There I was, sitting at a table with several   women working on scrapbooking at Lord of Life in Thornton, Colorado. I was there with my daughter and granddaughters.

Actually, if it hadn’t been for my daughter and granddaughters and the scrapbooking, a hobby I really enjoy, I would most certainly not have been there! I had a problem with a WELS church earlier in life, and my feeling was that hell could freeze over before I ever set foot in one again! If anything, my feelings of alienation were stronger than they were 30 years ago. I just should have stayed home, but I hadn’t even come in my own car!

For most of my life I had struggled with church. I had descended to the point that I thought nobody really believed in God and Jesus. My thoughts were not very positive. I thought that we all just pretended so we could cope with this life. Anybody who knew anything could see that a real belief just didn’t hold water. If I continued the ranting in my mind, I would think about religion as the “opiate of the masses,” and if God existed he was sure doing a good job of keeping that fact hidden.

My mother had died, and her funeral was just before I went to the scrapbooking event. She had been in the throes of dementia for seven years and didn’t even know who I was. Because of the bad economy, my husband had lost his job. Since he was also diagnosed with a serious illness, our money situation looked grim.

But back to the scrapbooking event. My daughter leaned over and whispered, “There’s the pastor!”

I mumbled under my breath, “Yeah, he looks like a WELS pastor!” as this dude with a friendly smile started to come toward us. To say the least, I wasn’t feeling very friendly!

The unexpected happened

What exactly happened next? What did he say after he said hello? I can’t tell you. All I know is that I asked him questions—no, grilled him for two hours would be more accurate. I can tell you, though, that he answered every single question I asked. That had never happened before, and, believe me, I had asked! I was intrigued. I was curious.

My daughter, who had been too young to remember the problem I had experienced with the previous WELS church, was attending a few services at the church. She was interested in attending the membership classes. And, by the way, the grandchildren were singing at a service on Sunday. Would I like to go hear them sing? NO . . . well, yes.