My family experienced a catastrophic loss just before my seventh birthday. The weeks following were filled with an incomprehensible sadness. My loved ones wept for days on end. During this period of time, the brothers and sisters from the local church were at our home 24-hours a day, seven-days a week, providing care to my parents as well as myself and my siblings. That expression of love made an impression upon me that has never left.
During my teenage years I stopped attending the church meetings. The Lord brought me back to the church life after passing through some personal circumstances. That same love of Christ expressed through the saints when I was a child, welcomed me back as a young adult.
This year marks the 20th that I have been back in the church life. My education and career has led to several relocations, yet the sense I have in each new place is that the local church is my true home.