There was a dirt road going up the hill that separated the churches so one church was on the west side of the street and the other was on the east side of the street. When I was very young the whole family went to the church on the west side. Then the preacher said something my parents didn’t like so they started going to the church on the east side of the street. That was all before I can remember. I got up and got dressed and went to church every Sunday. My eldest sibling went with me.
I was in the choir. So being in the choir meant you had to be early. If you were late by the time you got there the ‘good’ choir robes were gone and you had to wear whatever was left whether it fit or not. A big bummer. I ended up in the back row because I kept trying to follow the person on my right because I couldn’t hear. It took quite a few choir practices for the choir director to get me a spot where the overall sound was good.
I had to memorize John 14:2 ‘in my father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so I would not have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.’ At the time I thought it was a very long passage. I was about 10 or so and I had to get up in front of the whole church to recite it. So I got up and recited it but I think I forgot to say ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’ It was horrible.
I remember accepting Jesus as my savior one Sunday by getting up and going to the front of the church. Later I was told to come to church on a certain day and to bring a change of underclothing. The ceremony to be baptised was in the basement of the church and the cover was removed and the basin was filled with water. I took off my dress and put on a long black gown. Then waited my turn in the crowd. Then the minister called my name and I stepped down into the basin where he was at. He had a clean dry handkerchief. He tipped me back into the water while holding the handkerchief over my face. It was a quick dunk. Soon I was getting some help getting out and on to the dry floor. Then I changed into the dry clothing I had brought. I received a little green pamphlet. The title is ‘Helps for the New Christian.’ Just inside the front cover is written by me in pencil the day I was baptised. I still have this little green book.
One summer my sunday school church went to camp. I don’t remember how this was paid for nor where we went. I just remember taking a sleeping bag and pillow and changes of clothing to last one week. Camp was not right at the water’s edge but we had to follow the path through the woods to get to the water. On the path we passed through several camps. One camp had a minister and what he did every summer was write his sermons for the entire year. On the last day of camp I wanted to go and sit on top of the hill and watch the sun rise without being disturbed by other people. I was hoping when I laid down to go to sleep that I would wake up before everyone else so I could accomplish my wish. I packed all my stuff so I wouldn’t have to do it when I came down from the hill the next morning. I woke up in time and got dressed as quietly as I could then left the tent and climbed to the top of the hill. Then I waited for the sun to rise. It was peaceful and all I heard were birds and animals moving about. The sun rose and I sat there watching and then stayed a bit. While I was sitting there I heard people moving in the camp below so I knew it was time to go back down.
In high school I joined a group for teenagers. This group met on Wednesday evenings. We all had to bring a passing dish. This part was embarrassing to me because even though I could cook it was really hard trying to find something I could bring to pass. I usually ended up bringing a loaf of bread because we bought 10 loaves for a dollar. So I could bring the loaf of bread as it was the only thing that wouldn’t hurt the meal budget.
When I was getting ready to graduate high school the Tough Love book was given to me by someone at the church. Phyllis and David York are the authors and I believe the book was just published originally in 1969 or maybe earlier. When I was going through my books one time and doing a spring cleaning I donated this book. There was an inscription in the front left flap. I remember when I read this I thought to myself that they must have really liked me.
The church I went to every Sunday morning had a huge sky blue water tower behind it so I always had to pass it and that is probably why I remember it. I wrote this blog for those that think I have not had enough God in my life. I went to church every Sunday and was very active in church activities and my grandmother used to tell bible stories to all us kids when we visited with her black light and felt. So when I grew up I had a lot of religious background to draw on. Then when I got divorced I had a lot of time to think about stuff. Like the meaning of Life, so I spent five years trying to decide if there was a god or not. I chose to be an Atheist because for me there is not enough evidence FOR the proof of god.
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