They tore the old church building down this week, bulldozed it into a heap of rubble while I watched. No one should have to endure such a sight. The building was only about twenty years old, but when Sam’s Club offered to purchase the land for a tidy sum, the congregation couldn’t refuse. So the old property was left to the ghosts of dear memories while we moved to a newer, (some would say “improved”), setting.
I decided to watch for awhile, thinking it might be a good opportunity for God to speak to me. Or maybe it would be therapeutic in some odd way. Tons of tender memories were resurrected by the sight: dear friends I met within those walls, or who surrendered to Jesus there. Others were married, or buried from the old Trinity building. And now, blow by blow, it was being reduced to scrap.
I reassured myself that the church itself is still standing solidly in the embrace of the Father, Son and Spirit. Only the building has returned to the dust from whence it came.
“Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe; our God is like a consuming fire!” -Hebrews 12:28-29
Dispatches from the Shadowlands 
HOw true that “…the church itself is still standing solidly in the embrace of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Only the building has returned to the dust from whence it came…” Too many today have forgotten that the church is not a building, it’s a body of believers. Those whom God has brought through our lives are with us forever because there is no time or distance in the Spirit. And how fortunate we are to see evidence of this truth all around use, even in the tearing down of a building. “Let him who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is speaking to the church.” God didn’t speak to Elijah by shouting in the wind. He waited for the silence and then whispered, and because Elijah’s heart was ready to listen, he heeded the still small voice of the Father. How long will it take us to stop running into busyness, find the quiet place in our hearts, let down our guard, and listen to what the Lord longs to remind us: “You are precious in My sight, and honored, and I love you.”
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