Hi everybody. just joined this morning. I had some trepidation about joining here at first but then decided I needed the connection/fellowship more than I was scared.
About me...well, like many of you I started out more conservative, then got spiritually wrung out by several confusing and painful life issues, which I don't care to elaborate on now. (I became a Christian about 30 years ago, about age 10.) Suffice for now that while they didn't quite destroy my faith, they did considerably alter it, so here I am. I'm not really much of a churchgoer at present. Like many of you I have severe trust issues with churches. I do attend a Unitarian Universalist congregation in my area occasionally, but my wife is more active because of the women's group there. The trust issues are mostly my own and not necessarily the fault of specific churches, and certainly not this particular church.
I still self-identify as a Christian, but it's more of a Borg/Crossan/Spong liberal type.
I've been married for 11 years; my wife and I celebrated our anniversary last weekend. I don't have children of my own but I do have a beautiful and kind stepdaughter, herself married for several years and who has a one-year old. My wife and I also have a very beautiful, attentive and humorous male cat.
As for hobbies, mostly I like reading and writing. I particularly like fantasy/SF and I chose my user name, Merlin Athrawes, after a primary character in David Weber's "Safehold" series which I am now reading.
I'm an avid motorsports fan and particularly follow Indycar, F1, the various USAC dirt racing divisions, and motorcycle racing. I once liked NASCAR and still follow it enough to like some drivers (particularly Mark Martin and Tony Stewart) and follow the various soap opera plots; but nowadays my wife is much more enthusiastic about it. I simply don't like a lot of the things they're doing now, particularly the interesting race officiating and the right-wing sensibilities of their core fan base.
I like good music of almost all types, but am more partial to 80s pop and rock, jazz,and folk. I like some CCM so I'm not entirely evil lol. Seriously, back in the day Susan Ashton was my favorite singer and actually in some ways still is. I also liked (and actually still like) Russ Taff, Michael Card, and Margaret Becker, even though per my current beliefs I process them differently today than back then.
Well good to meet you all and I hope I started on the right foot.
