1. You always had church songs stuck in your head
"Lord I lift you name on high"
2. Church camps/retreats were always the best time of the year
There's something about praying/playing dodgeball with a group of people that will bond you for life.
3. You grew up attending your church's Vacation Bible School
And as soon as you became too old to attend you became a volunteer for it
4. When your friends invited you to sleep over on Saturday's you always had to say "Sure, but my mom will be picking me up by 8:30 a.m. for church."
Or if a friend slept at your house on a Saturday your mom said "tell them it's fine if they sleep over here but they'll have to come to church with us in the morning."
5. You've been scolded by an adult who wasn't your parent
And your parents would tell you that "it takes a village to raise a child."
6. Veggie Tales.
"And now it's time for silly songs with Larry, the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song" (you're lying if you didn't read that with the voice).
7. You would always try to touch the baptismal water to see if it was cold or not
It usually was.
8. When you were being disrespectful your parents would always hit you with "Honor thy father and thy mother"
9. You had friends who didn't celebrate Halloween and couldn't watch "Harry Potter," "Hercules" or "Aladdin."
And the weekend before Halloween the message at Sunday School would always be about how Halloween isn't real and the path to heaven is through Christ alone.
10. When you started middle school you got the constant lectures about wearing modest clothing
"So as not to be a stumbling block" "Modest is hottest"
11. At birthday parties and other events growing up you always had to introduce your "church friends" to your "school friends"
And they didn't always get along
12. Most of the adults you know, you know because of church
Shoutout to my pastor, youth leaders, adult volunteers, etc for being the beginning of my networking
13. Women in the church always wanted to meet your boyfriends and decide if he was good enough for you
We always take our men "saved, shaved and well-behaved". "The couple that prays together stays together." "Save room for Jesus". We've heard them all.
14. The number one thing you got asked when you came home for the first time since college was "have you found a good church?"
Hopefully, by now, we've all found a church that we love but our home churches are where we grew up and they'll always have a special place in our hearts.