Appointed Trip to the Vatican

As many of you know, I spent Memorial Day Weekend in Rome. I was invited by the priest on our post at Hohenfels to tag along on the trip. His influence within the Catholic church is great. During our visit, we spent one afternoon with one of the sisters (nun) inside the Vatican. She and Father gave me a "behind the scenes" tour. I saw things that few Catholics have ever seen and probably only a handful of protestants have seen. Often as we were walking, I asked the Lord, "Why are you showing me all this?" While I have made several conclusions to that question, I may not fully know the answer for years. But this I do know, I will never doubt again the authenticity of Catholic believers as Christians.

Now don't freak out by that statement! I am just trying to be real. Protestant churches and individuals have written books and preached sermons about this very thing and taught against the Catholic church for years. Regardless of where you are personally with your walk with Jesus, just know this, scripture is clear on who are brothers and sisters are. They are those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They acknowledge his death, his resurrection, and his Lordship, period! After that, it becomes our own personal theology (our understanding of God). A wise person once said, "God will forgive all of us one day for our theology." How true. Just because we worship differently, have different rituals, or have different ways of expressing our love for Jesus, doesn't mean we aren't apart of the family of God. See the truth is, there are plenty of people in every church, regardless of denomination that do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. So, there really is no use in trying to debate who is going and who isn't, because only God knows a man's heart.

I apologize for getting a little preachy, but God has placed me here for a reason and I believe now that one of the main reasons is to be a uniter, a person who can begin to bridge the gap between brothers and sisters and cause groups of us to work together in love for the first time in decades or perhaps centuries. The outcome of this trip will be felt for years. As a protestant, I can clearly see that there are many things we could learn from our Catholic brothers and sisters. As a Christian, I believe that I am called to that very thing. The thought that keeps going through the back of my mind is this, "What would happen if Christians throughout the world actually began to love one another, instead of bickering over minor differences?" Perhaps this would do more for worldwide evangelism than any program we have running in the church today. What do you think?