Mom, Dad? What's with the For Sale sign in the yard? Hello?

The person stumbling through darkness has seen a great light.

With the juggernaut ferocity of a blizzard, God has broken into my world, stomped all around, knocked over my monopoly game and said, "Get your boots on, we're going on an adventure!"

My church is closing.

Sentences are funny things. That last one, four words long, sums up everything i need to say. It conveys all of the pertinent information. And yet, unless you've spent time in my moccasins, and i wouldn't recommend that; they smell like La feete vinaigrette, you would not understand anything i'm trying to say with that sentence. Well, you might, IF you were one of the following:

• An astronaut who has ever had his tether come loose.
• A diver who has looked up to see his boat leaving.
• A Yonkers socialite, who after a great party, wakes up... in the Serengeti.
• A traveller who arrives home to find their house burned down while they were away.
• A Manassas farmer who realized the civil war broke out by seeing the opposing forces out opposite windows.
• A child who came home from school to find your parents have moved. (man, that day sucked!)

Barring that or the vinaigrette, there is no way that those four words can sum up the fact that this has been my church since i was fifteen. i have grown up in this church. Grown in the Word in this church. Been counseled in this church. Wedded in this church. My eldest baptized in this church. Brought into the worship ministry in this church. Given a voice in this church. Given something to counter act the necrotic of my work life in this church. In essence, i have been shown how "in this church" means "in this family."

"True," Dad is saying, "and now, time for something completely different." Life is change. Change is weird. You want it when things are hemorrhagically boring. Then it announces that it'll be here on February 28th and you get a little tweaked. Faith gets tested. Will the shuttle get to you before gravity takes over? Will another boat come along? Are those lions? Where are we going to live now? This is just going to be a short little disagreement, right? Dang it! i hope the neighbor lady has good cookies. (she didn't. Just those stupid fake lemon oreos)

Oh, well. Dad knows best. Guess i'd better find my boots.