This morning (Monday) Sue and I attended an associational meeting held in
West Tulsa. When we left, I decided to drive past the Phoenix Ave. Church
location. I knew that it had disbanded as a church a few years ago, but the old
building still held some good memories for Sue and I.

The church once sat in a prominent place in the community, but during
'Urban renewal' in the 60s, the streets to it were either eliminated or converted to
one-way streets and/or dead-ends,, making it difficult to even get to. In fact, it was
difficult to see until you were right on top of it.

This morning as we approached it, it was simply gone. All that was there
was a flat, empty, gravel lot. As we drove slowly by I could see in my memory the
building once designated as a storm, or emergency shelter, because of it's
basement and walls made of LARGE blocks of stone. It could have survived a
major storm, but it couldn't survive years of neglect. When we got to the
Southwest corner I remembered the cornerstone of the church. The building was
built in 1935 and stood for 90 years. It was a grand old building with a Sanctuary
that was laden with character. It had a high domed ceiling and the floor sloped
down to the altar area. It was grand.

And then I wondered, what happened to the cornerstone, what was in the
cornerstone (people, churches, etc, used to place items of interest and importance
in the hollow cornerstone when they were laid and then sealed over with the walls
of the building. And almost immediately the thought entered my mind, "How
many churches have lost their 'Cornerstone'? Not their 'blocks', but the Church's
true Cornerstone-Jesus Christ (Matthew 2:42).

Over the last several years many churches in our area have boarded up their
windows, locked their doors, and replaced their church signs with For Sale signs.
The last final epitaph usually whispered on the way out is, "Our community
changed." I disagree. The community didn't change, the church did. The initial
step in the final march is losing their cornerstone. Cornerstones are laid with
hopes, dreams, visions, commitments, and prayers, all looking and working
together to the future, for the future, and with the Lord. But 'Where there is no
vision, the people perish." They lose their Comerstone.

At Belview the only cornerstone we have is our Savior-Jesus Christ, The
Chief Cornerstone. We can't allow anything or anyone to cause us to lose Him.
Go Ye Therefore.......... .           PRAYERS, BLESSINGS, AND LOVE

                                                     Bro. Tom and Sue