Steps Along the Journey

Okay. Before this blog becomes duller-than-dirt and my readers all get that glazed-over look, thinking, "She's going to just sit there day after day, and chronicle her life for us. Whoopee."...let me say, this is going to be the condensed version.

The main reasons I mention my time at college are twofold: first, I met my husband there. Very important part of life! Second, it was a time of great changes and formation in my spiritual life. I began as a music major, but ended up graduating with a degree in missions. I never intended to find myself a husband, either. But God gave me a very dear friend, who I fell in love with, and eventually married. I'm so blessed to be on this journey with him.

We spent the early years of our marriage in ministry of various forms. We ministered in the inner city of Detroit for awhile. We were youth pastors in a couple of churches. My husband worked on staff at a center for those with life-controlling problems (alcohol abuse, drug abuse, etc.). We ended up in a small church, pastoring a great group of people.

During this time, my husband began to wonder where he got his authority from, to teach the things he taught about Scripture. I mean, the bottom line is, ANYONE can say, "The Spirit told me to say such-and-such..." But where was the authority to say, "This is what the Church has always taught, and I am not the only one saying this."?? This led him to a study of the early Church Fathers: those who were discipled by the twelve Apostles and their disciples. Without going into a long, drawn out explanation, suffice to say, we needed to make some changes.

We left our pastorate, and became part of a communion of churches that were claiming just that: to be a part of the churches that taught the faith as handed down for centuries, beginning with the Apostles. Our journey had to continue from there, though. This was simply another group trying to say that the Church had made mistakes, and they were there to correct them. We were looking for the Church.

And now, we are attending a Roman Catholic Church. Wow. Not where I thought the journey would take us. As I said in my original post, it's a scary journey. I am learning things about the Catholic Church that I never thought were true. There are still lots of questions, but I think there always will be. That's how we grow in our faith.

And so the journey continues...I hope you can bear with me along the path.