“Kyle and Stephanie encouraged me that this sense of family would become more evident if I joined a small group. So, I took the plunge and joined a Huddle. Whoa! I was the only “newbie”, the oldest (they could have all been my grandkids) and I was definitely NOT comfortable. I considered bailing on the whole Huddle thing.

Yet, I didn’t. “

“I love worship. The lifestyle, yes, but I’m particularly talking about the event here. I’m one of the people in the room that would be totally fine with a two hour, nothing-but-worship-music event. The 15 minute, spontaneous, you think it’s over four times, but it isn’t song? Yes, please. ”

“I think that when we reach the conclusion, that our faith isn’t earned, bought (by us), nor is it something we arrive at through our own strength, we can find solace in not having to rely only on ourselves. God brought us here and he meets us right where we are. There isn’t a treasure map we are given to find it. No X marks the spot. There isn’t even a clue that we can look for on our quest to it. We’re a chosen people, not a choosing people… ”

“What do I mean? Sometimes God’s direction is to just be still, patient and wait on Him. We live in a world of quick fixes...call a repairman, take a pill, run a diagnostic, see a therapist...There are solutions to everything and many are immediate in the blink of an eye. We expect a solution to everything-diagnose and prescribe. So much of life is just not that way. It is a process, a journey, a deepening and calling further and further into the heart of Jesus. ”

“I love how David doesn’t pretend like the lowercase “g” gods aren’t there. He doesn’t try to cover them up with a dish rag or push them under the rug. Scholars don’t actually agree whether he is referring to idols, angelic beings, or even kings. I’m comfortable with that uncertainty.

What matters is they get to be in the room, but David’s focus isn’t on them. His focus is on the Lord…”

“Sounds easy enough to just keep our eyes on Jesus and navigate the narrow path with Him. But we have such fickle eyes. We see the things on the side of the road. The things that the enemy makes so appealing and justified. We take a sidestep toward the edge of that narrow path. We get a little more rebellious and take more steps. And then, we are in the ditch. Either stuck in the quagmire or denying that we are even in the ditch. Sound familiar?”

“I grew up in a small family where everyone believed in God, but no one believed much in the church. They did, however, believe just enough to send me to a Vacation Bible School over the summer when I was 12 years old, and that is where I fell in love with the people of Jesus. After it was over, I wanted to go to church. Any church. My family always supported this desire by dropping me off before the service started and picking me up after. Very, very rarely would they ever go in. As I got older, I wondered why. Why do you say God is important, but you don’t want to go to church?”

“I think for most of my life and I bet yours too, we’ve said things like; “Well, I haven’t killed anybody,” “I only stole that one time in high school,” “I’m mostly a pretty good person,” or maybe “‘I’m trying to make right what I’ve done.” Like Kyle said, at some point, we tend to serve ourselves. We puff ourselves up into being these “mostly good” people and try to achieve some moral code of goodness.”