Choosing my religion

Last Sunday, I did something I've never done in my life: I went to church by myself.

I'm a big people person, and for some reason, the thought of doing something by myself has never been that appealing to me. I can go to Wal-Mart by myself or to the mall by myself, and it's no big deal. Living by myself has made me a lot more comfortable doing things alone than I used to be. I can't imagine ever going to the movies or out to eat by myself, but going to church alone was actually kind of nice.

The church I go to here is ER's church. I've been several times over the last two or three years with her and her family, and even a few times without them. Her church is actually a different religion than mine. It's more liberal than the Baptist church (I was raised Baptist), but so are my beliefs. I really like this church. I like the members, the pastors and the tone of the sermons. I feel comfortable at that church.

I've been thinking lately about becoming a member there, but I'm not really sure what to do. I don't want to join a church only to attend every few weeks (can you even do that?). With everything still up in the air with K this fall, my future in Dallas is pretty uncertain. If K deploys this fall, I won't be spending all those weekends on the road driving to see him, so I'll most likely join the church. If he doesn't deploy, I'll be moving in May, so I'll just go to the church when we're in town. It wouldn't make sense to join.

One of the things that really appeals to me about this church is that I see it as a good compromise. K was raised Catholic, and this church seems to be a good balance between the Catholic and Baptist religions. The thought of converting to Catholicism is a little scary to me for some reason, but joining this church doesn't seem like such a big change.

The pastor is out of town this week, so I guess that gives me time to think things over and even talk about it with K when I see him this weekend. I think we're going to meet with his priest while I'm there too, so it'll be interesting to see if that comes up with him.

We won't have definite word on K's deployment until August or September, and I probably won't take any steps toward joining the church until after that news. At least that gives me plenty of time to think things over, talk to K about it, and ask plenty of questions with ER and maybe even the pastor before I make my decision.