Time with God

I'm not someone that you would meet on the street and know immediately that I'm a Christian. I'm not a person that wears it on their sleeve or proclaims it to all. But I do try my best to be a good person, someone who lives a good, Christian life, even if I'm not preaching the word of God to others.

I grew up in the church. My grandparents traded me off, which meant one week I'd attend a Friends church (otherwise known as "Quakers") that had, at max, 10 people at the service. The next week I would go to an African Methodist Episcopal church (picture your stereotypical Baptist church where people are saying "Amen!" and such). As you can tell, I had a pretty varied religious background.

When in the 4th grade, though, I found my true church home. I went with a friend to her church, a Methodist church. Even though she moved within a year, I continued to attend that church and be very involved throughout high school. I went to Sunday School every week, was in the children's choir, went to youth group, went on trips, went to Bible Studies (which were actually independent of the church), and babysat in the nursery every Sunday during the service. That church was a major part of my identity. When I went away to college, I lost that identity and never really found one in my new location. I regretted that, but just couldn't find a good fit.

So here I am, 5 1/2 years removed from college, 10 1/2 years removed from high school, and I still haven't found a church home. Lazy? Absolutely. Anxious about trying something new? Of course.

I've had this discussion with DH. He, in contrast to my adolescence, went to church just a few times growing up and never had a church home. But we've decided that it's something that is important to both of us as we have children. We want to have a church community of our own where we can meet other young families and have a good, solid foundation of Christianity in our home. Yesterday we finally took the leap. We went to a church very close to our house. It was nice. It was like coming home after awhile--listening to the choir, singing the hymns, listening to the message. We'll try another church next week, and maybe another after that, until we find someplace we're both comfortable. But I'm so very glad we took that first step this weekend.