first times

Hey everyone.

This weekend was kinda special for the Cheuvront family. First of all, it was an amazing week at The Journey. God was moving in some incredible ways. I'm still amazed every week when I come in this place and see the people that God has brought into our folds. All Praise be to Him.

So...... Tiffany and I took our son, Cason to do some things, and it was his first time to do them.

As most of you know, I played on the road with "Lonestar" for many years. It was fun, and Richie MacDonald, the lead singer, and I became great friends. He's kind of like the brother I never had. Love him to death! Anyway, Richie now has a solo career. He doesn't do many shows because he likes to spend time with his family, after being gone on the road for 15 years. But when he does, he calls me to see if I want to go out with him and do a quick performance. So, this weekend was faith and family night at the Nashville Sounds game and we did a show there to promote his Christian Album. Because it was faith and family night, we took our families and watched the game. I got some extra tickets, so we took Erik and Katrina, along with their son, Kaleb (Cason's best friend). It was Cason's first B-Ball game and he loved it. They gave him a couple balls and a bat (which he and Kaleb proceeded to try and throw and hit everywhere they could during the game! (that's a whole other blog!!!) We had a great time, but it was pretty much what was expected..... Hot dogs, baseball, friends and lots of fun.

Second, we took Cason to the movies for the first time. We saw Disney's "UP". It was a really good movie, and just like I suspected, it was completely different than what I thought it would be. They are really good at that. Unlike a lot of other movies, where you see a thousand trailers for them and by the time you actually go, you pretty much know the movie before even watching it, Disney movies have a knack for getting you intrigued just enough to go see them, without really even knowing what they're about.

I think that's a really cool thing b/c you don't know what to expect. And then you're typically pleased with the result. Unlike the baseball game, where we knew what was pretty much going to take place, we walked into a dark theater, with a 3 yr. old, hoping that it would be a good experience.

That got me thinking. What do people expect when they go to church? Is there a pre-conceived idea of what they are going to see? I think so. And most of the time, if they're unchurched or haven't been to church in a long time, that pre-conceived notion could be drastically wrong. For so long the church has had this stigma about it, that when you go.... people are going to make you feel uncomfortable, make you do something that embarrasses you, or even the other extreme. They won't even acknowledge you are even there. Why is that? I'm afraid that the church has become that which Jesus spoke against: A religious institution. It was never intended to be that. It was intended to be a gathering of people who love God, worship only Him, and through the grace and mercy that has been shown to them, they in turn share that hope and love... bringing the only message of hope that there is to a hurting and broken world.

Too many people call themselves Christians and don't have any idea what that means. There's a piece of scripture that I think they need to listen to. Jesus said, on that day people would say, "Master, didn't we prophesy in your name....etc. and He will say, "Depart from me, for I never knew you." Maybe we shouldn't call ourselves Christians anymore. Perhaps it's time to redefine ourselves. "Christian" has become a table-top discussion word. If we are going to be the church.... the church that Jesus instructed us to be, loving those around us, worshiping Him, following His teachings, being obedient to His will (not ours), taking the gospel message to the world and making disciples of ALL the nations.... then perhaps "Christian" is the wrong term. Maybe we should call ourselves exactly what that description says we are..... Christ Followers. And if we did that, and stopped acting like the church that the world has defined us to be, and instead acted like the church we are SUPPOSED to be, maybe people wouldn't feel so put off by all of us "Christians".

Love you all,

Robbie