Home Again

It’s 4:05 Texas time Monday afternoon and I’m just now taking a breath for the first time since we got home from St. Louis early Saturday morning. It’s great to be home.

It was good to be gone, but it’s great to be home.

All day Saturday was spent doing laundry and packing and buying things Whitney and Valerie needed for Kingdom Camp at Three Mountain. Sunday we worshiped at Legacy and I didn’t preach. I actually sat in the middle of the pew, not on the aisle. And we left after Bible class, before second service to take the kids to camp. How strange. Can I leave with another worship assembly to go? Is it possible that this body of believers can function without me? Don’t I need to be organizing something or coordinating with someone? Can all of this still happen if I’m not in there?

They did very very well for 48 years before I got here. And they’re going to do very very well for 48 more years and beyond after I leave.

For one thing, this church family is full of capable proclaimers of the Gospel. Jim preached for us yesterday. And while our personalities and delivery styles couldn’t be much more different, I could sense Jim connecting with people all around me while he preached. It could have been John or J or Mark or either of a couple of Jacks. The important thing—the obvious thing—is that our God takes his Word and he places it into the hearts of his people when they come together to hear it proclaimed. His Word is powerful. It impacts everyone who hears it and it changes everyone who obeys it. And I’m humbled and I’m blessed to be able to preach it on a regular basis.

And, I missed it.

I missed not preaching to the Legacy family yesterday. I’ve come to love preaching God’s Word, much more so than I realized I might. I missed discovering the voice of God in our Scriptures and working all week on the best ways to communicate that message to his people. I missed seeing the nods of understanding and hearing the “amens” from my brothers and sisters as they affirm our sermon, our message. I missed the butterflies—no! much more than that—the sheer feelings of inadequacy and near panic as we sing that song before the sermon and I realize I’m about to address hundreds of God’s people and speak to them from God’s Holy Scriptures some word of grace or love or caution or warning or salvation or mercy that will spur them on to walk the rest of the week faithfully with our Lord. I missed the adrenaline rush (I’m being honest here) of taking my eyes off my Bible and my notes long enough to pour my heart out to my church family. I missed the urgency of preaching the Good News. The importance of proclaiming the Word. The absurdity of my great and magnificent God using me in all of my insignificance and shortcomings to partner with him in redeeming this lost world.

I missed it.

We didn’t get back from Three Mountain until late last night. Today has been filled with answering all the emails, writing all the letters, returning all the phone calls, and taking care of all the things that didn’t take care of themselves while we were in St. Louis.

And now, I think, I’m caught up. It’s almost 4:30. The offices are all empty here at Legacy. It’s just me. And now I’m about to dive back into the Word.

And I can’t wait ’til Sunday.

Peace,

Allan

3 Comments

  1. Joanna

    And I missed your blog. My blog reading slowed down considerably without having your consistent daily encouragement to read. I’m glad you’re back.

    I so hope Whitney has a good time at camp. She is one of ours to be praying for this summer. She has also been joining us in our group on Sunday mornings. I hope that has also been uplifting to her and that she is learning in the Word. She’s one of my prize students as she brings her Bible every week. I’ve been bribing them all with a VeggieTales marathon night if they’ll bring their Bibles to class. Oh, the things we do…

  2. Brittany

    Hey! I’m sure everyone missed listening to the Word as much as you missed preaching the Word! I know they are surely blessed to have you there at Legacy; you and your family were such a blessing to that church home. Our pulpit minister and his wife resigned yesterday at our congregation here at Sunset Church of Christ. If you know of anyone that would want an opportunity to preach in Miami, I’m pretty sure they’re actively looking at this point or soon. But, most importantly- prayers from the office team during this time would be great for us, if y’all remember to. I would love for our congregation to be blessed by the Word as much as Legacy has been blessed by the way you present it. Peace and love, brother!
    -Brittany (Bankhead) Kendall

  3. Mom (Granny)

    Glad you’re back home and safe. We are looking forward to seeing all of you soon. We’ve got plans for the girls! Love you, mom

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