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Man, I love my church. Journey is so out of the box, but not just for the sake of being out of the box. I am completely put off by churches that try too hard to be relevant, trendy, or weirder-than-thou (which is usually just a mask that covers up an agenda.) For the record, Journey is a weird place, but not because it's necessarily trying to be. It's a place where it's OK to be who you are, where you are, and what you are. Not only do I get to hear people like Darden Smith, Grace Pettis and Dave Madden play (they all happen to be a part of our little community) I regularly learn things if I'll just keep an eye on the little kids. About a month ago I posted a Facebook status from where I sat in the warehouse, saying, "Overheard in church: A five year-old telling his father, "Dad, I love ZZ Top." Today I sat behind a girl of about eight years old, long dirty blond hair, cute as a button. She had an American Girl doll, but since my kids are grown I've lost track of their names (plus they've added several over the years.) But I do know this: her doll was not white, as in Caucasian. She may have been black, but I suspect she was either the Latino girl, or the American Indian. And it delighted me to no end. In a culture that is often homogenous, where grown-ups tend to congregate around people of like mind, color, socioeconomic background (especially when it comes to churches) this kid picked a doll who was different than she was.

And I really smiled when, during a prayer, I looked up and she had her hands in, for lack of a better term, a modified "Ohm" meditation position (making a circle with the thumb and index finger.) She was swaying her arms back and forth while most of the rest of us just sat still.

Diversity. It does a body good.

Image Credit: thetasha - Flickr
Licensed Under Creative Commons