Why I left Evangelical Christianity Pt. 2

Though the school I attended was not a seminary, the education and the experience was exceptional. Sharing chapels, lunches and retreats with fellow students and professors really stretched me in appropriate ways. Since many students who attended were from other christian denominations, my understanding of who was "christian" expanded. Studying literary criticism exploded my ideas about who actually wrote the bible. Ideas that were introduced in school have confused, confounded, enlightened and informed me, and continue to do so. It was an inflection point in my faith journey. 

I think at this point it is worth noting that faith is truly a journey and it is different for everyone. My understanding now is much different than it was 35 years ago and hopefully it will continue to evolve. To be a seeker is to be open to what life brings, both good and bad, filter it through the lens of faith and see the goodness on the other side. The alternative is stagnancy, bitterness and despair. Been there, done that and not interested in going back. 

Anyway, we enjoyed our time in Austin, and soon after graduation we were heading to Seattle, WA to meet up with a team that was going to Hungary. We had met some of the teammates in Hungary during a campaign the summer before. Everything was falling into place. It must be "God's will"! To be fair, things really had fallen into place. We were able to get our belongings moved for free, we had a place to stay when we got there and I had a job lined up.  At to this point we had a 21 month old son and a 3 month old daughter.

The team consisted of 3 couples and six singles. We became a tight community, having multiple retreats and meetings working out our plans. Anytime you get that close to people some conflict arises, but in the end there was a lot of love in that group. At the end of our 9 month team-building exercise we all attended a month-long mission seminar in Abilene Christian University in Texas. At the end of the seminar, it was decided that our family would not be going with the team to Hungary. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I was devastated.  We had spent 3 years preparing. We had sold off a lot of our possessions and had moved half way across the country. What happened? In September of 1990, we watched as the team left for Hungary and we were left behind.