a trip

a couple of weeks ago i decided to take a trip. you know, one of those getaway things. the kind you need every once in a while to shake the cobwebs out of your mind so that you can gather yourself and get your brain straight so you can step back into the race of life. so i left jeff city and headed west. it wasn't a random trip but a trip with an appointed destination. i was going to ihop - no, not the place that sells pancakes (though i did have pancakes for breakfast this morning) - but a place that specializes in prayer in south kansas city called international house of prayer. i've been there before; however, i decided to take a three day retreat and spend it there. (i'm actually writing this from ihop.) i've noticed something very dramatic. hundreds of young people coming and going and in between the coming and going they were hanging out with Jesus. every race, every type was represented from the yuppie type dressers to mr. tatoo to noticing pierces in every place you can pierce on a face to one dude that had the tallest mohawk i've ever seen to the gothic. why do i say this, because they were not like the fresh vegetables at a produce section in a grocery store that is separated by some type of partition. they all were worshipping God. they were all interacting and hugging each other. it didn't matter what they looked like. relationship was what it was all about. this is what the church is all about. everyone. you don't have to conform to someone elses's image, only the image of Jesus - and He is the one that needs to change people, not people. the bottom line: i saw the church and i knew that God was pleased.