A Structure Journal..............................

I am raising my family in the town I grew up in. It has it's positives and negatives. I know lots and lots of people here. And, furthermore, lots and lots of people know me. This little town changes and grows. Buildings and structures go up. Old memories get torn down. I often times now find myself most nostalgic for those places that remain unchanged. The places that I frequent now, that I frequented then, and that my children are experiencing in exactly the same way that I did.

Now stop, I'm not talking about 7-11.

Yesterday I couldn't stop thinking about our little church building. I don't remember a time went I didn't attend church there. I was baptized there. My brothers had their mission farewells and homecomings there. My friends have had their wedding receptions there. My three children were blessed there. And for many, many years, each and every week, I have pulled into the same parking lot, made the same rounds to find a spot, opened the same doors to the same chapel and sat in the same pews.
And now I am so privileged to watch my girls and my boy develop a love, a testimony and a faith inside the same walls that I did. It's a simple building in terms of architecture. There is nothing that the world would deem extraordinary just by driving by. But my heart would tell you otherwise. It's simply magical.
And I suppose that someday we will get the brand new building, closer to our home. And I suppose that someday I will have the same affection for it as my little church on Overlook. But for now I will cherish these Sundays. Cherish them like crazy.

Now this? This is a view I would love to eradicate from my memory. A view of a very neglected mini-van after a weekend of errand running. Even the poor mirror reflecting my sacked out baby is cock-eyed. And please, do your best to ignore the Big Gulp. For your own good.