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Driving down the road the other day, I noticed a message on a church sign. Now, if you have ever ridden with me, you know that I am always 100% focused on the road, so I rarely get distracted by roadside scenery. Yet I noticed the message on this sign. It said something like, “For a Christian, prayer is like calling home.” I instantly agreed with the message, which is not always the case when I read the messages on church signs.
I not only agreed with it, but I began to consider its implications. What do we do when we call home? We find out how the folks at home are doing and we let them know how things are with us. We exchange news and stories. Advice and encouragement are shared. Perhaps most importantly, when we call home, we are reminded of where we come from and where our roots are.
Calling home is a helpful analogy when we think about prayer, but there is at least one important difference. When I call home, I am calling from a location that is obviously not home. The person who answers the phone at home is at home and not where I am.
When we pray, the geographical difference is not a factor. When we pray, God is with us and we are with God. When we pray, God’s power and God’s presence surrounds us and penetrates our souls. When we pray, even while we are still on the journey to our home that is not of this world, we are with the One who has prepared that home, calls us to it, and waits for us at it with open arms of love. Prayer takes us home before we get there. Prayer takes us into the very real presence of the Homemaker, so that we can be encouraged and advised, lifted up, and energized while we are still on our way home.
For 210 years, Ball Camp Baptist Church has been a body of believers pointing the way home. In the process, it has been both a place and a people where love, encouragement, acceptance, and community have been nurtured.
Today, as we think about the long history of our church, we are reminded of not only where we have come from but also where we are going.
Who we are today is a gift from God and from those who have sought through the years to be faithful to God’s calling on their lives as members of Ball Camp Baptist Church. If we feel at home here in this place with these people, then we are indebted to God and those who have gone before us.
The most meaningful way I can think of to show our gratitude is by helping others experience the peace and contentment that we have found here. The grace and the joy that mark our lives together as followers of Christ at Ball Camp Baptist Church cannot be stored, stockpiled, or preserved. No, like so many of God’s gifts, they only flourish when they are shared. May our church always be a church that shares them freely. May we always be a church where the weary can find rest in the power and the presence of God, even while they journey homeward.
Joy and peace,
Ed
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