Today Kaelyn and I were picking up Steve's SUV from getting some things fixed on it. We graciously got a ride to the west side of town. Afterward, we pulled into UDF (that's a gas station, convenience store, and ice cream shop combo, for those of you non-Cincinnatians) so I could . . . well, to be honest, so I could use the ladies' room. (We're going full disclosure here.)

I park right outside the door (scored a good spot on a rainy day) and drag Kaelyn inside. Then I have to wait for the restroom key. La di da . . . waiting . . . waiting.

When suddenly I hear a familiar sound: the sound of Steve's car alarm going off!

I drag Kaelyn back to the door and see a man sitting in the drivers' seat, door propped open, digging into the change that's in our console.

My heart is pounding, hands shaking as I yell, "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Oh, is this your car?" he asks.
"Get out!" I say firmly. (Firmly? That's putting it lightly.)
"I'm sorry. Here's your dime," he says while handing me back the money he just snatched from my car.

At this point, I'm surprised that I didn't wet my pants, but I still had to go. So I stopped the alarm, slammed the door, and marched Kaelyn back into the store. As I'm doing this, the man says, "I'm sorry. I got the wrong car. This is mine." And he goes two parking spaces over to get into a blue SUV (which looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, even the type of blue doesn't match ours) and starts scrounging around for change again.

At first I didn't believe him. How could he get into our vehicle and think it was his? I think he's just saying that to steal our change. (I've had many a story told to me in my neighborhood. I'm not too trusting.) But then his significant other/wife/girlfriend pokes her head out the door and berates the guy for being an idiot who got into the wrong car. Now I'm wondering if he's out of it, on a substance, or what.

As we pass him again in the store, he apologizes again, and I think I finally believe him. Hands still shaking, I drag Kaelyn back out to the car, as Kaelyn keeps asking, "Why did that man think our car was his?" I have no idea, I want to say.

The deal is, Steve's driver side door has issues sometimes if you don't close it right. (And I didn't because I was just running in and out.) The SUV was locked, but the drivers' side door still could get open. And because it's locked, opening the door still activates the alarm. In this case, good thing!

I promptly consoled my nerves with ice cream . . . but NOT from UDF! We got out of there and settled on Graeters instead. No drama there!

Sometimes the mental effort required to take both the mundane and the exciting events of life and place it into words feels taxing. Other times, I have to sit and craft something intelligent or else I worry about my own senility. If not unleashed, it builds up inside without me realizing it, and I feel mentally bloated! And then that makes me feel tired and useless.

Yet when I allow the dam to break and words to pour forth, I find the sanity and focus I was seeking. It's like I need the reassurance that I still possess some semblance of the skills I thought I had within.

Tonight we celebrated the 5th birthday of Echo Church. As Steve has said, seeing the birth of a congregation and watching it grow is like another child in our lives. Steve posts his thoughts about this endeavor all the time. Now it's my turn!

We had a lot of fun celebrating on 10.10.10. Some great friends came to support us who were there at our very first service. Other visitors came with friends. It was fun to see new faces. And then there were the hard-working, always dependable, set-up and tear-down and bring food and use their talents kind of people who ARE Echo Church. For them, I cannot begin to say thanks enough!

As we got there to begin setting up, three different times I realized I didn't have something we needed. Every single time, I got a text at that very moment from someone who said, "Can I help? What do you need? Yes, I'll bring that." God provides, even in the small ways. And I love knowing there are tons of people at Echo I can count on, call, and they will have my back.

Worship in the stained-glass sanctuary was neat to do again. It made me feel the largeness of God, the largeness of the purpose and responsibility of a church.

What an amazing journey it has been. When it all began, I believed in God, I believed in Steve and Aaron, yet I wondered, "Where do you start? How do you get to be a church?"

Tonight I looked around and thought, "Well, here we are. Somehow, we ARE a church!" It happened, and people have invested in our lives, in the city, in the body of Christ that meets on E. McMillan Street every Sunday night.

Thinking over the five years, they have been the most exciting times of our lives. And seeing the people who have come into our lives through Echo—seeing their talents, their passion for Jesus, their care for us—my heart swells.

How do you get to be a church? You gather. And you pray for people who want to serve Jesus together, who want to live in community together. And when they come, you rejoice and live as the church.

And that's what happened to us.