Theology Thursday: An Introduction

Had you asked me some twenty or so years ago if I was interested in converting to Catholicism, I would have likely chuckled at the idea and said no. It wasn't that I thought Catholics were laughable or that the idea of converting to Catholicism was laughable, but I felt so close to God as a Southern Baptist Christian that the idea of leaving that faith practice for anything else would have been amusing -- no matter what you put in that blank -- Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, etc. The Catholic faith seemed an odd thing to me with all its rituals and rites and various trappings and the Southern Baptist faith was so simple and straightforward. It was comfortable and familiar. Eventually though, comfortable and familiar ceased being enough. I grew hungry for spiritual nourishment that I wasn't getting in my home church. That led me to begin a journey that took a good ten years which eventually ended with my confirmation in the Catholic Church. At some point, I am going to write out my story about how I did wind up Catholic, but that's a story for another day.

A Little About My Beloved Gray

It's another last minute post today. I started writing something which I think will eventually develop into a kind of thoughtful post, but just couldn't get my thoughts quite coordinated in a coherent way. So here I am again, stuck at the last minute, feverishly typing and trying to at least get *something* posted instead of nothing.

I thought about trying to write something just straight from the heart, expressing my feelings at the moment, but thought that might come across as too sappy or something. Basically what I'm feeling right now is grateful. I'm sitting in our bed with Gray sound asleep beside me, completely oblivious to how much love I am feeling toward him at this very moment. I haven't talked much about him on my blog, but it isn't for a lack of things to say. It is more that I can't talk about him without telling everyone how much I love him and what a wonderful husband and father he is. Like everyone, he has his faults and sometimes he really sticks his foot in his mouth or does something that leaves me feeling really hurt and frustrated, but at the end of the day, he is the perfect man for me. He is who God chose for me. One of the things he told me when we had just been engaged for a little while is that he truly believes that God created him for the express purpose of being my husband. That was the whole point in God creating him -- to be my husband. The Catholic Church views marriage as something that is both a vocation (or lifelong calling) and a sacrament. Gray takes his roles as husband and father very seriously. I have never for a moment doubted that for him, his marriage vocation comes first in everything. He's kinda awesome :)