My faith journey could probably best be described as a meandering stroll with no clear cut destination or set of goals. I happened to stumble into a faith community that showed me something that had been missing in my life and I am truly grateful that I found this important missing ingredient.

I grew up a Catholic in a small, Midwestern town. I was an altar boy, attended Catholic elementary school (yes I had nuns as teachers) and an all-boys Catholic high school. My ties to the Catholic Church were pretty much severed upon my entrance to college. I attended Catholic mostly for the obligatory weddings and funerals but my spiritual pursuits took a back seat to family and career.

Throughout my married life, we moved around a bit and seemed to gravitate to one of the local Presbyterian Churches, mostly due to my wife’s background. We did this to give our two daughters some grounding in religion and association with other kids. One of those experiences was positive and perhaps left the door open a crack to pursue something in the future.

It seemed that every time I began to open the door to examine my spiritual side it was quickly closed due to my skepticism about scripture and dogma. What I did not realize at the time was that the existence and belief in the virgin birth, to use an example, was really not that important in the scheme of things. However, I truly felt that I had to be true to myself and my beliefs in order to take the next big step. Therefore, it did not happen.

When we joined Central about 5 years ago, it was because of a request to me by my late wife. Her terminal illness was progressing and she felt the need to establish a church home - I tagged along. It did not take very long for me to begin to see what this “God thing” was all about. It was apparent that the people I met and got to know at Central truly possessed an unselfish form of love that seemed to be the essence of, perhaps unknowingly, what I had looked for previously. It became clear to me that the unselfish caring and love possessed by these people was a manifestation of the goodness of God. It became clear to me that this is what I had yearned for but was not even aware of it myself.