Child Christian

I was raised in the church. I’m sure you’ve heard many people say that as have I, but I do mean that quite literally. The church my mother took me to also had a private school, an academy that began from babies to 2^nd grade. So, from infancy I went to this academy Monday through Friday, where we took part in daily devotionals in the sanctuary, where we learned our ABC’s through scripture (A. All have sinned and come short of the glory of Gd Romans 3:23), where most of the teachers were members of that church. Then on Sunday, I would return to this same location and just about the same group of adult and children at 7am for breakfast, Sunday School and Childrens’ Church and lunch. Furthermore, my mother worked for a hospital so she was always either at work, on call for work, or on her way to work.  She ended up asked one of the academy’s teachers whom I favored to babysit me. This meant, Monday after school, I would stay at the school a bit later with this woman, help her clean or set of her classroom, go home with her where we would review what I learned of the Bible and Jesus that day, pray, watch Christian television (if television at all), return to the church for Cell (Bible study) or evening service, go back to her house, listen to Moody Radio (I liked their stories) go to bed, wake up in the early morning, go to the academy to open the doors and do the whole thing over again. This woman, whom I often called Mom and till this day consider to be my mom (I feel I have two mothers). Along with the other teachers/members of the church and their children have photos of me laying in their arms, barely able to walk, then running, learning to eat, learning to write, giving Christmas speeches in the academy and in the church, graduating Kindergarten, and graduating high school. I believe I spent more time in that church from ages 1 day to 9 years old more so than my own home.  Once I entered a grade the academy did not offer, I went to a private by location school and assumed everyone was a Christian. And, just about everyone at that school was, except for the first person I met whom became my bestfriend, Samantha, Jew. When she told me she didn’t celebrate Christmas, which I didn’t even understand was an option to celebrate. When she told me she was a Jew, I responded, Oh, like Jesus. I could go on and on about being raised in a single community for the 1^st 9 years of my life and how, since those were the only people I met, I assumed everyone was likewise- nice, wanting the best for me, giving and receiving hugs, and Christian- but I think I’ll save that for my stand up routine. There was not only a breakdown of learning that there were other religions out there, but also a sudden fear of people. I began to hear stories of children being abducted, taken by this ominous “stranger”, people punching and touching children and eventually, slowly but surely, I learned that outside of that community I lived in, it was bad to be a Christian. People hated Christians. Christians were the ones that told people they were going to Hell, which people considered to be rude, and Christians considered to be stating the facts. Christians were the ones that held posters, shouted at people to obey their god, burned down abortion clinics that may or may not have been empty, and were often found to be judgmental and hypocritical. Telling someone that I was a Christian was something I was only to do after I could tell he/she was a Christian too. Though, I must admit, it is a habit and true quality of mine to pray before every meal, so If anyone was around me just before I commenced in eating, they would see me bow my head and close my eyes, and one could assume I worship Christ Jesus as Lord.

The older I became, the more strenuous it became in wanting to love Gd, being obedient to Gd, and keeping it on the “down low” that I was in fact a Gd worshipper. In this instance, when I say strenuous I’m being particular to the portion of which for some reason the world, people, expect Christians to be perfect and people are ready for, looking for, any speck, fault, or weakness they can find in a Christian to berate the Christian with. Now, I’m sure there was a faction or even decade of Christians who do walk about piously, nose in air, judging everyone that comes across their path, but for people to judge every Christian based on the one Christian they’ve met who was like that, was becoming a bit ridiculous. The reason why I specify one Christian is because, well, once I talk to this aggressively against Christians classmate about their animosity towards Christians, they usually couldn’t tell me of a time they actually witnessed a group of Christians or a church doing what this person is enraged over. AND, if they could think of a situation, it was usually a situation with one Christian.