Detour

Part 2, maybe
Throughout junior high and high school, I attended the First United Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, a beautiful elegant church in downtown Albuquerque with one of the largest pipe organs in the state of New Mexico. The music was amazing especially when Goodsell Slocum, the main organist, played.
The youth group was a strange hodge podge of popular and whatever the other group is called, although we all got along okay - it was never a close personal or spiritual experience. I disliked going most of the time, but stuck around for youth choir and often stayed for "youth group" - the only explanation is that the Lord intended for me to stay with that youth group because I have almost no memory of the group just the feeling that it was a task and obligation.
So when I graduated high school and left for Las Cruces' New Mexico State University, I gratefully exited from church as well. I never thought God was dead - a popular debate in the 60s, but I sure didn't want Him around much to mess with my college life!

There was always this vague feeling that God was an important part of my life, but it was very vague and I kept it well buried most of the time. It was all a surface performance and I loved the beauty of "my" home church, so it was good to go back to First Pres when I was home. Because I was very involved in Rainbow Girls (Grand Charity my Freshman year), the "religious thing" was still a part of my life but I made sure it didn't interfere much. After all, I was a university scholar now, and God was just way too simple, plus you just didn't want to confess that part of your being (I still have trouble with that at times - sigh!).
And so the college years continued.
Mike and I married in 1973 in the church in Albuquerque - there was never any question in my mind that I had to be married in the church, by the minister, in the eyes of the Lord - hmmmm looking back - that faith step way back in 5th grade was still an influence.
Then - in graduate school, after I was married - two people became very central to the Lord's work. One of my best friends, Kim Greenhaw, became an avid Jesus freak - whoa now, what was going on? And a fellow grad student began to talk to me about a close relationship with Jesus - ANOTHER Jesus freak..... well I had made that commitment years ago in 5th grade.......
It seemed that my life was about to change.