Do you remember the song we learned in Sunday School, “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is the people”? There is a lot of wisdom in that song..

Earlier this summer I got on the Internet and found some reasonable tickets to Europe and two weeks ago, the four of us flew to Frankfurt, rented a car and drove to nine countries in 12 days. We would camp two days and get a hotel the third day. It was truly a great trip. Since in central Europe the countries are small, you can travel several hundred miles and cover four or five countries.

My father had been an Army chaplain and in my childhood and teen years, we followed him all around the world and lived in some truly wonderful places. I had graduated from high school in Frankfurt, Germany one year after the Berlin Wall was erected. My family had always valued education and travel so we took a world tour beginning from Frankfurt. Since we were already overseas, it was affordable.

Then the summer I graduated from high school, my best friend, Calvin Garner and his mother and father chaplain Calvin and Maxine Garner and their daughter Daphney, drove and camped through Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland Belgium, France and Luxembourg. It was a graduation summer to remember.

Staying in “camping grounds” in Europe with my family this summer, and hearing the many languages spoken was quite an experience. I can speak conversational German, and my daughter Nikki has had two years of high school French, and my wife Dee understands and speaks some German. Between Dee and my fluently broken German, and Nikki's high school French, and a lot of pointing and gesturing, we would laugh and muddle through most situations. I must admit, we did leave a few confused Europeans scratching their heads at what they thought we had just said.

It was during this trip that I realized an amazing truth. Even though we speak different languages, dress differently, drive different cars, have different governments, even different religions, we are all the same in many ways.

We are the same in wanting a better life for our families. We are the same in wanting them to get a good and safe education. We are the same in wanting to live in as nice a house as possible and drive a nice car. We are the same in wanting the best health care possible. We are the same in wanting the basic freedoms that we all possess in this country.

Most of all, we all need the basic gospel message over and over and over, that we are loved, forgiven for our sins, and are somebody special because of Jesus of Nazereth and that through Him and Him alone can we have eternal life. Praise The Lord!

People who believe and “walk the walk” as “followers of the God of and his Son Jesus are all a part of the “church.” The church is the people! It doesn't matter what language one speaks or the color of one's skin. We all “believers” are in the “Family of God,” the “body of Christ” called the church.

We in the churches here on the south side of Atlanta, whether big or little, are a part of something bigger, the worldwide church. The God-man Jesus is the foundation, the spiritual cornerstone, and the Holy Spirit is the “spiritual power” keeping the church on the move. Press on!

[The Rev. Dr. Knox Herndon is the pastor of “His House Community Church” (SBC) and a substitute school teacher in the Fayette County school system, and a former Army chaplain. The church is currently meeting in the American Legion Log Cabin across from the fountain on the Square in Fayetteville. Prayer line 770-719-2365; e-mail Khern2365@aol.com.

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