new love's life.

I walked into AGTS (Assemblies of God Theological) yesterday and I realized.

I'm home.

I like the AG. I like the Pentecostals. Yeah, they're crazy. Let's be real.

They pray out loud. They preach like their lives depend on it. They shout, and raise their arms in worship. They pray in tongues. They are serious about some Jesus.

Let's try that again.

I pray out loud. I love some crazy preaching. I raise my arms in worship. I pray in tongues. I am serious about some Jesus.

I shouldn't write all that. It's too much. Too honest. But this is my blog. And this is my life.

I turned, on my way down the hall in the seminary, to a row of plaques commemorating various AG honorees. And it felt so...comfortable, for once. I've struggled against this, for worry of what others will think, but my heart is all in this. My mind is, too.

I just passed the 18-month point at James River, and I've never been happy at a church for so long. I've never been at a church for so long.

Worship has never made sense like this worship makes sense. I feel as though for the first time I'm really understanding God. Not all of Him, of course. But I'm seeing God, and Christ, and what He did is making sense to me! Church--the singing, the worship, the love, the community, the reverence--it finally makes sense!

I've loved a church before. That love for the church, though, never brought me to a love of God. Here, the whole thing is taking form. The church is pointing me directly on to Christ, which in turn fires in me a love of His church. It's so beautiful.

Have you ever felt this? Do you remember when you discovered all of it? Is it still exciting, or does it fade?