Childhood memories

My father went to seminary when I was about 5 in Fort Worth, Texas. So I grew up with a father who was passionate about the scripture. I always saw this as the most unfortunate thing a child could have to deal with. Growing up we were in church Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. Then if the church had any special function, we would go to that as well. I was EXTREMELY shy, and hated all of it. I never felt like I fit in anywhere because we moved around a lot and I didn't make friends easily.

Looking back now, it's of course obvious that I could have had a much rougher childhood. Jacob and I are in the process of becoming certified foster parents, so we have heard stories of children that actually have problems. My father's nightly Bible studies during dinner don't even come close to what could actually be considered 'bad parenting.' But alas, at the time, I thought I had it rough.

You might be wondering where this rambling came from. What took me back to being a 5th grader, sitting around the dinner table reading from my Bible, and hating every minute of it? Well, my Bible reading for today brought me to Genesis 36. This chapter covers Esau's descendants, and is quite literally a list of very hard to pronounce names that never seems to end.

I have a very clear memory of getting in an argument with my father at the dinner table because he was making us read this. It might not have specifically been this chapter, but it was one of these long lists of names that you stutter through when trying to read aloud. I was a kid, and I was not having it!

My father passed away in 2004, and I hate to admit that I didn't really know him well. His death was extremely hard for me to handle because I grew up feeling like he was always shoving Christianity down my throat. I resented him for it almost until the day he died. So even though it's just a silly memory of us at the dinning room table, I am glad I have it, and I laugh to myself now wondering why he didn't just paraphrase this chapter and let us move on.

So to learn from his mistakes, I am simply going to move on....