I was in the same kind of church only a different denomination when I was a child...They discouraged self-esteem and yelled from the pulpit that we were all going to hell for dancing, Rock-n-Roll, play8ing cards etc... but that didn't turn me on...I would fall asleep while they yelled hellfire for mankind... but when I was baptised...as I came up out of the water...I was surrounded by cheering angels and God said, "He is set aside." I had no idea what that meant but it was cool to see angels and here God speak...

In any case... I left that church after I met God in my early 20's and I tried dozens of other churches but they just didn't match the real thing and I could never put myself under the submission of someone who didn't have the foggiest notion of who God was...At least the God I knew and talked to all day long... I just couldn't sit in a church for any length of time without wanting to walk out when they started lying about God. I still go to church from time to time but I kind of changed my way of seeing things.

I did habitat for humanity for years and that was the best kind of church I ever experienced. We would say a prayer and start helping some family build their home that helped some other families build thier home... That to me was "the real thing." I started a club in college fixing up houses for diabled folks who fell through the cracks of Habitat and that was very rewarding...putting a roof over someone's head that had Alzheimers or paralyzed or too old to help themselves... That was as close to walking the walk as I have ever been... but it was amazing to me the folks who would show up to help... The Christians would come out in numbers but the Pagans and athiests were the most loyal...they would show up with a hammer and a true heart for helping when noone else wnated to because it was cold or rainy...they were there to help... I knew during those moments that thier act of "walking the walk" would transcend this life and even if they didn't believe... I knew thaere acts of loving kindness would follow them from this life into the next...

I knew other Christians that believed that the work they were doing was a better substitute for church and they would go out on Sundays with me and stop the rain from pouring into some little old ladies house... Angels surrounded us during those days ^& no one was hurt... I would pray for angels to prtect everyone and it always worked out wonderfully... bulding lives...

In any case, I have visited other countries and found that other cultures are family focused and charity ends with blood relatives and friends... "The Good Samaritan" parable seems to draw some Christians into doing "good works" for those not from their own family... but if anyone started building a strawbale home and invited their neighbors to help... and they offered food and music to anyone helping out... I bet the same effect would work anywhere in the world... I am sorry for the stream of consciousness writing...I do that sometimes...just to get it out...I hope it is understandable... Thank you for drawing out those memories I have of those building days... and reminding me of those hellfire days as well. Sometimes we can't know freedom until we experience slavery.

If I get a chance to come back again...and I had a dream that I would..I was going to help people build sustainable homes that required not heating or airconditioning and used almost no energy... There is a new age coming and it will be a time of wonder and healing for the lives of every living thing on earth and for the planet as well...at least that was in my dream...vision..knowing...