HOAs...gotta love 'em!

I've been in my new home now for over 4 years. This is my 2nd home since marriage and it was cool watching something being built from the ground up. I was also excited about being a part of a HOA (home owners association). I had faith that I would be in a community of people that wanted to maintain the quality of our neighborhood and the value of our homes. Yes, I believed in the video loop that was played in the model homes of the mature tree-lined streets with people riding their bikes, walking their dogs and visiting each others homes. What I've experienced so far, is:

• The rumbling, beeping and whizzing of construction machinery
• Unsupervised children riding their bikes in the alley, across my yard and through the construction sites
• My vehicles being so consistently covered with dust, that I'm beginning to think it's a new car color
• Neighbors who signed the HOA agreement that no cars are to be parked on the street, yet they own more cars than their 2 car garage can hold
• Unproductive annual HOA meetings that are little more than a "gripe fest"
• Division residents that act like mobile radio stations, whose bass bumps so loud it vibrates the windows of my home

Considering the fact that all of the homes in my division have yet to be built, my hopes for the "video loop" neighborhood doesn't look so good. On the plus side, my immediate next door neighbors are AWESOME people and the entire division is very diverse. Looks like, when I get on my feet, I'll definitely have to get more involved with our HOA.

Why I Don't Go To Church

Please read this article before you proceed. (Thank you JEJ for the link.)
Why I Don't Go To Church by Wayne Jacobsen © Copyright 2010 Lifestream Ministries

Wayne Jacobsen could have not articulated my thoughts any better in that article! That is EXACTLY where I am in my life right now! I'm not into locking myself in an organized church right now, however, I wouldn't necessarily say that to a new person in Christ either. Some people need that...some don't. Some people thrive in that environment...some don't. Unfortunately, most people would see me and my spouse as "rebellious"...because we're going against conventional "bible teaching"...but if Jesus were alive here on Earth today in bodily form, I think most people would think him to be a disappointment because I just don't think He'd spend ALL his time hanging out in a million different churches. He'd probably be preaching under a bridge with the homeless...or on the corner at 2am with the prostitutes...ya know...places where "Christians" don't often tread.

My largest spiritual maturity growth spurt did not occur in a church. I learned more about the love and compassion of Jesus when I was an early 20-something, in college, driving a green '72 Ford Torino and hanging out with neighborhood kids at midnight in the middle of St. Joan Of Arc Catholic Church parking lot. I sometimes feel like being attached to a church body for a certain amount of years, made me cautious about people who called themselves Christians, jaded about church "leadership" and defensive toward certain so-called Christ-like leadership attitudes, characters and traditions. Me and my Torino saw the pain of life that Jesus probably saw. I hung out with the kids that churches didn't pay attention to...maybe because they didn't go to church because they had no ride or no "church" clothes to wear. I worked for a not-for-profit, Christian youth organization and I hung out with Father-less boys and hyper-sexually active girls who were using abortion as a form of birth control. I drove a 15 passenger van where I confiscated weapons in the glove compartment, sped away from gang fights and picked up kids drunk, high or whatever...and I loved every single one of those kids! Life for me moved very fast in those days...I went to church, grabbed the Word and went! No time for church politics or drama. Ahhh...those were the days.

Having said that, I DO get why people go to conventional churches. I get it...I really do. It serves as different things for different people. For those who grew up in the 1930's 40's, 50's and even 60's, it's a "social" meeting place. It was the one place that Caucasians allowed African-American's to congregate. To this day, my parents (who are age 78 and 80) still keep tabs on their church "friends" by whether they were in church on Sunday or not. To them, if you're not in church, something must be wrong and you can guarantee someone will be giving you a call to make sure you're alright. For some it's a weekly "filling station". After feeling like they've been beaten down by life, Sunday is a day of refreshing for them. For those who lived lives that were wild, unchaste and immoral, it is a safe alternative environment away from that unfruitful life. See? I get it!

I am a church baby (aka child born and reared going to church every single week), who had no "wild child" moment in her teens and whose 20's were rather docile. My 20's were spent in the youth ministry, growing spiritual, dealing with health challenges, and learning how to define Jesus Christ (and what He is really about) and trying to avoid "churchdom" and "churchisms" and crazy "church folk". There's a HUGE difference...HUGE!

At this point in my life, again, I'm in a huge spiritual growth spurt. God is teaching me love, understanding and compassion like I've never known it before...and this is while not being able to attend a whole church service in almost 1.5 years. I'm learning a different aspect of the love of Jesus Christ without being inside of church walls because I haven't been able sit upright in a pew comfortably without losing the feeling in my leg or toes in almost 2 years. At times noise and light caused even greater pain. Did the church come to me? In the form of very few people and a couple of friends...but there was still an expectation for some that if I could only make it to the church all would be better. Uh...no. Me making it to the church would have probably made THEM feel better and given the appearance that all was fine...that is all. So, what has happened since? With the church? Nothing. Am I still spiritually maturing? Absolutely! This whole physical experience is new, frustrating and making me more dependent on Jesus and making me love my husband more than I ever have before in life...and I truly thank God for that!

So...am I ever going back to church again? Of course!!!! Will I join a "conventional church body" ever again? Who knows? :)