Where We Be

We went to church tonight for Good Friday service, and service was great.


But it was also challenging to be there.  


One possible reason is:  my wife and Hoss have been staying home on Sunday mornings while I go to church.  We agreed on this arrangement because we felt it was appropriate for this stage of our lives.  When we know Hoss is farther along cognitively, we can work with him to understand the differences in social settings so he can know when to be still and when to be active.


Also, factoring in his personality, it would be crazy to keep up with him while at church:  he's a bit of a climber.  And explorer.


Tonight, however, we all went to church together.  And keeping up with Hoss was challenging, but nothing less of what was to be expected.


I think a more challenging part of tonight was the overwhelming feeling of being judged.  I didn't say anything to my wife, but when we left, she put into words exactly what I had felt while there.


Perhaps we are just in a defensive mindset.  I mean, anyone reading this can probably go back and count all the posts I've written that involve me (or both of us) feeling judged by one person or another.  So maybe it isn't really the people who are making us feel this way.


Maybe it is just us.


I guess we are a pretty sensitive couple, and I've often lamented how overly sensitive I can be.  It usually makes for more complication that is necessary, I've found.


Or it could be that they really were judging us.  I guess it doesn't really matter.  We won't ever find out (thankfully), and even if we did, what difference would it be to us?


Now we are re-visiting the idea of finding a different church to attend.  Our area, however, isn't very conducive for that.  Not for lack of options, but lack of options that would fit our lifestyle.  Here is my idea of the church we would probably do well in, right now:

• Something a lot like where we attend now (doctrinally and so forth)
• You can keep your children with you in service, and no one cares

I guess that's pretty much it: just wanting a place where children are not considered a burden.  But the more I think about it, the more I realize we probably aren't going to find that anywhere, much less here.

Do you know of a church like that?  If you attend church, have you found it difficult with wanting to keep your children with you in service?  Or is it just crazy that we should even ask for something like that?  Isn't that what children's church is for?  Please let me know what you think in the comments section!  I'd love to hear your view.


Thanks and God bless...


-Update-
    Here is the other part(s) of this series:
    Where We Be, Part II