The Building

I heard the song, “The Building” (linked at the end of this post) a couple months ago, but Sunday night someone posted the single. I sat there crying because I have a building like that in my life. I have listened to it over and over, because it’s unexplainable the memories that are brought back when I think of my little church.

Today, 19 years ago, I woke up and thought, “I’m getting married today.” It was the perfect fall day. It was sunny. It was full of hopes and dreams and excitement. I stood at the back of that building and waited to walk down the aisle to my best friend. It was there, at the altar that I learned a story I’d never heard.

How that one day, a couple had knelt at this very altar and dedicated their baby boy to the Lord. Several years later, another couple dedicated their baby girl. And there we stood that day in 2003 and became one. We vowed to love and honor each other in sickness and in health. For richer or poorer.

It’s just a building.

But it’s where I first sang in front of someone about Jesus. It’s where I played the piano in church for the first time. It’s where my daddy surrendered to preach. Where my parents served in youth ministry. It’s where I learned to serve the Lord. It’s where I grew up with my future husband. It’s where we first started singing together. It’s where I saw the greatest examples of faithfulness in the whole world. It’s where my hero pastored me. Loved me. Guided me. Christmas plays, Easter cantatas, Fall Festivals, Vacation Bible School, Revivals…..

It’s where James took me down to the altar on April 3rd, 2003 and asked if I’d be his wife. It’s where I said yes.

That building was simple. White outside walls with mountain stone, wooden pews, hardwood floors and a tall steeple. But it’s where I felt the presence of God move and work. It’s where I saw real worship. It’s where hands were raised and tears were shed. It’s where life long friendships were made.

That building housed the best times of my life. I wish we could go back. I wish we could be in just one more service with all the saints of God who have gone home.

Lightning struck that building and caused a fire in the choir loft. I was expecting my first child. I mourned the loss of that building not because of the building, but because of how Jesus changed my life in that building.

There is no going back, but I thank God for the time He gave me there.

I’m not saying every girl should get married, or that you should marry at 18. But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that was God’s will for my life. I did not settle. Did we grow up together? Yes. Have we faced sickness? Yes. Financial strain, burdens, valleys. Yes.

But because of what God did for us in that building, we’ve weathered the storms and found the rainbow. We’ve encountered joy through the hard times. We’ve held on to each other while God held on to us. We learned that worship is more than praising God in church. It’s praising Him when our hearts are breaking. It trusting Him when our world is falling apart. It’s choosing Him when it would just be easier to turn away.

19 years. And it started in that building.

The building where Jesus changed our lives.