My Story--pt 2

Sex and pot tended to be the culprits. (What a way to start an entry!) Lucky me, I usually got to hear it before anyone else. Throughout high school I had most of my closest friends (and some that were not so close) have the “Well, I finally did it” conversation with me. Even as I am writing this I pray that I responded appropriately to my friends’ confessions. At my core I despised the sin, but even then I knew that expressing that needed to be tempered with love. I don’t know if I did that well or not. Regardless, once those lines were crossed these friends consistently behaved as if there was no turning back.

I share this for a few reasons. First--to say that God’s hand was on my life, protecting me from those situations. I was so sheltered that when, last year, one of my students had (accidentally) left her baggie of green leaves behind, I had to get a co-worker to confirm that yes indeed it was what I thought it was. Second—because if I had sinned in a “major” way like that, I might have followed the paths of my friends and just walked away from God.

I felt—as my friends had—that there was no room in the church for Christian sinners. Pre-Christian sinners, of course, were welcome. I can’t tell you how this was communicated to us. There were certainly no sermons on the evils of smoking cigarettes or dancing. We were taught about the consequences—spiritual and emotional—of pre-marital sex, but there was seldom mention of redemption after the fact. I had a long conversation about this with my husband driving to Eugene a few weekends ago. We agreed that if we sat down with any of the staff members of the church, they would communicate exactly the appropriate steps and behaviors towards a “Christian sinner.” However I feel like the atmosphere of the church was not conducive to restoring a fellow believer to righteousness. The key word here is “feel.” Maybe if I had been the one to fall away, I would have a different outlook.

To be continued...(just 1 more part--hang on!)