I spent this past weekend visiting my family in Minnesota. I was paging through a church anniversary book when I came across something that made my heart smile. The book was celebrating the 125th anniversary of what was my one grandpa’s childhood church and the one where my other grandpa was involved in a major building project. There is something sweet about the blending of the two sides of my family in that one church.

I was paging through the book and found a letter my grandpa wrote at the end of the building project. They had successfully moved the hundred year old church building to a new location, all stained glass windows in tact, and added on to it the space they needed. The result served their people well.

My grandpa passed away four years ago and I smiled when I read the last line of his letter: “The church building itself is the structure that we worship and glorify God in. The real church is the people.”

I think my grandpa was wiser than I knew.