Before bedtime, my three children rushed through the family room dutifully clearing up everything that they had left behind. Together, they shuttled almost everything back where it belonged.

Except one tan LEGO block, peeking under the couch.

Because my kids integrate it into play, they believe the plastic block doesn't always need other LEGO blocks to be fun. One lone LEGO block makes a footstool for Barbie or a roadblock for an army guy. Regretfully, it may even end up in my 2-year-old's mouth as some kind of plastic chew toy, just like everything else she grabs.

So sometimes one or two blocks get separated from the box. But my kids most enjoy a LEGO block when it does what it was created to do, hooked together with other blocks. Connected, it becomes a brick in a skyscraper, the spine of a dinosaur or the cockpit of an airplane. LEGO blocks work best connected to other ones, not by themselves.

God made Christians to connect with each other, and He built the local church so we could do that. We are each like a LEGO block.

Pastor and author Mark Dever says that a church is not a loose affiliation of people who hold the same religious beliefs, a philanthropic society or an exclusive clubhouse. Instead, the church shows God's presence on the earth as a "local, living and loving collection of people who are committed to Christ and committed to each other."

I can be quick to commit to a cause, but Mark's definition redirects commitment to Christ and each other. Through the local church, I can express that commitment by reaching out to people who don't know Jesus, by helping a fellow Christian stuck in sin, and by applying biblical doctrine to my life.

God created us to do it together, interlocked like LEGO blocks and focused on Him. Together we become something much bigger than ourselves.

Sure, Christians can do a lot on our own, in settings outside the church, just like the little tan block separated from the box. That is all part of the wonder of what God created in us. But things could really get exciting if we connect with the church—surrendered and committed to the local body of Christ.

The headline said that scientists have found that teenagers have "fuzzy" brains. As a parent of two teens, I know exactly what they mean. From about age 11 through 14, say the experts, the young brain sheds brain-cell connections as it goes through a "pruning" process that eventually leads to clearer, more rational thought. In the meantime, though, the wiring is shaken up, resulting in poor decision making and moody kids.

Sometimes I'm on the other side, though. At times, my heavenly Father sees me making poor decisions and acting less than Christlike. But while the teenage brain goes through a passive pruning, we have an active part in our spiritual pruning as we spend time reading the Bible and talking to God. I find practical advice on making decisions when I read Proverbs and refocus out of my moodiness when I meditate on Psalms. But, more than that, the entire process of spending real time with God fixes the faulty wiring caused by my sinful nature and selfish desire.

And I find myself much more compassionate toward my two teens when they're being fuzzy.

Driving in downtown Indianapolis, I couldn't believe what the sign was telling me. My senses and my gut convinced me I was headed in the right direction, but a road sign had the audacity to contradict my feelings, ordering me to turn left to reach my destination.

I've been here before, I thought. I know where I am. There's no way that sign is right!

Needing to make a split-second decision as I entered the intersection, I made my verdict. Siding with my gut, I ignored the left turn and continued straight ahead. Passing under the traffic lights, I burst out laughing as a dose of reality initiated a second thought: I just decided that I was right and that a downtown road sign was wrong. How ridiculous!

Yes, how ridiculous that I would choose feelings over fact, but it's a tempting choice that I'm faced with every day. The Bible, God's Word, is the unchanging signpost for our lives. It promises to keep us from stumbling and ensure us firm footing within God's will. Yet there are times when I believe I know what's best for me and choose according to what feels better in the moment. In doing so, I leave the lighted, well-marked path of God's best and take a step toward an unknown road that inevitably leads to a place called "lost."

Thankfully, I can always turn around and get back on track when I align myself with God's Word, the fact of our faith.