“But then calamity after calamity started to happen. At first it was awful. Everybody was at one another’s throats, arguing over all sorts of silly things, but little by little, the Lord began a marvelous refining process in our congregation. I’m not sure, but I think that’s what the Bible means when it says that Jesus will return one day soon for a church without spot or wrinkle. I think He’s getting the spots and wrinkles out of us by using all these tribulations we’ve been going through …” Mary paused in front of two large sets of doors.

“And this is the gymnasium,” she said. “This is where we will sleep tonight. It might get a little noisy when some of our folks start snoring,” she said, smiling as she spoke. “but if you’ve ever spent the night in a storm shelter, you know that we can adjust to just about anything for a while. In the morning, we pick up the mats and cots, so the children have a place to play. It stays relatively warm in here, but you’ll want to keep the baby’s jacket on.”

“You sure are learning to live in cramped quarters, aren’t you?” Stan asked as he noted the large number of cots and mats on the floor.

“Cramped quarters? Yes, I suppose so,” Mary replied. “One thing I know for sure, the members of our church have a new attitude toward each other. Everybody has gotten into the habit of putting the other person first. We’ve realized that we are all part of Christ’s body, and when one person has a need, we all have a need. When one person is celebrating, we all celebrate. We enjoy sharing whatever resources we have with each other, and it is such fun!

“Not only that, it has been amazing to see how God provides for even the little thing we need. Why, just the other day, little Billy Brown bent a rim on his bicycle. He actually cried, he was so upset. But then, Walter Robinson, a man in our church said, ‘Son, I used to own a bike shop. Bring your bike over to my place, and let’s see what we can find in the back room.’ Wouldn’t you know it? They found an old rim, and Walter was able to fix Billy’s bike like new.

“It works the same way in the bigger things, too. No matter what somebody in our body needs, somebody else is able to help out. It’s as though God has already thought of that need and has made a provision for it to be met within our own body.”

“But don’t you all get on each others nerves?” Stan asked, thinking about how he tended to get claustrophobic in the small apartment in which Christine, Natalie, and he lived.

“Yes, we did at first. But it’s amazing what love will cover. When you really love somebody, you hardly notice the little inconveniences, and what you can’t ignore, you learn to forgive. And do you want to hear something really interesting?”

Stan suddenly realized that he was enjoying this conversation with the saintly woman. “Sure, I’d love to hear it,” he answered.

“Well, before our church started living as a Christian community, a lot of our single people and especially some of our senior citizens were extremely lonely. You know how isolated recent events have caused many of us to become. A large number of people barely have had a social life at all. They can’t get out much; they have little resources to spare, and no way of getting together with their friends, even if they could afford to do so.

“But now, since we have been living more closely as the family of God, nobody complains of loneliness any more. We’re always working together, helping each other, fixing one another’s cars or houses, cooking for one another, or doing some little thing for each other; we are together all the time. And people love it! It’s like we have a large extended family that is watching out for us. People who felt that they no longer had a purpose in life are finding an incredible sense of meaning and significance.”

“How can you afford to help so many people?” Stan asked. “Doesn’t it cost an enormous amount of money to do all that?”

“I suppose it does,” the woman replied. But we all contribute whatever we can, and God seems to multiply and prosper our efforts. When the stock market crashed a while back, we had a number of people who lost large amounts of money. They had invested heavily in stocks and bonds and mutual funds—all those things that I don’t understand much about. Well, our pastor had tried to warn people not to place their security in the financial systems of this world, but you know how possessive people are about their money. Many of the wealthiest members of our congregation lost nearly everything they had. But God is good, and He is taking care of those rich people who are now poor, just like He is taking care of us.

“In fact, even in these dire economic days, we are adding to our church by adding a family life center out back. It’s not going to be a big ostentatious building, but everyone is pitching in, and the people have a mind to work. The job is getting done!”