Finding a Church

I was raised in a small Missouri town on the banks of the Mississippi River. There was one main street in town which ended at the river. The town was nestled between rollin hills ending at the rivers banks. The hills were a garden of Eden no matter the season. I enjoyed a Mark Twain childhood except I wasn't Presbyterian. I had no choice of my religion you just followed family tradition. Which happen to be Baptist or perhaps border line Souther Baptist with-out all of the shouting, It could have been either one? Over time the church plays a major part in my childhood. You learn dos and don'ts from your family, In church you learn that there is another set of dos and don'ts and punishment out side of the family, you are to be God fearing. Nothing is related to your time line.You grow up with the fear of God and a very-very poor understanding of God and the history of religion. When I was twelve my father married a devout Catholic. Her faith and fear of God would put a priest to shame. Today she still holds true to the old Catholic rules, praise to heaven when Mass was again said in Latin. My step mother is devoted to her faith and the Lord will not see her in mass with a bare head. This Baptist boy attended Mass every Sunday by request and kept the faith till age of forty. For several years attended several congregations and read many books on who wrote the bible and the history of religion, I am amazed at some of the church laws, met to hold the flock together and of the severe punishment the church handed out over the ages. Now at age seventy I have my own religion. I am a child of God, created in his image, God is in me and I in him. My search ended at the United Church of Christ. I enjoy its society and a minister who rocks the boat.