NEVER TOO LATE!

Dear Pious Bob, My mother tried to get me to go to church during all my childhood to no avail. I just didn't feel comfortable when I attended on occasion and especially when I tried youth group one time. It seemed like I needed to meet some expectation of others and the cookie cutter mentality of the youth group made me feel like a robot in a relationship with God. I'm now in my 40's and want to have more of a relationship with God, but I'm afraid to get into a church and be subject to the cookie cutter again. I've been absent from church life for so long, I feel inferior to other Christians, even though I have faith in God. Can you give me some advice?
Thanks,
Richard the Late

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Dear Richard the Late,

Don't ever think it's too late!  Churches are made for one kind of people.  So you think that excludes you, do you?  That one kind of people represents all of us.  That is, all of us who are on a spiritual journey trying to know and understand God more and more in our lives.  We are all in different places on our journey, but that doesn't make one person better than another.  It's the "seeking" that counts and none of us will find perfect understanding until we pass from this life into God's Kingdom. "²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25. 

That's the Godly "cookie cutter", that we all be shaped to seek Him and surrender to Him in our lives.  Christian Community is the best place to do this.  God works through us and our brothers and sisters in sending His Love and Grace to others and to us.  You must give Christian Community a chance and not feel inferior in your involvement.  Jesus reminds us in saying, ^"26It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,²⁷and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave;²⁸just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Matthew 20: 26-28. God will use you to impact the lives of those in community with you.  You are a Christian leader just waiting to fulfill your potential.  Don't pass up the chance.  God is counting on you!