When I was a little boy, my family and I attended an old country church. There were hymns to be sung from a book and padded pews to sit on. Our preacher would sing solos and talk about how his life had been changed by a near- death experience. He was such a nice man and everyone liked him. We had Sunday School in small rooms and learned the famous Bible stories. I remember making a boat out of a bar of Ivory soap, a toothpick and a triangle- shaped piece of paper. The teacher was telling us about the storm that Jesus calmed as He and the disciples were on a lake. It added to the effect when we were allowed to float it in water. I am not sure how much of this seemed to apply to everyday life for me as a child, but I do recall these stories and lessons now. My parents were involved in the children's ministry and I remember my mom having written out the words to songs on a big sketch pad so that we could sing along. My dad was able to draw pictures with chalk that went along with the stories we would hear. They made Children's Church more fun and those few years in there flew by.
I remember old tent revivals complete with sawdust and preachers who seemed to get a little loud when preaching the Gospel. I can't say that I understood all of this. The only thing that I knew was that I was a sinner and Jesus paid the penalty for my sins. This simple faith would carry me until my teenage years when I felt that I could outsin what Christ had already paid for. How important it is to fully understand the work of Christ on the Cross! I'm not sure if there were teaching materials that could have helped explain all of this to me as a young boy. But then again, I don't remember having the questions back then that I would have as an adult. When the world is smaller and simpler, I guess we don't have the questions that we begin to have later on.
There was an elderly lady, from deep in the woods, who would let loose in the Spirit when we would sing songs of Heaven. Her body racked with severe arthritis, she longed for her eternal home so much. It kind of scared me when she would get excited, but I understand better now that she, being in pain, had every right to get excited about meeting Jesus. (Probably not something we think about much or dwell on when we are younger). She did go to meet Him a short time later and I just remember the joy that she had looking forward to that day. I remember the morning I discovered some men digging a grave for a an infant. I couldn't comprehend a good reason for God allowing an innocent child to die. But if I had questions about it, I never remember asking anyone. Just put them into a memory bank and pulled them out later. These early brushes with mortality were more easily handled by the thoughts that Heaven was a real place for real people who had placed their faith and trust in Him.
The church was experiencing a lot of growth during these years and it was time to expand the building. I remember a great tree that would have to be cut down in order to make these plans happen. Someone had the idea to make family altars out of the tree branches so that each family would get one. The limbs were cut and stained to preserve them. The inscription was added: The family that prays together, stays together. How a dose of that might help in today's times. So a new sanctuary was built and we could hold more people now. This gave opportunities to have some of the bigger names in Gospel music to come and perform concerts there. I guess that was the thing that I liked most about going to church was the music. The hymns we would sing, the choir, the pastor and several others who could play guitars and other instruments. They sounded very professional to me and God had blessed them with much talent.
Homecomings at the church were wonderful events, as we celebrated the history of the church and ate together. These seem to be my fondest memories and how well they should be, for we will all gather one day to feast together with our Savior. That seems to be one thing that Baptists do well, cook and eat together. The other kids and I would get to play at length on those Sunday afternoons, under the big oak trees and running around on the property.
I remember counting the window panes in the stained glass windows while the preacher was preaching. I guess I had a short attention span or the sermons were longer than I could stay with. While I'm sure that they were well prepared and well meaning, at my young age, they just didn't resonate. My spiritual development was not what it could have been. Somehow I missed it and translated it as coming to church as much as possible, that church was where we would go, not something that we are. My takeaways were that you attended church every time something was planned and that the pastor was the one responsible for teaching and developing each of us. I am glad that the teaching materials have come a long way since my childhood and that there are practical applications for children now. I just can't seem to recall a lot of those right now.
For some reason my experiences at church seem only to have led me to more questions over the years. Being someone who is a deep thinker; perhaps too deep at times, I have found that pulling out these questions and asking them now has helped me. At a time when my knowledge has grown and I can process things in a more mature way, He gently corrects the wrong thoughts and helps me to put things in the right context and perspective. I am so thankful that we have a Loving Father who is not afraid of our questions. Church can be a messy place and we can pick up some wrong thinking by the things we are taught, whether intentional or not. Life can be different when you have grown up in the church. In many ways we are insulated from things in the world, and everything is viewed through whatever lens is used by the adults that you know and trust. Unfortunately, the lens can be smudged and we can look at things with a more narrow perspective than we should. Looking back now through the lens of the Bible, I can process things better and biblically versus just believing something that was demonstrated incorrectly.
I do not view my journey, especially the early years spent in church as a negative. I believe that God knows what each of us need to walk through in order to build character and shape us for His service. Some of the things that I have experienced have helped shape my heart for service and the passion behind it. The things that are corrected now in my thinking can help others who have come through similar things. As much as our lives are His, the years that we have spent developing our faith and our story can become a great testimony to His Love and Patience with us. As His word says, He can take anything negative and turn it into a positive; to use everything for our good and for His Glory. Nothing is wasted, not even an experience where we may have picked up some incorrect thoughts about His Church and its Purpose. And I would not trade anything for those years spent at the Old Country Church.
I remember old tent revivals complete with sawdust and preachers who seemed to get a little loud when preaching the Gospel. I can't say that I understood all of this. The only thing that I knew was that I was a sinner and Jesus paid the penalty for my sins. This simple faith would carry me until my teenage years when I felt that I could outsin what Christ had already paid for. How important it is to fully understand the work of Christ on the Cross! I'm not sure if there were teaching materials that could have helped explain all of this to me as a young boy. But then again, I don't remember having the questions back then that I would have as an adult. When the world is smaller and simpler, I guess we don't have the questions that we begin to have later on.
There was an elderly lady, from deep in the woods, who would let loose in the Spirit when we would sing songs of Heaven. Her body racked with severe arthritis, she longed for her eternal home so much. It kind of scared me when she would get excited, but I understand better now that she, being in pain, had every right to get excited about meeting Jesus. (Probably not something we think about much or dwell on when we are younger). She did go to meet Him a short time later and I just remember the joy that she had looking forward to that day. I remember the morning I discovered some men digging a grave for a an infant. I couldn't comprehend a good reason for God allowing an innocent child to die. But if I had questions about it, I never remember asking anyone. Just put them into a memory bank and pulled them out later. These early brushes with mortality were more easily handled by the thoughts that Heaven was a real place for real people who had placed their faith and trust in Him.
The church was experiencing a lot of growth during these years and it was time to expand the building. I remember a great tree that would have to be cut down in order to make these plans happen. Someone had the idea to make family altars out of the tree branches so that each family would get one. The limbs were cut and stained to preserve them. The inscription was added: The family that prays together, stays together. How a dose of that might help in today's times. So a new sanctuary was built and we could hold more people now. This gave opportunities to have some of the bigger names in Gospel music to come and perform concerts there. I guess that was the thing that I liked most about going to church was the music. The hymns we would sing, the choir, the pastor and several others who could play guitars and other instruments. They sounded very professional to me and God had blessed them with much talent.
Homecomings at the church were wonderful events, as we celebrated the history of the church and ate together. These seem to be my fondest memories and how well they should be, for we will all gather one day to feast together with our Savior. That seems to be one thing that Baptists do well, cook and eat together. The other kids and I would get to play at length on those Sunday afternoons, under the big oak trees and running around on the property.
I remember counting the window panes in the stained glass windows while the preacher was preaching. I guess I had a short attention span or the sermons were longer than I could stay with. While I'm sure that they were well prepared and well meaning, at my young age, they just didn't resonate. My spiritual development was not what it could have been. Somehow I missed it and translated it as coming to church as much as possible, that church was where we would go, not something that we are. My takeaways were that you attended church every time something was planned and that the pastor was the one responsible for teaching and developing each of us. I am glad that the teaching materials have come a long way since my childhood and that there are practical applications for children now. I just can't seem to recall a lot of those right now.
For some reason my experiences at church seem only to have led me to more questions over the years. Being someone who is a deep thinker; perhaps too deep at times, I have found that pulling out these questions and asking them now has helped me. At a time when my knowledge has grown and I can process things in a more mature way, He gently corrects the wrong thoughts and helps me to put things in the right context and perspective. I am so thankful that we have a Loving Father who is not afraid of our questions. Church can be a messy place and we can pick up some wrong thinking by the things we are taught, whether intentional or not. Life can be different when you have grown up in the church. In many ways we are insulated from things in the world, and everything is viewed through whatever lens is used by the adults that you know and trust. Unfortunately, the lens can be smudged and we can look at things with a more narrow perspective than we should. Looking back now through the lens of the Bible, I can process things better and biblically versus just believing something that was demonstrated incorrectly.
I do not view my journey, especially the early years spent in church as a negative. I believe that God knows what each of us need to walk through in order to build character and shape us for His service. Some of the things that I have experienced have helped shape my heart for service and the passion behind it. The things that are corrected now in my thinking can help others who have come through similar things. As much as our lives are His, the years that we have spent developing our faith and our story can become a great testimony to His Love and Patience with us. As His word says, He can take anything negative and turn it into a positive; to use everything for our good and for His Glory. Nothing is wasted, not even an experience where we may have picked up some incorrect thoughts about His Church and its Purpose. And I would not trade anything for those years spent at the Old Country Church.
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