Week 6 – Stillwater Church of Christ

Today we visited Danae at her college church in Stillwater. The people were extremely friendly and it was very reassuring to hear other adults there tell us how much they love our daughter. We could be a little jealous, but we are grateful. We want her to be loved and taken care of while she is away from home. It was also nice to see some of the kids she grew up going to school with there. At a time when a lot of kids lose interest in church their freshman year of college, these kids have all chosen to be involved in a church of their own. We were also very excited to meet the group of “young adults” (we can’t really call them kids!) who are going with Danae on the mission trip to Africa this summer. These young people have become fast friends and will be travelling halfway around the world to share their faith. They are doing this without the benefit of chaperones or other adults as in the days of high school trips, but completely on their own. Yes, that makes us a little nervous but we couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of them. We will take any and all prayers for their safety we can get! A couple of the guys in the group led the communion portion of the worship. It was really nice to see the way these college students were given prominent rolls to play and also to see the maturity of their faith as they led. There were no bells and whistles at this church. It was traditional church of Christ and all that goes with that. What God showed us today is that a very important aspect of church life is relationships. Danae didn’t choose this place because it was a church of Christ. She didn’t choose it because of the preacher, the worship style or the ministries. She is there because of the unconditional love and acceptance that was extended to her when she arrived at college. We learned that finding a place where we can be involved and develop great relationships is very important, but also that we must extend that same unconditional love to everyone we encounter and love them into the family of God the way these kids loved our daughter into this congregation.