Saturday night

Rick had to go in to work this evening, even though it's Saturday, because the plant had a backlog of printing to be done. He works in a plant that prints telephone books. I usually get a chance to shop or relax on my own on Saturdays, but not today. Thankfully, the kids weren't too bad today.

We have an ancient Acura that was a freebie from some dear friends at our former church. It's fifteen years old and half-rusted, but still runs, so we still drive it. Today we took it in for some work on tie rods and a boot, but they couldn't figure out why the lights on the control panel were coming on. Probably a short, they think, because the actual things behind the lights were working just fine.

Tomorrow morning we're going to another new church. It's one that I have already been to, myself, and I like it, but I haven't taken the kids or Rick. He probably won't end up coming there much with us, but I think he does kind-of want to know where we're going to be. For a while at the beginning of this year, I took the kids and we went to a church up on the north side. I liked it okay, but the further in I got, the odder I felt. It wasn't my usual "brand" of church, but it's a brand that I'm familiar with and have no qualms about. But there were just a couple of minor doctrinal things that came out, that by themselves would really mean very little in the grand scheme of things... but taken together, plus in the authoritative manner in which they were asserted, just made me a little uneasy. Plus, there just isn't enough kid-stuff going on. Really and truly, I'm to the point in my life where I don't need a lot of hand-holding from a church. I'm a stable, committed, growing Christian and I'm firmly on the journey... I feel like most churches are geared toward unstable, infant Christians who don't quite have it all together yet. Those kinds of people (and I once was one) need a place to hold their hand and help them grow. I just don't anymore. HOWEVER... my kids just don't have the years of experience that I have, and they need it, so I'm going to at least try to align myself somewhere informally so that they can get the basic Bible knowledge and doctrinal wisdom that will help build the foundation they need. So, really, that answers my question -- I'm going to land at the church where I believe my children will receive solid truth and will receive it in a way that maximizes their chances of retaining it. It's not about "me" anymore...

Of course, that is NOT to say that I have somehow "arrived" at some super-spiritual plane of existence. By no means! I'm in some ways worse now than I ever have been in my life. But the constant re-hash of old ideas and common knowledge that one usually gets in a Bible study just aren't where I need to be using my time. I *still* need to hear encouragement, exhortation, wisdom, etc. from other Christians, especially Christian leadership... but I'm in a better place now to test the Spirit and check the Scriptures to see if what those others say is actually true.

Nitey-nite, friends. More to come tomorrow.