"We Were Family"

I haven't read the book, yet, but I hear good things about it. A young friend, who has read Francis Chan's Crazy Love, sent this quote from the popular book:


" A while back a former gang member came to our church. He was heavily tattooed and rough around the edges, but he was curious to see what church was like. He had a relationship with Jesus and seemed to get fairly involved with the church.
After a few months, I found out the guy was no longer coming to the church. When asked why he didn't come anymore, he gave the following explanation: 'I had the wrong idea of what church was going to be like. When I joined the church, I thought it was going to be like joining a gang. You see, in gangs we weren't just nice to each other once a week--- we were family.'"


Ouch!


"A few decades ago Bill Gather got us singing, "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God."


And I am glad, especially when the rest of the family loves on me. I confess, far too often, though, I regard my spiritual family kind of like an insurance policy--nice to have when I need it, but ignored most of the rest of the time.


Thanks, Maria & Francis, for reminding me that we need to be family all the time. For those of us who claim God as our Father . . .


It's STTA.