"Gotta, Wanta, Needa, Hava"

Just in case you weren’t aware, I have food cravings like a pregnant woman.  If you’re spent any time around me you’ll remember instances of random, Taco Bell, Chick-Fil-A, Mexican, Italian, or even that weird night I craved marshmallows and peanut butter. Eventually all the cravings go away, but there’s been this ONE craving that’s been on my mind and heart for years, and no matter how hard I push it just won’t go away.

For years I’ve had this desire to be a part of something different from this regular “Southern Sunday morning church.”  I’ve been craving something deeper.  Something that takes a little more commitment. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my church with my whole heart, but I feel like I’m missing out on something.

For years I’ve felt guilty about this, thinking, “No one else seems to have a problem with the way things are. That must mean you’re in the wrong,” but God kept placing these craving RIGHT back on my heart.

However, over the past several months, I’ve read several books that trusted friends have recommended. Strangely enough, they all seem to revolve around the importance of a couple of topics: Honesty, accountability, community, and fellowship, the things I’ve been craving for SO long.

I had been hoping for a place to be BRUTALLY honest, confronting the mountains of sin in our lives that make us wretched creatures, saved SOLELY by the grace of God.  A place where people weren’t afraid to call you on the carpet when you did something stupid. A place where people loved you and couldn’t live without checking in on you everyday…and where you couldn’t live without returning the favor. A place where people loved you and, most importantly, Jesus more than they loved religion.

Finally, I understood why I had been craving these things. They were parts of my nature, parts of my personality God had placed there at my creation,  but parts many people have learned to ignore as ways of coping with a sinful  and prideful nature.

As great as it felt, however, I still had no solution.  I had no one with whom to be COMPLETELY honest and accountable. No STRONG community, and no TRUE fellowship. So, I sit here, craving those elements of my nature that I know will bring me closer to Jesus.

I know there are people in the city of Florence, SC who feel the same way about Jesus and who have those same cravings. I beg you: LET ME KNOW! We were created to be COMPLETELY honest and accountable. Created to have STRONG community. Created to have TRUE fellowship.

So I beg you once again. Speak up…I need you. I can’t do this alone.

I need a Silas…