Several years ago Marie and I were blessed with a fantastic vacation to Southern Colorado.  We stayed in a small town by the name of Pagosa Springs, famous for the hot springs that bubbled up beside a mountain stream flowing through the center of town.  It was a picturesque setting, reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell print, with an inviting walkway along the stream.

On Sunday morning of our vacation, we attended a beautiful church in the center of  town. After morning worship we  decided to take a stroll down the creek side walkway and take in the local scenery.   Along the way we began hearing cheers and noticed up ahead there was a bridge across the river with a crowd of people facing away from us, watching the stream, sporadically applauding and cheering.  Knowing that there was a lot of wildlife in the area, we thought that the folks must be watching a bear, or maybe a moose, or something in the water, and walked a bit faster so that we could get to the bridge and see for ourselves.

As we neared the bridge, we noticed that not only was the crowd cheering, they were singing!  "Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound!".   Wow!   We hurried onto the bridge and finally got a glimpse of what had the crowd so excited.  In the stream below, several feet from the bank, in a calm pool of water, new Christians were being baptized.  Our hearts jumped with joy as the Holy Spirit rejoiced within us as we witnessed several new brothers and sisters joining the family of God.

We refer to fellow Christians as brothers and sisters for very good reason.  Our relationship, rooted in the transforming power of the Blood of Christ, is more deeply connecting than any earthly family ties.  When God saves us, He literally changes our dead "heart of stone" for a living "heart of flesh" bringing us to new life in Him and adopting us as joint heirs with Christ.  As a member of His family,  It doesn't matter what body of believers we worship with as long as we've accepted Jesus as our Lord and asked His forgiveness for our sin.  

Rejoicing hundred of miles from home with people we didn't know seemed the right thing to do. We didn't know what name was over the door of their church, but we knew what was in their hearts and felt a kindred spirit through our common relationship with Jesus.   As you meet and work with Christians from churches other than your own, remember that as Christians, we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, brothers and sisters with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus.

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