Welcome. Come.

Welcome to Quirky Faith. I'm Mindy. While it is accurate to say I'm a Christian I don't typically introduce myself as such. People expect Christians to be mad or judgmental or scared. I'd rather be unexpected. Fun and goofy. Faithful and joyful and full of hope. Quirky. Mostly I have this crazy notion that God built me as an encourager and He expects me to get on with the job.

I grew up in a Christian home. Dad, Mom, Me, little sister. Dog that kept running away. Church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, Bible study. Sounds boring, I know. It wasn't. My mother has eyes that sparkle with fun ideas and my Dad always says yes. And church. Wowsa. Seriously good fun at the potlucks, parades, camp, Vacation Bible School, mission trips. You name it. We did all of it. I prayed a classic prayer of salvation as a three year old and marched forward with confidence in Jesus.

Then I went to college.

And wondered aloud if it was all true.

My wise mother told me she understood. She told me to read, and talk and figure out what I believed. She advised that I not do anything I'd regret if it turned out I was all in. She prayed.

So I paused before jumping ship and I watched.

Mostly I watched my aunt. I watched as she got news that her husband had cancer. I watched as she received word that her 7 year old had leukemia. I watched as she walked through hospitals and hair loss and bone marrow transplants and two funerals and widowhood. And I watched as God and grace and hope and love and laughter were still there. The whole time.

So I prayed a messy sobbing and honest prayer and said to Jesus that I'd love to follow along if He'd still have me. I wonder sometimes where I'd be if my aunt had given up, gone bitter, angry or scared. I'm grateful she didn't. Angry, scared and bitter are not good tools for building a life. Or a church. Or a nation.

If you aren't a believer but you are curious feel free to come on in and watch like I did. Or join in and ask all those questions about things that church people say and do. In fact, I'd love it if you would email me questions - big ones or small. You certainly won't see perfect. But I'm hoping you'll see grace. Lots of grace.

If you are a part of my faith family - Come along. Be encouraged.

Time for some quality control. Send me an email if you find any typos. In fact, I'll make it a contest. First one to email me with a typo to fix gets a coffee on me. As in I'll buy you a coffee. Actual coffee dumped on me is a regular occurence already, we don't need more.

UPDATE: Goodness. My friend Sarah is a speedy editor. She wins coffee! Keep sending my typos and I'll keep buying coffee.