Don't forget to be that guy.

The MannaDR team visited the church-next-door today. They have been a great help in the past few weeks, and we wanted to say "thank you." Tim even had a plaque made for the occasion.

What joy to commune with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We were both reminded of the small churches we grew up in, of our parents making it a point to greet and honor new faces around them.

You see, today, for the first time in a long time, we were guests. We didn't have the song books, we weren't quite sure where to sit, or where the bathroom was...

But "that guy" was there. You know, the one who welcomes you, shows you to your seat, finds songbooks for you, tries to repeat the song numbers in broken English... He even produced a cough drop when Laura Beth started to cough!

Afterwards, nearly every member came over to welcome, to embrace, to speak words of encouragement and blessing over us. They invited us to lunch and welcomed us into their family.

And that is what we were and are: family. It's strange to say, but today felt like we had stepped back to a time when outsiders were immediately seen, attended to, and were smacked with a red rose on thier lapel. It made us wonder... have we lost that in our big, modern churches in the States?

I don't know. I don't think so...

But today, we left the church-next-door feeling a new commitment to what true family is, and hoping we never get so comfortable in ours that we forget to be "that guy" (or gal).