Growing Up in Church

Don’t you love this cartoon? It reminds me of growing up in church and singing out of the good ol’ hymnals. I know that the strength I have had to get through this time in my life came from a dedication from my parents to make sure that I was in church learning the things that I needed to be the man of God that I am today. I would say in many ways that I have been spoiled in life by never knowing what it was like to be without God. I relate that to my eye and what I have been going through. Until two years ago I have always had perfect vision. I can remember a competition with my dad at the 4B’s restaurant where I grew up and trying to see who could see the farthest. (I won of course!) Because I had never been without perfect vision I never realized the value of being able to see without glasses and without pain. When I got sick and my eye started to be inflamed I REALLY wanted to have that sight back again and realized that for all those years of my life I took 20-20 vision for granted. I know that with God it has been the same way. I have never known life without God and to not have a relationship with Him. I have always had God there to talk to and to trust him with helping me make important life decisions. Before everything with my physical body I had never even entertained thoughts of suicide or just thinking that I would really rather die than go blind. I go back to the years that I spent in church and I can say again that all the years of my mom yelling up the stairs at me and saying on a Sunday morning “Brian, its time to get up for church” and I would say “I’m tired” and my mom would say “GET UP” was the best thing for me. I didn’t hate church growing up, but I was not always happy to go to church all the time but now that I have experienced the depths of my life I appreciate every time mom and dad had me in church to sing out of the hymnals and get something from God. If you have never had a real relationship with God or you have and then walked away, please give him a try again or seek him because the Bible says that if you look for him you will find him. If you have been hurt or disillusioned by the church then I’m sorry for that. I guess I just have a new found respect for the things that were instilled in me at a young age and a new found relationship with Jesus now that I am older where I don’t take His love or care for me for granted. I challenge you in the middle of the crap of your life that you reach out to him. If you want to know how to do that then please leave a comment for me and I can connect with you.
Remember this – “In this life you will never know the real impact of your life on others until you are remembered in death”. What will you be remembered for?