The Church Still Stands

He gives and He takes away. It's true. And He is true when He says that He will not leave us or forsake us.

I've been thinking and praying for my hometown, Iowa City, where my family and so many friends are. Water is flooding the town and I found out that we are losing the building where my home church is. They have had hundreds of volunteers coming to the church to help put sandbags together to place around the building.

They issued an emergency evacuation yesterday that drove them to stop their efforts in saving the building. The waters are expected to reach above the roof.

You can see more pictures and read about the progression of the flooding on Pastor Scott Sterner's blog.

Here are some pictures from the Press Citizen. You can go to their website for more updates and pictures as well.

It's weird to not be there, to sit back and see all of the pictures and read the stories of all of these so familiar places that are being flooded. My heart breaks for everyone who is going through this.

I have been reminded of all of the memories I have of Parkview. It has been my church home for the last 12-13 years or so. It was the place where my family grew to love Jesus, where we celebrated my dad's life and celebrated his eternity with Jesus. Where my sisters and my mom got married, where I got baptized, where ministry started with the band, where I went to cry and pray when my life was in pieces, where I've rehearsed, where I've studied, where I've stood on stage and worshiped with Jesus loving people.

I have also been reminded that it's a building. It's not the church. My love did not grow for Jesus because of this building, my love for Jesus grew because of His grace that poured over me and through His children that surrounded me and spoke truth in my life and who walked their faith out.

We celebrated my dad's life and celebrated his eternity with Jesus in this building, but it's not the church. My dad is with Jesus and through our grieving that we can't be with him right now, and through our joy of knowing that he is with Jesus, the church surrounded us with love and support, who provided money and food and encouragement and listening ears. Who reassured us that God is good and His plan is good.

My sisters and my mom got married in this building, but it's not the church. They said their vows and gave their forevers to each other to declare that their lives will, by God's grace, reflect Jesus and the church. His relationship with His Bride, us.

I was baptized in that building, but it's not the church. I declared my decision to follow Jesus publicly in front of my brothers and sisters. They surrounded me with support and walked alongside of me through life, as I was buried with Christ and risen to new life.

Ministry started with the band and I stood on a stage singing and worshiping in that building, but it's not the church. This band became family to me. They saw my life and they loved me. They saw me mess up, and they loved me. We stood together in the presence of God's power and worshipped with our lives, worshipped with our hearts no matter where we were. We prayed together, laughed together, cried together, read together, fought together, we were together. God's power in the calling in our lives to follow Him and be used by Him with the gifts that He has given us was incredible.

I knelt and cried and prayed when I felt like my life was falling apart, when I needed to just get away and didn't know where to go, so I went to that building, but it's not the church.

God's arms swaddled me and held me up, filling me with sweet hope. There was someone there who came to me and held me and prayed for me, helping me stand up again.

God's plans are greater and His glory will be greater and in that is goodness.

We can trust Him for that.

This is definitely not the end of it. There will be more.

More water, more rain, more grief...but more of God's glory and more of His goodness!