and see the majesty of His Holiness. These are the times I am in awe and worship.

I found William P. Young's interpretation of an age old story to be amazing. No matter what your belief is regarding your faith, if you haven't read this book, I would urge you to do so. It is beautiful.

Thank you, Debbie, for loving me enough to share this story with me! Love you! Me.
Debbie & me at my party the day I graduated from Ball State University, 5/5/07.