Every night, as I sit on my mattress on the floor in Colombia, I look out the window that we can leave open because there are no mosquitos here (#blessed) and see a church. It is a massive church called La Iglesia del Senor de las Misericordias (the Church of the Lord of Mercy) but from my spot, I can only see the steeple with a glowing cross on top. Without my glasses or contacts, it also looks like the Eiffel Tower and is the tallest point in the area. I can’t explain why but I love seeing this church at night against all the lights in Medellin. I find it almost comforting, like a reminder from God that He is watching over me. Many nights, there is lightning and seeing the sky lit up behind this church is breathtaking. We’ve walked by this church many times and it is beautiful. A Gothic-style (shout out to Dr. Arnold and my art history class freshman year of high school) Catholic Church made of gray brick and complete with stained glass and decorative statues. Walking by this church is great but I love my special view of it every night. It is the last thing I see before I go to sleep and the first thing I see in the morning. It took me a while to figure out why I was so drawn to this church but then it hit me, I see God in the church.
Now, I know what you’re thinking- uhmm duh, it’s a church, of course you see God in it Kaitlyn… But in this church, I see my relationship with God. I see the God who loves me and cares about me specifically. He has a relationship with me that is deeply personal and that no one else gets to experience, just like my special view of La Iglesia del Senor de las Misericordias. During the day, many people walk by the church and get to experience its immense beauty. Anyone and everyone who walks by it is welcome to experience it. The same is true of God: anyone and everyone can experience Him if they want to but just like the view I have of the church is specific to me, so is my personal relationship with God. Every member of my team who sleeps in the same alcove has a different view of the church just as we all have relationships with God that differ. Each of us has a relationship that is deeply individual between ourselves and God. Any Christian in Medellín living in viewing distance of the church has a different view that is personal to him or her just like his or her relationship with God.
But, do you want to know the best part? Every person who sees that church, Christian or non-Christian, man or woman, local or foreigner, Jew or Gentile, is loved by God. He loves each and every person on this earth and He desires to know each of us personally, just as a father knows his child. God wants to give you your own church in the window, your own personal relationship with Him but He will not force it upon anyone. He is Almighty and all-powerful and omniscient but He gives us free will to choose to enter into that relationship. Love is so much more powerful when it is a choice.
Will you make that choice? Will you let God enter your heart? Will you let Him change your life? Will you let Him give you a “church out your window?”
I pray that you say yes because my relationship with God is the greatest thing in my life and I hope that everyone gets to experience the true, unconditional, everlasting, never-failing, reckless love that can only come from Him. And if you do choose to enter into a relationship with God, I want to celebrate with you the way the angels are celebrating in Heaven over your choice.
The church is the last thing I see at night before I lay down to sleep just as the Lord is the last person I talk to every night. And I close my eyes knowing that in the morning, I’ll awake once again into my relationship with God and to the sight of the church out my window.
