Hi, all! Just a thought.

From time to time, I share with you a picture of some church building somewhere. Different sizes, different denominations, reaching different people. Here’s another church picture. I would like you to take a good look at it and notice some of the details.

My wife and I were in the beautiful state of Michigan recently for a conference she was attending in Grand Rapids. Our rental car we had been assigned at the airport was indeed helpful, as we had places we wanted to visit on each side of the state. But when we arrived for her meeting, I parked the car in the downtown garage and left it there. From our 25th floor hotel room overlooking the river and a large portion of downtown, we could see for miles. I picked out at least four church steeples in the distance.

One cool morning, I started out walking toward the three that seemed to be the nearest each other in the distance. A mile or two later, I reached the first one. It was large and grand, about the size of the one you see here. I took a couple of pictures, climbed the grand steps on the front of the church building and tried all three of the doors. All locked. No one around. A little disappointed, off I trodded again.

Some minutes later, I walked up to a very large and beautiful Catholic church with statuary and gorgeous flower gardens. Again finding the front doors locked, I was turning to leave when a couple who was arriving for a Bible class in the church basement offered to show me where the unlocked side door was, and in I walked to the marble-floored cathedral-like sanctuary. Although those nice people were kind and welcoming, and although the bright sunlight shone beautifully through the very large stained-glass windows, all of the electric lighting was turned off, and corners of that grand space were dark and very uninviting.

I had a longer distance to walk before finally coming up to the third church building, the last steeple I had seen in the distance, but I headed directly toward it, stopped by a long-haired young man looking for a local park. He startled me as he called out to me, a stranger in a strange city, for directions to a park I didn’t know existed. And he apologized for causing me concern, strolling off happily no wiser than before we had met at the street corner.

Just around that next storefront, to the back, I walked up to this building, and this is where I stopped. The lawn was overgrown. Now that I was closer, I could tell it had been abandoned.

The church name longer on the brick sign, there was now a large “For Sale” sign looming at the curb side. Deserted, dark, abandoned.

Three churches that day I visited. Several locked doors. But I only needed the one that was open. Two kind and welcoming people. Two others who startled each other. Bright lights and beautiful windows. Dark corners and overgrown property. Each church building had a story to tell. I pray it was the right Story.

I am so very thankful that as I wander the streets of my life, the Good Lord above is not surprised by when I show up. His doors (His arms) are always open wide. He is always welcoming, and although I may be startled when I run into Him, He is never surprised at meeting me at the corner. I just pray that as He looks at me — the dwelling place for His Holy Spirit, the House of the Lord, the walking talking church building — He sees not an abandoned empty space, not a “For Sale” sign, but a place that is open to all He has to share with me.

I was tired by the time I ventured back across those streets, underneath two interstate highways, and across the river to our hotel. But the Lord and I had a beautiful walk, and I was reminded of His presence anywhere and everywhere.

Take a walk with Jesus this week. You’ll be glad you did.

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.