Wild Goose.

Wild Goose Christian Community. A 100 year old church that's belonged to so many different Presbyterian churches over the years, but now houses these banjo playing, potluck eating, rocking chair sitting lovers of Christ. 

If you've never experienced life in an Appalachian community then I'm truly sorry for you and encourage you to hop on the nearest country highway and get yourself to Appalachia. In my year hanging out and living half of my days in Floyd County I've learn a few things to be true about Appalachian people: its impossible to meet an Appalachian who isn't incredibly musically talented, it's hard to meet an Appalachian man who doesn't sport an impressive beard, they're some of the sweetest and friendliest and most welcoming people you'll ever meet, and a good number of them really truly are madly in love with Jesus.

That last one tends to be true of many people that I meet, but there's something special about the way that Appalachians go about it. For months Sally, my lovely adopted mother in Floyd, has been telling me about this quirky little Tuesday night gathering in the middle-of-nowhere Floyd County of a bunch of people who love Jesus and are proud to be Appalachian. There's rocking chairs instead of pews, a banjo and guitars instead of an organ, a discussion rather than a sermon, and its all preceded by a scrumptious potluck meal. On a whim this week I decided to check out this funny sounding church and what I discovered there was so much more than rocking chairs and homemade pie.

There's a general ease and peacefulness to the way that people in Floyd live there life. My teammates and I always joke about "Floyd time," where no one is ever in a rush to do anything. For a college student who's every waking moment is scheduled down to the minute, Floyd time can be a little unnerving and super annoying, but like everything else in Floyd it's contagious.

Wild Goose operates on Floyd time, and its an incredibly refreshing way to experience the Lord and community. There's an agenda, but it's more of just an order to keep things focused rather than to govern every minute. The music that they play is decided on the spot by a man who makes the instruments he plays and enlists that help of the ladies to back him up with beautiful mountain harmonies.

I've grown up a city girl, and think that I've pretty much always experienced a city God. A God that is shoved into short and concise services on Sunday mornings and (if he's lucky) an or so on some days of the week. There's no real ease to a city God. He's like the city, always rushed and just another facet of an incredibly busy day. I've learned to love the country God; life with him isn't easy, but the relationship is simple: love God, rest in him, and trust him. It inspires me to slow down in life, especially in life with the Lord, and sometimes it takes a funny little old church in the middle-of-nowhere Floyd County to show me that. Praise God for Appalachia.