MELVYN'S & CHRISTIAN FAITH

It was nothing more than a random accident of chance due mostly to the propensity of many local restaurants to be closed on Mondays that led to a most welcome surprise that made me realize that something I was too lazy to investigate was, in fact, not true. Something that I really enjoyed in my Ruston days was, some good friends told me, no longer in operation. I was especially sad about this when I got the call to come to FUMC - West Monroe, because it was one of my favorite things from my time in Ruston.

When Chuck Adams picked me up for lunch Monday, we headed to get a sandwich at one of his favorite haunts. When it and another place turned out to be closed, we were driving around and out of the corner of my eye I saw Melvyn's. I was SO excited, because I had been given information that Melvyn's was history. Let's just say I thoroughly enjoyed a trip down memory lane with some fantastic onion rings to go along with a great burger.

As Chuck and I visited on the way back to the church, I realized there was something deeply profound in our journey, something that I believe gets more than a few of us in trouble with our Lord and our church. I wonder how much of the Christian faith and life in the church we miss because we are not looking to encounter God in new places that are different than the same old, same old, in which we have derived a great deal of comfort.

Friends, let's make sure we are not missing where God is wanting to meet us next because we keep looking for God in the same spaces in the same ways. You just never know where it is God is waiting for you to discover the work of the divine in a way you never considered.

Grace and Peace,

Lamar