It wasn’t until my 21st birthday that going to church became important to me. Before it had just been about religion and admiring the few in the “holy huddle” who seemed to have their lives together. But the day I met my future wife things started to change. I found out the church was so much more than what I had previously been led to believe.

The day I walked into the Church of Christ, for the first time, I felt love in a way that I cannot describe. This was a group of people who genuinely were interested in each other. It was in this unique bond that my heart and love for Christ was nurtured to grow. Without this anchor for my soul, I am sure I would have continued to slip spiritually.

As I looked around me, I also found several people who wanted to be my friends. I realized that I would no longer need to go through life as a Lone Ranger. Now there were a group of people that I could call at 2:00 AM to help me in an emergency. I have never ever found this anywhere else.

What was also interesting was the way this new spiritual family would work together on projects. For instance, during Vacation Bible school, there were some people who were good at art, there were some people who were good at cleaning up and setting up, and there were some who were excellent at teaching. The whole was much stronger than the individual.

So, as you can imagine, I started to wonder how I could become part of this family. And then one day it came- an invitation to be baptized into the body of Christ. One year later, on my 22nd birthday, I was baptized into God’s Forever Family.