Chapter 10 of Family Memories-religion in your life

What Part has Religion played in your life?

Lorraine: Church has played a big part in my life and I enjoy going.

John: As kids, we used to go to Sunday School. Mother was 7^th Day Adventist but she sent us to other churches too, like the Presbyterian and Baptist. I don’t think religion plays that big a part of my life.

Marcella: Religion didn’t become that much a part of my life until I was 26.

Arlie: Church has played a good part of my life.

Denny: I became a Christian at age 12 in the local Baptist Church in Port Townsend. Made lots of mistakes but am still forgiven, and still maturing spiritually by direct intervention of God. Figure we’re all given the same choice that Adam and Eve were given. Who do we want to be God? Him or us? From my perspective, it’s easier to let him be God. I don’t consider myself religious but do consider that I have a personal relationship with God, because of Jesus Christ, his Son. The relationship includes personal conversation (prayer), personal training and instruction by Him, Personal discipline, personal care, personal destiny.

Dale: Although I was coaxed in the direction of Christianity, I knew as early as 12 years old that I was agnostic. I didn’t know at the time that there was a name for it. I am still agnostic.

Sue S: Religion has played a big deal in my life. I knew I wanted to marry a Christian and Don has many of the same religious values as I do. I grew up going to church and thought everyone else did the same. I participated in Sunday School and Christian camps in the summer. Jesus works in our lives all the time and I pray regularly. Don and I attend the Catholic Church together.

Joyce: I was baptized in the Catholic Church in June of 1952 but after my folks divorced, my father preferred we go to the Methodist Church. I attended Sunday School each week. When I reached high school, I started to go to the teen group of the church and was initiated by the older teens and ended up falling down a flight of cement steps when they blindfolded me. The preacher was madder than hell and I decided I wasn’t going back. I did get married there, however. One of my regrets in life is that I didn’t insist my kids go to Sunday School. I believe in God and the Bible but I also have believed in reincarnation since the early 1970s.

Janie: Recently joined Trinity Methodist Church. I became a member and soon to be baptized. It’s a renewed item in my life and very necessary.

Jimmy: Religion is a big part of our lives now.  We go every Sunday and sometimes on Saturday night. We have a brand new church. You can look it up on the Internet. Crossroadschurch.com. It’s the largest church in Vancouver,WA and is cool. Our minister talks on the radio everyday at noon across the U.S.

 Marlee: When we were kids,  mom faithfully took us to church every Sunday. When we moved to the harbor, she didn’t like the minister (thought he was a hippie because he had long hair) and we stopped going. When my own kids were four and five, I started taking them to the little Rosedale Church where my husband attended as a kid. They attended that church until they were in middle school.

Cindy: When we were little, mother had us attend a Methodist Church. I never liked Sunday School and cried if I had to go. Most of the time mother let me sit in “big church” with her. As we got older we stopped going. I always did a lot of praying as a kid and still have faith in God. I don’t believe you need to be part of congregation to believe. I think your garden or whatever makes you happy can be your church if you want it to.

Bill: I go to church every week and have for most of my life. My faith has been a strong part of my life and I find daily comfort in knowing that God is guiding and leading me. Although it is not easy at times, I truly believe there is a high power that is working all things together for my good.

Sue W: I’m not sure how I feel about religion except that all I really learned from it is how to accept who I was/am and to treat those around me with the respect they deserve. I try to live my life as I believe God wants me to live it. Just in case there is a God, I want to be on the safe side. I do believe in God I guess. It’s Jesus I don’t. All religions ultimately believe in the higher power of God but not all adhere to Jesus and that’s what I pretty much go by.

Mary: I have a basic understanding of religion but there is much I don’t know. I went through a spiritual search in my late 20’s and I think I am still looking for answers. I don’t quite understand in faith but I want to. I don’t go to church but I’d like to find one that has good music, extra-curricular programs and a weekly sermon that I can apply to everyday life.

Tiffany: I go to a Pentecostal Church with my mother. I go to Living Water Christian Assembly #12. I think God has played a tremendous role in my life. I know I’d be divorced right now if he wasn’t in my life. It’s a scary thought wondering what my kids would be life if I wasn’t a Christian. I have to thank God every day for blessing me.