it was an old country church with an old country preacher. he was precious and sincere. the church was full of older sincere people. but i was young. when you are young everyone is older and everyone is sincere because children tend to only see good in others.
the next was an old church..."free will" whatever that means. to me it meant i wasn't allowed to wear shorts to any church functions even if it was 95 degrees outside. it meant that along the way somewhere you really didn't have "free will" at all. if your belief system didn't fall in line with the leadership then you could leave.
the next was an old small church that grew into a really large church during the fifteen years i attended. the people were loving. i looked forward to the hugs i would receive on sundays. i looked forward to the friends i would see while i was there. i looked forward to seeing my family. i looked forward to teaching the teenagers i loved dearly. i did not, however, look forward to being told that the music we sometimes listened to had demons coming out. (underoath if you are curious) i did not look forward to being told that i had to sign bilaws committing to be at every single church service in order to continue working with youth as a volunteer when i had a six week old baby. i did not look forward to letters being sent to every young girls home telling them to use discretion when coming to my home for bible study.
the next was again an old small church full of precious people with servants hearts. we didn't stay there long. we knew our lives were taking a different direction. so we moved on.
we didn't go anywhere for a while. i had no desire to go anywhere for a while. sometimes i still have no desire to go. but i am seeking. i desire to be part of the church. part of community. part of the body. we desire that our children learn about the love of jesus and the example he led for us with his life. we desire to serve and love and encourage others no matter what belief system they hold. we desire to bring peace to those we encounter and an end to injustices we see. we desire to bring heaven to earth.
where are you on your journey of faith?
tell me about your church.
