Reflections 6: Church

I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching--Ralph Waldo Emerson

When did you first go to church? What are your earliest memories of church?

I have been going to church since I was 10 days old.

My Papa helped build the Church of Christ in my home town, and I went there until I left for college. I still consider it my home church, and go there whenever I find myself back home. When I was growing up, church was everything to me. It was friends, family, a place to go and be happy and be with God. I would lie to my mom and tell her I was not sick so that I could go to church. I adored the singing so very much, loved classes, and liked the sermons. I have a very good memory for information, so Biblical trivia was always a lot of fun for me.

As I got older, I got more and more involved in the Church. When I was 15 or so, I was at the church 5-6 days of the week, for service projects or to help out around the building, devotionals, church services....in the summer, we would go to Summer Youth Series (SYS); the spring would have Leadership Training for Christ (LTC)...before the fall semester of school started back up, we would go to Camp Deer Run (where the deer run, lol). I mean, we spent most of our time and effort invested in the church.

Now, I don't go nearly as often as I want to. I became very disillusioned with the church and I am trying to regain my enthusiasm to go back. It is hard, but I really do want my children to have the joy that I had being involved in the family of God growing up.

~Andie~