Unideal Romance

Chapter Eight.

"I don't even know why I chose to come here!" She grumbled as she drove into the parking space.

"Because Pastor Maddins was involved" Rose told her with a smile.

Rissa only rolled her eyes at her as they both got down. "Is it going to be long?" She asked her mom as they were about to enter the church.

"Opening prayers, sermon, hymns, tithe and offertory then closing prayers, all these things takes about three to four hours" She added.

"Ugh" She groaned and they both went in.

  Luke had made her promise that she would be at the church today which she had refused but he kept insisting and she had reluctantly given in which she actually regretted now because how could she be in here for four hours, even an hour, talk more of three hours straight, she would rather be at a comedy show. She hated comedy shows because she felt the jokes were rather offensive or maybe she just really had a problem.

The two Pastors were already on the altar but this time the Preacher was seated somewhere while Luke was on the pulpit with the microphone in his hand, they had missed the opening prayers because she had taken all the time in the world to prepare but she was right in time for the sermon, immediately Luke sighted her, his face lit up and she felt really proud that she was the reason for that.

  "What does it mean to be holy?" He started. "As a Christian, I am not even asking you to be a believer or not but you being here shows that there's hope for your transition in Christ. What comes to your head when someone says they are trying to be holy?" He stared at the brethren. They all seemed to be attentive. " What does it mean to be holy?  I once heard that being 'holy' means being  'whole'.  Some might think it means spending long hours in prayer or in church or reading the Bible.  While all those things are good, they don't make a person holy.  If someone doesn't take care of his/her family, or love his/her neighbor, is that person holy?  An example of holiness I once heard is that of a three legged stool.  If any one of those legs is longer or shorter than the other and you try to sit on it, you will tip over.  We human beings are much like that three legged stool.  We are made up of mind, body and spirit.  If we think that being holy means only taking care of the spiritual, our lives are out of whack.  We need to take care of our minds and bodies as well.  Jesus prayed, but he also ate and drank with his friends.  He spent time alone, but he also visited with friends, studied Scripture, and taught them.  He made sure his life was in order.  Everyone's life is different, and our lives go through many stages.  When we are parents, our primary focus is on our spouse and our children, and we might think we have less time for prayer – but we can offer the work we do to him; and this too is prayer.  As we grow older, and our families take less of our time, we have to make sure that our minds stay active as well as our bodies if we are to remain healthy into old age.  In each of these stages of life, we work on being holy; living as God wants us to live, following in the footsteps of Jesus, the perfect holy one" He was pleased with the way he had expressed the word holiness.

  Rissa felt like he was talking to her but he wasn't, he was talking to the whole congregation because they were all shaking their heads and they were all applauding him, he must have blown their mind.

  "Let's pray pls" He went into a bow." Gracious God, you have set a challenge in front of us. How can we be holy as you? Help us to keep you as the focus of our lives and work to bring a balance to our lives, mentally, physically and spiritually. Amen. "

"Amen" They all chorused.

  Rissa couldn't contain herself, she didn't want to be here and the way he was smiling on the altar was enough proof that he was happy to be here but she wasn't and she stood up from the congregation and walked out of the church, she knew Luke saw her but she wasn't sure her mom did though.