Church Date
Week 41 of 52 Churches in 52 Weeks:
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“This Time, I Will Praise the Lord” at First Free Church in Onalaska, Wisconsin
My faith was on fire.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had nothing on me.
After 40 weeks of blazing new trails in my spiritual self-crusade, each new church experience was adding fuel to the flames. The impurities of my past were melting away, my faith being reshaped and forged by the refinery of the Holy Spirit. I was new. Stronger than the Man of Steel. I had a burning passion for Christ, and it lit up my life. I was no longer afraid to test the heavy mettle from the coulda-woulda-shoulda’s that tried to arson my past. Instead, I was radiating with fireproof confidence, destined to live God’s purpose as I crushed the coals beneath me. Transformed, yet not consumed, I had emerged walking tall from my own fiery furnace. Baptized by fire.
Something seismic was happening. When you burn the midnight oil going all-in on Christ, it’s amazing what kindles inside of you. When you have determination, and you KNOW what you’re doing is right, you begin to find meaning and new found power in your life. There’s this slow waiting period, moving forward inch-by-inch like a slow fuse attached to a firework, ready to explode at any moment before the next blessing walks into your life. You encounter tens of thousands of people, yet it’s rare to be seeking someone that also is seeking you. Then with a little bit of patience and a whole lot of faith, God divinely orchestrates the right timing and strikes a perfect match to bring you and another closer in faith.
This week, I had a church date, and boy, did she have the hots for me.
On the drive over, I hoped to smolder unrealistic first date expectations by getting my mindset refocused and listened to Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Several readers kept name-dropping Keller due to his compelling insights that directly speaks about the moral challenges facing many Christian singles, myself included. We aim to abide by Christian values in dating, yet feel burned by society’s acceptance of hook-ups, one night stands, and discounted relationships.
Keller’s sermon was called “The Struggle for Love”, using the soap opera from Genesis as the Scripture reading. Jacob was The Young and The Restless of his family, running away from his home pennyless with an inner emptiness that was just as poor. As he was going about life as a wayfaring stranger, things began to look up when he met The Bold and The Beautiful Rachel. Suddenly, his heart was overtaken by wanderlust. “If I can just have Rachel, everything will be okay”. To earn her her hand in marriage, Jacob worked seven years for her dad/his uncle Laban. Because father knows best, Laban pulled the ol’ switcheroo by tricking Jacob into marrying his unwanted first daughter, Leah. Jacob was furious, and thankfully for Laban, Thanksgiving family get-togethers wasn’t a thing during those days. Eventually, they reached an agreement where he’d work another seven years and finally Jacob married Rachel, thus beginning the world’s first love triangle.
Now Leah was the girl nobody wanted, the ugly duckling to Rachel’s swan. God saw that Leah was unloved and opened her womb, while Rachel remained barren. Leah gave birth to three Jacobabies, hoping each son would gain her husband’s approval. But Jacob always preferred Rachel. “Look at All My Children I’ve given him,” she cried. “What must I do for my husband love me”. She was distraught and alone, ready to check-in to a General Hospital for how badly her heart was emotionally wounded.
But as Keller explains, the progression of Leah’s faith is revealed when the fourth child was conceived. She experiences a breakthrough. She took the deepest core of her heart, removed the adoration from her unloving husband, and instead went all-in on the Lord. She only had One Life to Live, and realized that all the men in her life had, well…. sucked, essentially letting them steal who she could become.
When God became her Guiding Light, that’s when the light bulb clicked and Leah took her life back. As Genesis 29:35 says for her fourth birth, “She conceived again, and when she gave to a son, she said:
“This time, I will praise the Lord.”
August 2, 2015–10:30 am Worship Service: First Free Church in Onalaska, Wisconsin
“This time I will praise the Lord” was on auto-repeat in my noggin when I entered First Free Church to meet Rachel for our first date. After trading emails and phone calls, her attraction level for me had reached Ascension heights. She even told me I gave her goosebumps! And why not?! I have a fast smile, dorky personality, and a penchant for humor that cracks my mom up! What more could a girl want?! (Oh, and did you catch that Oxford comma? I’m a man who’s got grammatical GAME)!
I was dreaming with my eyes open when I first saw Rachel. Not since Jesus told the disciples to cast their fish nets into the Sea of Galilee had the world seen such a catch! I strolled up, flashed a James Bond smirk, and exchanged pleasantries — both a little nervous; her for probably meeting a guy who actually knew what an Oxford comma even was, me for meeting a beautiful Christian woman who was so passionate about her faith. I didn’t just have butterflies in my stomach, they were starting mating season early.
She was absolutely spell-binding, I had never met anyone like her. Her green eyes had me in a trance, a summer tan kissed by the sun. Her heart for Christ was mythical to me, with a voice like a siren who spoke of gospel like it was her Song of Songs. The two surnames she had held were given by men who failed her. Now she was a monster of experience, having rolled through the mud of life and had walked out of her own fiery furnace, an unshakable woman of God who could survive anything. She may have looked like Rachel, but had faith like Leah’s. I had to remind myself:
“This time, I will praise the Lord.”
We entered the worship area as the opening number was about to begin. Rachel was excited to see the return of First Free’s senior pastor, Shane Holden, who was returning after a months-long sabbatical. He was starting a new expository series that day, starting from the very beginning of Hebrews. As Shane forewarned, the book of Hebrews is an incredibly difficult book to understand, and is often the least preached book in the New Testament due to its warning passages and mystery as to who even wrote it. Naturally, he wanted to tackle it head-on.
Part 1 was to lay the framework for the next 6–8 months, giving insight on the persecution that faced new Christians who had migrated to Rome. They paid a high cost for following Christ in a culture that considered Jesus as a fable. The letter to the Hebrews was addressed to the first Christians who had settled down, but were faced with a new wave of persecution. At the same time, Judaism had gained the immunity idol, playing Survivor from persecution since its leaders were in good graces with the Roman government. The Christians were constantly teetering on the thought of going back to the old ways. They were in a dark season of their lives, asking themselves, “God, where are you? Do you care? Why are you allowing us to suffer? Why are you being silent?”
Pastor Shane was known to have a motormouth, pumping out accompanying Scripture verses at Indianapolis 500 speeds. He was animated and passionate in his delivery for his beloved, even at one point getting down on his hands and knees to make a point. He elaborated the Hebrews message to the inaugural Christians was still relevant to the church today. We all have a fill-in-the-blank situation where we wonder, “God, why are you allowing ________ to happen?” It’s so easy to be tempted to travel down the easy road, go off the beaten path and away from the light.
For me, it was not reverting to the flicker faith that I had before. I wanted to keep the flames roaring.
What I appreciated about Pastor Shane was that he kept his sermon light-hearted and fun, even sneaking in the occasional snarky remark to get a rise from the congregation. But even with the bad jokes (and there were several), he still was careful in how he fine-tuned Scripture, carefully pulling out the truth, even if that was hard to hear or would fall on deaf ears. He had no problem preaching directly to the heavy hitting challenges of today, being raw about his own sins, faults, and challenges.
After 40 weeks of designed church-hopping, something felt different about First Free than any other church I had come across. I found myself mentally checking off things for what I was searching in a church, some of which I didn’t even know I was looking for.
Empowering preacher? Check. High-spirited contemporary worship music? Check. Coffee? Check. Bad jokes? Definite check. Sermon references from 2 Chronicles about Jeroham’s bowels falling out (don’t ask)? Check, check, and check!
After church, Rachel and I went out for coffee. It was too early to tell if we had chemistry, but I had a different mindset than other date I had been on. In any type of healthy friendship or relationship, you go there to give, and I wanted to enhance her faith, no matter the outcome. I had been on too many first dates to know that most don’t work out. That used to be depressing to me, but I’ve realized that every person that comes into our lives, good or bad, one day or a lifetime, is there to teach you something about yourself. They help prepare YOU for the person you MUST become. Typically when the right person shows up in your life, and you’re right for them, they will want to stick around.
Something was different about her though. I just KNEW God had brought her into my life at the right place, at the right time. We connected about life, family, our background, challenges, passions, inside jokes, and most importantly, faith. She was authentic and true to who she is. We were meeting as a collection of our personal experiences, and both stronger in Christ as a result.
When the flames of Christian romance begin to swirl, it’s a spectacle to behold. When our identity is sizzling in Christ, there’s nothing better than to meet someone who shares Christ-like morals and values. After our date, she reached out again wanting to know more and more about me. Out of nowhere, things were beginning to come together. Rachel and I were beginning something built upon the cross.
But if this was going to work, I had to keep reminding myself:
This time, I will praise the Lord.
