When I first discovered and experienced church life, a picture story of what I was going through developed in my mind. Keep in mind this represents my perspective and emotions at the time.

There was once a beautiful zoo, filled with gorgeous habitats and lots of animals. Most of the animals love it there, for a zookeeper comes every day and feeds them and takes care of all their needs. They are content.

But some of the animals had a longing they couldn't explain. They somehow never felt completely at home, and they didn't know why. They were bred, born and raised in the zoo, and knew nothing else. Yet they felt deep inside that there was something missing in their man-made habitat.

Then one day one of the discontented animals, being bold and audacious, set to work to figure out this mystery. And he found a way out of the zoo! He was so overjoyed that he came back and tried to tell all the others about what he had found. And the ones who also had this mysterious longing, understood what he was saying and they followed him out of the zoo!

He led them back into their own native, natural, primitive habitat. And they all knew instinctively that this had always been their true home--what they had longed for.

Of course, none of them had grown up here, so they and the first one had to work very hard, learning how to survive. They had to learn how to find food and shelter from the storm. They had to learn how to be nourished and taken care of by the land. They had to learn how to get along without the various bars separating them. They had to learn how to stay alive.

But they were finally free!!! And there was nothing comparable to this amazing freedom. They could run and skip, climb and neigh and growl and laugh and play. There was nothing in their way--no bars, no zookeeper, no man-made anything. It was just them together, in the land, their native habitat.

And the land is called Jesus Christ.