Seriously?

I woke up with a word rolling around in my head again this morning. We spent some time with some dear friends last night just encouraging each other through some stuff we all have been through recently. I just came home going, "Seriously?" I can't believe our world today and how people treat each other. It seems sometimes that the church is not exactly the best place to get help, just hurt these days. It should be the other way around. The church is for people who need Jesus to get over their hurt, hunger, and hangups. Imagine that!

My word for today was illusion. I went to bed asking God why the church is like this today. I woke up with this word:
il·lu·sion 1.something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality.

2.	the state or condition of being deceived; misapprehension.

3.	an instance of being deceived.

4.

Psychology. a perception, as of visual stimuli (optical illusion), that represents what is perceived in a way different from the way it is in reality. Caleb walked up to his Nana last night and announced that he knew what a deceiver was. She said, "oh really, what is a deceiver?" He continued to explain that a deceiver is someone who lies to you, like Satan. Very smart kid! I believe that Satan has created an illusion of the church and how leadership should run the church. I actually got a picture with this word, it was kind of like the Matrix. I was in the matrix looking out at the church today. I saw person after person who had hurt me or someone close to me. They were all clueless to the matrix. Satan was there acting like a puppet master, controlling his copycat plan. He has made leadership believe that having the title is like the genie put it in the Disney movie Aladdin, "Phenominal cosmic power, itty bitty living space." The problem with that is the itty bitty living space. If you can't live life with people, how are you going to shepherd them? The only 'power' comes from creator God! I am not saying that I have it right. Nobody has it right. It won't all be "right" until Jesus comes back for his bride. I think it's going to be a very rough road to that point, though. Unless we love people and become the Love of Christ to them, we are doing a disservice to the name of Christ and I don't think that God is going to stand for that much longer. I am sorry for those who have been hurt by the church. I have been in that broken place before as well. I am so sorry that this has be come the norm for people who just don't 'fit' in. There is a stirring in my heart though of change. Not Barack Obama's kind of change, but God's kind of change. I guess in all of this mess we have to keep our spiritual eyes open. There is a war waging in a world that we can't see with human eyes over the souls of hurting people. We need to be aware that the battle doesn't end when they/we come to Jesus. It gets tougher. To see through the illusion to the "matrix" is kind of tricky. If we rely on the Holy Spirit to be our "helper" though, He will guide us through and show us the way we should go.