Recently I had the opportunity to travel to a little community in Michigan where I lived when I was a child.  My father was the pastor of a local church there and I have many fond memories of the time we spent there when I was eleven and twelve years old.  A quarter of a century has passed since I last was there, so when my travels this summer found me in that vicinity, I just had to stop and see how the old church and parsonage looked today.

As my family and I approached the city limits on the two-lane rural road, I felt my heart beginning to race with the anticipation of being reunited with my past and getting to see how much had changed, and how much was still the same.  On the right hand side of the main thoroughfare was the old “Shoney’s” restaurant where my family often went after church on Sunday nights with families from the congregation.  It was amazing to still see it there and it brought a smile to my face as I reminisced!  Built up all around it though were other stores and restaurants and gas stations that reflected how modernity has altered the town in my absence.  Things had really developed a lot in the last 25 years!

The church where my family served and the house we lived in were also on that main drag, so I knew we were getting close.  I remembered there being an old A&W Root Beer Drive-In directly across the street from the church, so I had my eyes peeled for that…just in case it was still there!  As it would turn out, the gas gauge in our car was nearing empty, so before we reached the part of town where I remembered the church being, I pulled into a service station and we filled up.  As I was pumping gas, I looked across the road and saw a street sign that read, “Sunset Avenue.”  I knew that is the street we lived on, right next door to the church, so I thought, “We must be closer to the church than I thought!  In fact, I should be able to see it from here!”  But, looking in every direction, I couldn’t see the church.  So, after we finished at the gas station, we drove across the street and turned onto Sunset Ave. and there, to my extreme bewilderment I discovered the affects that time had made on my childhood memories.  It all came into view in an instant, and as the present collided with the past in my mind, a wave of emotions flooded over me.

You see, I recognized immediately the house where we used to live.  It was still standing there, looking much as it did when we left there in 1982.  The white siding was still the same and the driveway that ran between it and the church was still there, just as I remembered it.  But, the house was no longer standing next to a church.  There where the Tecumseh, Michigan “First Church of the Nazarene” used to stand was a “Coldwell Real Estate” firm.  The church was no longer a church.  It had been converted into a business.  The front of the building that faced the main road was altered so much that I didn’t even recognize it when I was pumping gas right across the street!  The foyer to the church had been totally changed to create the entrance to the new business.  Large trees completely camouflaged the entire building out front to where you couldn’t even see what used to be the church.  Only the rear of the church looked the same, and it was only when I saw it right there next to the house I knew had been our home that I understood, the church was no longer the same.

For a moment I was sad.  It never occurred to me that the church would be gone.  This was a part of my family’s history, a testimony to the service we and many others had given to the Lord there, and seeing that our former place of worship was now a place of commerce was a bit jarring.  But, I was only sad for a moment, because that building is just that, a building.  Regardless of whether or not that collection of brick and mortar is still used as a gathering place for worship does not change the fact that I and my family are still THE church.

Ephesians 2:20-21 says, “Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.  And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.  We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.”  You and I and every other follower of Jesus Christ comprise the dwelling place of God.  Joined together, we form the temple of God, a temple that has Jesus as its Cornerstone.

Though time has the ability to invoke change on earthly dwellings, it has no power over the eternal residence of God within us.  We who are members of God’s family can rest assured that as God’s Spirit abides in us, time will never prevail upon us as God’s holy temple.  God’s true dwelling is eternal, timeless, ageless, forever!

We need not get too attached to the walls that make up our houses our our churches or schools, etc., because they are just temporary fortifications.  They are made with human hands and therefore will all pass away.  But, as we who are the dwelling place of Almighty God set our sights on heaven, our eternal destiny, we can be certain that moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal that which God has ordained to last for eternity.  (Matthew 6:19-21)

God’s eternal dwelling is standing rock solid on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ and the salvation He delivered to the world through His death and resurrection.  Nothing in the universe can imperil that foundation and as Jesus lives and breathes in each one of us as His children, we too, can never be shaken from the moorings we have as His holy temple.  You, as God’s child, are the dwelling place of God, His temple, His bride, THE CHURCH, and nothing will ever change that!  Be encouraged today in that knowledge and in the understanding that you don’t have to go somewhere special to be with God; He is there with you now, right where you are, because your heart is His home!

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The next time you drive by a construction site, thank the Lord for the reminder that though the scenery may change around you here on earth, His permanent, eternal dwelling place is with you.  Thank Him for allowing you to be a part of His church and ask Him to help you reach others who have yet to make their hearts His home.