it only takes one second

Tonight, my perspective was changed by a group of middle school boys at Motion Night (I never thought I would say that statement). As I stood in the back during worship tonight, I got a little irritated with the students playing around, standing with their arms crossed, and talking during worship, but a certain group of middle school boys caught my eye. They were actually hitting each other while Scripture was being read (ugh) and the rest of the group of maybe 20 were standing completely still or looking around at the ceiling during the first song of worship. I was honestly having a hard time focusing on worship because my eyes were right in front of me on these distractions. So I began to pray for them to be still, so I could focus (selfishly), then those prayers turned into prayers for their souls and to see them the way God does, and then those boys became the people I pray for every day. The people I have prayed for years to find a real relationship with the Lord, the people I have been praying for since I first found Christ myself, my friends and family who I want more than anything to experience the life found in Christ that I have found. Those boys were my family, they were my friends, they began to represent the people I love the most instead of the people irritating me during worship at Motion night. As this transformation happened, God showed me something that turned my prayers into tears of joy. 

 "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere..." (Psalm 84:10)

One second in His presence is all it takes to change a person completely. Prayers I have been praying for years and years for salvations can happen in one instant when God shows up. I could get a call at any moment from one of these people who I have been praying for and holding onto for so long, because my prayers are not empty no matter how long they have been going up. He hears me and He loves me and He loves the people I am praying for more than I ever could. I know this because in just a few moments, tonight I saw both hands go up in worship from one of the boys (tears), then I saw another, and another (more tears), and by the end of this song, the exact same boys who I had just watched fighting during the Scripture had their hands raised (now sobbing). In a sea of young people who are lost and uninterested, the very ones I noticed and brought to the Lord in prayer were worshiping with hands lifted high. In the span of one moment, my perspective changed. I don't know if they had an experience with God like never before, or if they simply raised their hands because one of their friends did, but either way God spoke to me and told me that it only takes ONE second. One second equals a life changed for eternity, and it only takes one second for someone to come into the kingdom of God, no matter how long the prayers have been prayed. It only takes one second for a person to go from fighting to worshiping, from lost to found. The wait is worth the one second when the transformation happens- keep holding on, keep praying, His timing is perfect and He always chooses the exact second He wants to make that move. He always makes a way.

the day I accidentally found my weird HOME

During the end of my junior year of high school/beginning of summer, some changes began to happen in my "social life" and it caused me so much hurt. I realized during these changes that I was only going to the church I was going to at the time because my "friends" went there and we ate together after service (don't lie, I know someone else has been there too). So, my best friends and I  went on a journey to find a new church, ultimately because we were hoping we could find some new friends. 

So... one Sunday my best friend and I planned a church hopping event- we scoped out some churches with cool websites and programs for people our age that looked like we could fit in, and we made a list with different service times and locations. In the back of my mind there was this church I had been to once before and wanted to check out again, but I didn't want to add it to the list because it was kind of weird, the preacher was on a screen (weird, right?) and it was a lot of college students and I was still in high school, and honestly I just didn't understand how it worked. Well, my friend and I were really nervous and drove past like three churches on our list, circled the parking lots, missed the service start times, and talked ourselves out of trying a new church. This weird church didn't start until 11:30 though, so the whole time in the back of my mind I thought, if none of these work out, we can just go to the weird church. 

We went to the weird church... wasted probably an hour driving around Tuscaloosa circling parking lots and examining people walking in, got really nervous about walking into the weird church because it was not in a real church building and there were what felt like a million people there, and we did not really know what to expect when we walked in. It was incredible. After the service, I knew that this weird church would now be MY weird church. The music was loud, the people danced and waved their hands during the "songs," the pastor was on a screen and there was a pastor on the stage in Tuscaloosa (two pastors? weird), but the second I left I knew that even though I did not understand this place, it would be my home. 

Fast forward to senior year of high school. I experienced love like never before from a God I thought I knew a long time ago, I publicly declared that love with water baptism at a night service that I did not plan to get baptized in, and I began to serve and fall in love with the local church like I had never experienced in my life. I got in my first small group spring of my senior year and the little small group of 4-6 people became my rock for one of the hardest seasons of my life. I joined another small group in fall of my freshman year of college, found leaders who continue to shape my life today and led me to join the church college internship, 2:52. Then- God began doing things bigger than I could imagine, honestly bigger than I wanted. 

The third Sunday in January 2014 I got a word from the Lord and knew I was being sent. This weird church would become more than a hobby, it would become a way of living. This relationship I had formed with God would become more than occasional, it would become a dependence. I was being called to leave everything and person I knew and step into a season of life that is nothing I would have planned for myself. God called me to Highlands College, the weird school. No one knew what it was, I didn't really even know, and yet I knew so confidently that I had to go. 

Today I attend the weirdest school I have ever heard of. It is a school that is connected to a church that is changing thousands of lives across the state of Alabama. It is a school connected to a church that changed my life personally and carried me through the toughest times. It is a school where everyone knows everyone, but everyone also cares about everyone. It is a school where we do physical challenges and where we endure things that we didn't think we could, build relationships with people we don't know, and get a grade on it (weird). It is a school where God is moving and growing and using each student to reach His Kingdom- it is a really weird school, but if Highlands College is weird, and Church of the Highlands is weird, then I never want to stop being weird. 

Today marks 15 years of the weird church, Church of the Highlands, and I could not be more thankful that God pushed me into the doors of this weird church about 3 years ago. I am a part of something that is bigger than anything I could ever do on my own, and I see week after week, day after day, the effects of the Lord's favor on this house. This church has changed everything about me (maybe even the way I post Instagrams, I admit it, gotta be hip) and I would never go back to how I was or where I was. Sitting in a service this Wednesday tears came because I realized the impact this place has, and I realized how cool it is that I get to be a part of it. I was made for this weird church.

This weird church is my home, and I am so glad I accidentally found it.