Hubs and I were raised in a southern baptist country smallish church of say 200 on Sunday morning. Our families all went there and as we grew up these people became who we did life with. Heck hubs and I meet there. We were Mary and Joseph when we were about 3. Then we went away to college started dating and went to a more professional, uptight, televised church that frankly never felt like home. When we migrated back to Ohio we first went to the church our youth pastor had just started because our childhood church experienced a nasty split. When we bought a house and landed jobs we tried a church in that small town but that really didnt work. We never made friends, the music was stuffy and the minister just didnt jive with us. So we tried a different church some people we knew from our childhood church attended and my sister,Yo, met us there. That worked for a few years until we had bubs. We watched the nursery more than we attended services and worked more than we worshiped. Back on the search my sister moved an hour away so we started looking for someplace in the middle. We would often pass a community church with an intriguing billboard message and finally stopped for a visit. THEY HAD A CRYING ROOM. So we held bubs while we participated in the service. They ran 700 people in each of the 4services the offered but We joined a small group and attended there for the past ten years or so. Although we love the message and music every week, weve never really made friends. Two small groups later we couldn't name 5 people we know. Sad. But worse is bubs can't. We sit with my sister and hubs dad but that's it. We grew up around Christians who we hung out with, had fun with, and who encouraged us. They formed a group we were accountable around and they knew who we were on Sunday morning as well as Friday night. Bubs can't name a Christian friend. That can't be good.
Over the years I've tried to get the boys to visit a church someone they know might attend but they hate change as much as I do. I even suggested this church back when it came town in the spring but no. Then Monday this church had an awesome float in the parade and some of the boys friends were wearing t shirts with the church logo on them. Hey why don't we visit there? They asked. Yeah why don't we? I countered. So today we all saddled up to try again and it was scary and unfamiliar and exhilarating and I'm not sure what will happen but we stepped. Again. And I'm just thankful we haven't given up on the notion that church might be a place where we live out our lives beside people who know us on Sunday morning and Friday nights.
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