Don B

This verse is a part of scripture that I have tried to follow all my life. To forgive: do not wait until it is too late. This is a way to prepare to meet Christ.

My favorite hymn is “I will Sing of My Redeemer.” It is uplifting and it shows the way we should feel about Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I also like the song “Down to the River to Pray,” by Alison Krause from the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.”

I went to Our Lady of the Valley School for first grade. Then we moved to the shore and I attended St. Peter’s by the Sea in Point Pleasant Beach. I went for two years. When they tried without success to change me from writing left-handed, I began to stutter; so my mother took me out and sent me to public school.

I attended the Visitation Roman Catholic church. It was there that I met a wonderful man who drove me to church every Sunday and helped me with my First Communion classes. At age 12 we moved again, and I did not continue to attend church, because there was not a Catholic church nearby. As a child I felt that God was unattainable, but in my adult life Jesus became my intermediator.

From my teens until my early forties, I did not attend church. My focus in life at that time was on the ways if the world and not God. In my twenties I met my future wife. Twenty years later I was still focused on the ways of the world, my wife, children, job, and travel. My life did not include God or the church.

By my mid-forties I joined a Presbyterian Church in southern New Jersey, when I realized that I needed to set an example for my children. I hoped that they would become more aware of God’s presence and teachings in their lives. I became very involved in all the activities available.

We moved to Delaware in 1998. Again I chose not to have God as my central focus. Then in 2003 I realized that something was missing in my life. It was God and church. It was at this time I began attending a Presbyterian church close to home. I felt the church was very welcoming and friendly. The first two people I met made me feel at ease.