Family Ties

Last night was so much fun. My neice Molly is in a band called the Barrel House Mamas and they were in town to perform at Steppin' Out, our local summer street festival. The band is from Asheville, NC and is absolutely terrific. I'm trying to learn how to put a link to one of their songs in my blog, but until I do, I'll just encourage you to visit http://barrelhousemamas.com/, click on the music tab and take a listen.

Anyway, we hadn't seen Molly since she and the "Mamas" were in town for Steppin' Out last year, so it was really great to get together with her. Not only did we get to enjoy hearing them sing, but we went to dinner afterwards and were able to spend some good time just catching up.

My in-laws were also with us, along with our nephew Bobby. Bobby is 13 and lives in Macau, China, and we had not seen him since last summer either. My girls have been very excited that Bobby is going to be spending a few days at our house with us.

I got to thinking how cool it is that these two special people are in our lives. Molly is not related to us by blood. She's actually my step-neice, the daughter of my sister's husband from his first marriage. Bobby is not a blood relative either. He is the son of my husband's brother's wife. None of that matters though. We don't look at them and think they're not related to us by blood. We just look at them and think how happy we are to see our neice and nephew who are part of our family and who we love very much. We're grateful that we get to spend time with them, and that God brought us together in a way that only he could have arranged.

Wouldn't it be great if we could get as excited as Christians about siezing oppportunities to spend time with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Why don't we put the same emphasis on Christian fellowship as we do spending time with our families? Christians ARE blood relatives, by the way, adopted into God's family by the blood of Christ.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and my family will be attending Sunday school and church as we do each week. I look forward to that dedicated worship time each week, and I also look forward to the opportunity to connect with my church family. I'm also in a weekly prayer and accountability group with several other women. We share with each other about how we have experienced God at work in our lives, the ways in which our faith has been tested, and what we are doing or should be doing to minister to others. We laugh, cry and pray together, and encourage one another in our faith journeys. I don't know what I would do without these opportunities to be in fellowship with these sisters in Christ.

The summer is always difficult to meet on a regular basis because of vacations, trips, etc. But I also know people who just decide to "take a break" in the summer. Instead of getting up for Sunday school and church, they may choose to sleep in on Sundays or go do other things. You can always tell on Sundays when school has started back up because the pews are full again!

Forgive me if I sound judgemental here, it is not intentional. I totally understand the need for taking a break from the busyness of life...I've even blogged about it! I just miss seeing those faces I have come to love and who are a source of encouragement to me in Sunday school and church. I hope that perhaps my family is missed as well on those days when we are absent. I want to make fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ as much a priority as time spent with my extended family. I guess you can take this as a challenge to do the same.

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25)