My name is Greg. I grew up on a cattle and tobacco farm in a small rural area of western Kentucky. However, after attending North Carolina State University, I have lived in North Carolina my entire adult life. I grew up in a small Southern Baptist church but eventually left the faith for a while before rediscovering Jesus at a church in Huntersville, NC. I am a father, an avid reader, a fan of most sports and enjoy long, thought-provoking conversations over a cup of coffee or a beer. I don’t actively promote this blog so if you’ve found it by accident, I hope you enjoy. I mainly created it as a way learning a little more about the internet and websites and having a place to archive my ideas and writings.
Reflections and observations along life's journey
Halo Greg,
Ny name is Grace. I lived in the Netherlands but originally I born and lived 38 years of my life in Indonesia but then I married with the man I love dearly and moved with him to the Netherlands.
I study the bible more deeper than before in my life just for the past 5 years though I was born in Christian family and got baptized since I was 12 years old.
Recently my study is about Jonah and I found your blog very much delightfull, satisfying, deep, and give a fresh perspective. Which makes me want to know more who wrote this and I choose the menu ‘about me’ and read it through but then 2 questions strikes me and I would like to ask this to you. Not necessarily you have to answer me if you dont feel comfort but I just feel I need to addressed it.
1. Why you left your faith for a while ?
2. And Have you been ‘back’ ?
I am sorry if this makes you discomfort
Thank you in advance
Grace
Hi Grace,
Thank you for visiting the site and reading the commentary about Jonah. I am honored and it made my day!
As far as leaving the faith is concerned, I wrote a little about this in “Corn Fields and Yard Sales” (from an apologetics angle though), but it’s a hard question to answer. At this point in my journey, I look back and question if what I had before was actually faith.
To expand a little on my background, I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church in a small town in Kentucky. Every Sunday, the pastor would give a sermon telling us we (or people in general) were despicable, shameful sinners that were going to be burned and tortured in the fires of hell for eternity if we didn’t repent and confess Jesus is Lord. As a six or seven year old sitting in the pews, this wrathful God scared me. I’m 52 now so this was a long time ago. Even so, I can remember the trauma and anxiety I experienced like it was yesterday. I was Baptized at eight because of those sermons. But honestly, I probably would have been better off to have never attended church during those years. Everyone experiences life differently, but those days left me with wounds which still haven’t healed. I still struggle with not being enough and trying to fill my “empty cup” in sometimes harmful ways. And yet most would say I have lived a privileged life.
Have I returned to my faith? Yes. It’s been a 20 year struggle to figure out what that means but I am part of a loving community of Jesus followers. Many are like me and working hard to discard the baggage you tend to accumulate when you come from the Southern Baptist denomination. But the reason I can say I actually returned and stayed is because I started getting to know Jesus and the more I learned the more I was hooked. I was hooked by the grace, the command to love your enemies and the path of peace. I was hooked by the humility, the empathy and the strength. Jesus knew who he was and was comfortable enough in his identity to not worry about what others thought of him. I love Jesus and it’s his message of equality and the affirmation we are all made in the image of God which gives me hope we can be a little better today than we were yesterday. I don’t pretend to have it figured out yet. I just try to keep moving forward, which is hard because sometimes it would be easier to quit.
Again, I am deeply grateful for your comments and reaching out to know more. My world just got a little bigger thanks to you so I was thrilled to answer your questions. Never expected the blog to amount to much, but to know it was helpful to one person made it all worth it. I’m blessed.
Take care and best regards,
Greg