The Next Step

I realize that you have been on pins and needles waiting to read more of my story on becoming charismatic.  Sorry I wasn't able to sit and blog yesterday.

So we already looked at my MB background.  The summer before my 8th grade year (1986) my family and I moved to Madera Ranchos.  It was there on the first day of school at Webster Elementary (K-8) that I met a girl who, along with her family, would have great influence over my spiritual path.  Her name was Monica Daniels.  (Some of you may know of her father Charlie Daniels, of the music store that once was in Fresno.)  I became great friends with her and began to hang out a lot at her home.  Her family was so loving to me.  Her mother has a true servant's heart that I can only attempt to emulate.  Her father (and mother) were so grounded in their faith.  Everything came back to God.  Everything was about and for God.  It was openly discussed and real to them.  I felt at peace and truly loved unconditionally when I was with them.  Then I was invited to go to church with them one day.  Somehow I was allowed to go.  That sounds weird, but it was very important to my parents that we go to church as a family every Sunday, and sometimes Sunday nights, and most Wednesday nights.  (Actually, the commitment to meeting with the body is one excellent thing instilled in me by my parents.  I was raised to make it a priority over everything else.  When I went to look for a job I was taught that I had to stand firm in scheduling to not work on Sundays.  My dad told me that any job worth having would allow me to go to church and would see that as an asset, rather than a problem.  I have always been up front when looking for a job to let them know that church meetings are a priority.  It has never stopped me from getting a job, that I know of.)  But for some reason I didn't know if my parents would let me go to church with a friend, but after asking a couple of times and assuring them that they were protestant like us, I was allowed to go.  (That's how I remember it anyway.  There may have been no issues at all with letting me go, knowing she was protestant and not mormon like some of my other friends who invited me to dances.)  Anyway, I went to Abundant Life Chapel with the Daniels' one Sunday.  And the rest, they say, is history.

I will continue this story later today I hope...