My Views on Christianity

I grew up in a church setting. My parents raised me that way. I loved it until I got older and it wasn’t because I wanted to ‘sin’. It was because of what happend in the curch I grew up in. There was a older man that was a part of our church. His name was Dick (and no I did not change his name to protect anyone, the man is dead now). He took over the youth group that I was a part of even though he had no kids that I know of. Even in my teen years I knew something wasn’t right with this man. I didn’t care for him much and I didn’t trust him.
As it turns out my feelings about him was correct. He was a genuine con-artist. Because of this man the church people all turned against each other and there was a huge split. The man could not add 2+2 and equal four. He tried to say the pastor was stealing money. My Mom was the secretary and treasure and she had proof that her figures were correct and Dicks was wrong. The bastard even tried to say my Mom and the Pastor (Jim) were having an affair which was false. The whole problem started because the church was having financial problems and couldn’t make ends meet. My Mom would come home crying because of this mess. When Dick had done his deed he left the church taking half of the people with him. People I had grown to love and trust believed this man’s lies and followed him to another church. They call themselves Christians.

Another man named Gary came to the church and was good friends with Dick. Gary was one of those bible thumping, in your face, I am always right Christians. The kind I cannot stand. Gary got paid a surprise visit by another church member and they caught him having a pot party in his house. Later after the split Gary’s children turned him in for sexually abusing them. He even raped his own son. He is now in jail. And he called himself a Christian.

I said my Mom was secretary and treasure. My Dad was maintenance. My parents basically ran the church. The pastor himself wasn’t very bright. He was a nice man. I liked him he just was clueless of everyday things. His wife was really nice but didn’t deal with any of the behind scenes of the church. My Mom did it. Since we lived less then a quarter mile from the church my parent ran for every need. They were always the one to go unlock the doors, lock them back up. If something happened they responded. My Mom spent so much time up there, freezing in the winter because they couldn’t afford to run the heat full time in the winter. She ran everything. She would come home so stressed because she couldn’t pay all the bills for the church. After the pastor got paid there wasn’t much money left and he ALWAYS got paid first.

To top that off my Mom had to worry about her own bills. My Dad had lost is job because the plant closed down. My own family couldn’t make ends meet and she had the stress of that. My Mom would cry. She became very moody, withdrawn, depressed, angry, and would cry at the drop of a hat. It was to much for her to handle. I had to sit back and watch. My parents fought more and more. I hated that church.

Pastor Jim left. To find a better place. We had no clue he was looking for another church. We got some pastor in there, all I remember was his last name was Moon. He was kinda shady. Tried to ‘improve’ the church. Spending money the church didn’t have. He didn’t last long. Then we got a female pastor Jeanette Post. Who I LOVED. She was great. Had a background working with kids which was right up my alley. But, she moved on to better things. I still wonder often where she is today. My Mom had to suffer through all this too. Then Pastor Sprunger came in and worked with the church for a bit. He was friends of Pastor Jim so we all knew him. He did the best he could do for the church really.

There was nothing left to save. Honestly I don’t know how it all ended. I was old enough to not go so I didn’t because I hated it. I just know that it in fact ended and they church has been sold and belongs to someone else now.

Because of this my feeling of Christians and churches is different. I hate bible thumping, in your face Christians. You know the ones that try to force Christianity on you. Ok I guess hate is a strong word but I dislike them very much.

Here is an example...
These names are changed but this is a true story.

One family, the Smith’s I was very close to. Especially their younger daughter. She is 7 years younger then me but she was my favorite. Yes I still talk to her today, but she lives far away and I miss her. Anyways, the Smith’s had an older adult son. Old enough to drink and make his own decisions his name was Scott.

Another family the Michael’s had a couple adult daughters. One daughter’s name was Debbie. This family is the bible thumping type.

Well Scott came to town and went out on a date with Debbie. Scott being a wild one took Debbie out and Debbie drank and got drunk. Scott and Debbie had sex and Debbie got pregnant. Basically Scott wanted a piece of ass and Debbie gave it to him.

Well Scott didn’t want anything to do long term with Debbie or the baby so he signed off parental rights. The Smith’s wanted to see their Granddaughter. They didn’t want the baby to know that they were her real Grandparents they just wanted to be known and special friends. Well the Michael’s won’t allow it because of what their son did to their daughter. The Michael’s are hold what Scott did against them.

Well excuse me, Scott and Debbie were both adult when it happened. It is not the Smith’s fault, Debbie drank on her own, he didn’t force her to. Debbie is as much at fault as Scott is. The daughter of the two is now a teen and Debbie got married and her husband adopted the daughter.

Also, the Michael’s don’t like the way the Smith’s younger daughter turned out and they hold that against them too. Well she is an adult now and can make her own decisions. She likes to go out and party with her friends but she is an overall good girl. She had the same view’s about this mess as I do. These bible thumping Christians have turned us against church.

Like I said, I talk on the internet with the Smith’s a lot. Especially their daughter. Well just recently I found the Michael’s on facebook. The mom and Debbie. I sent the mom a message and the first thing she responded back was. "I hope you are taking those boys to church". I wanted to say "No, I am not and you people are the reason why".

Now don’t get me wrong I believe in God. I pray when I need to. I don’t have anything against Christians in general. I have a good friend who was my best friend in high school what was raised in a very Christian family and they were not the type to throw it at you. Her and her husband are church going, last I new I think her husband want’s to become a pastor. But they know how to do it tactfully. They haven’t throw it at me at all. I get e-mail’s, or see stuff on their myspace or facebook but it’s done the way I like. I don’t get to hang out with the friend as much as I would like.

I’d really like to get back into a church but I don’t want to go to one where I have to deal with these bible thumping Christians. I want to go to church with people who understand how the real world works. And I don’t want to feel like I have to go every Sunday. I have a life and I don’t think I need to go to church every Sunday to get into heaven.

You go to church, that’s nice. I’m glad you do but don’t tell me every time you see or talk to me that I need to go. Talk to me about normal stuff too.

- I swear
- I have a tattoo
- I like to have a drink with my dinner sometimes
- I do not smoke
- I don’t steal
- I’ve never cheated
- I had sex before I got married
- I pray
- I don’t go to church
- I believe in God
- I respect people
- I am my own person and I want to be treated like everyone else
- I am not a bad person
- I am normal
- I am me

Love me for me.

Happy Birthday

So the boys are two now. Where has time gone. I remember just a short time ago when they were born. Two years ago right now I was still in the hospital. I had Matthew with me. David down in Holden, (the NICU at UofM). I had seen him once last night but that was it so far. Today they unhook me from everything. And I get to take Matthew down with me to see David.

It was crazy.

Today is the boys birthday party. Everyone the boys know and love is going to be there, well the close family. It's going to be at Paul's parents. I did a big party last year with all our cousins and such but that's to much work. This year it's Paul's parents, sister and her family, my parents, my nephew and my best friend who the boys call Aunt Kellie.

Should be fun. We are doing it Backyardigans style.

Happy July!

Things have been crazy around here. Paul and I took time off of work to have a kinda vacation over the 4th of July. We were going to go north to the cabin but Paul's uncle and his family were going up there and that's way to many people in a small cabin. And the gas prices are just way to high.

Wednesday Paul and I went to Mt. Pleasant to gamble just a teeny bit. We decided to have Lonestar for dinner. There was a BAD storm rolling in when we got there. Well just after they brought us our bread and Paul's salad the power went out. We sat there for 20min waiting in it didn't come back on. So we left. They didn't make us pay, they were not making anyone pay. It wasn't busy in there though. We saw an awsome lightening show on the way home.

Thursday we went with Paul's parents to Higgens lake. Had fun that day too. David does NOT like the sand and water combo. Friday we went to Bob & Rhonda's for a cookout. Matthew LOVED their slide. Saturday we went back out to Paul's parents to watch the Nascar race which was a night race. We stayed the night out there then went down to Uncle Gary's pool on Sunday.

So we had a fun and busy weekend.

Oh did I mention that David is finally walking? YAY! We have to get braces for his feet though. He got his flat feet from my Dad. It's making his ankels weak and his knees. His thearapist thinks this is why he walked so late. I'm not worried I just want him to be ok.

Enough Already

Let me start off by staying I AM TERRIFIED OF STORMS. The severe ones anyways. If I am alone I FREAK but if I am with someone then I can stay calm mostly.

I live in Lansing. My InLaw's Sunfield, my SisterInLaw toward Ionia she's just about a mile east of the expressway that heads to Grand Rapids. Friday I was at work and it started storming here right before I left. I drove home in the worst of it. It wasn't bad in Lansing but the Sunfield area where my IL's live got hit HARD. The corner that they live on is the hardest hit area. They live in a quad level house. She was upstairs and she said something didn't feel right. She went down one level to the front door and looked out. She saw something gray swirl by the front door so she scooped up her sandals and headed to the basement. The neighbors across the street lost most of their trees. One is standing sorta and the other has about half left. The whole intersection M-50 & Sunfield HWY is pretty much a distaster. Luckly their house is ok, some minor damage to the roof.

Saturday Paul had to go into work to work in the evening to power down the systems so some electricians could replace some switches. He got home and we were going to go get dinner and groceries. Well I knew there was a storm coming and I didn't want to try to put twins and groceries in the car during a storm. We headed out anyways. Saw lightening and black sky to the west so we got Subway to go. I ran into Meijer to get milk and bananas. When the storm got here it was straight line winds. Half a tree in our backyard fell on our house. Luckly it did no damage. But there is lots of damage to the west side of the city.

Today (Sunday) Paul had to be to work at 5:00am to power the system back up. After he got home my Dad came up to help us get the tree off the house. I spent half the morning on our roof cutting away at the tree so we could get it off the roof. Then we went for a ride to the IL's (who are still without power) to see the damage. I took pics but they don't look as bad as it really is. We drove from there to my SIL's and drove thru another storm. It really wasn't that bad. We get home and our front yard had branches down all over it. A big one fell and hit our other car but didn't do any damage. I had to get out of the car and move branches out of the driveway so we could even park in the drive.I called my Mom and she said there was tornado warnings here and that the storm was as bad this afternoon as it was last night. I'm glad we missed it.

I'm so tired of this crap. We've had enough. The weather needs to relax now. After the storm last night my poor husband has only had two hours of sleep last night. He's already passed out in bed.

Sickies

So all of us had a visit from the sickie germs again. I started it with a sinus infection crud. Then both boys woke up coughing really bad last Thursday luckly I had called in sick that day. I went to the doctors and got meds. Then I took the boys to the doctors. David has penumonia again. Luckly this time we didn't wind up in the ER. So both boys are on meds. Then Sunday Paul got it really bad and he called in Monday and went to the doctors so all four of us have antibiotics. The boys are doing wonderfully. I still have a slight cough and runny nose but that's it. Paul poor guy thinks he's dying because he's sick. But, at least it's warm out. It did rain today which was awsome. We needed it.