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Carp,
Thanks for the kind words.
One of the things that really helped my wife and ourself through that period of time in our lives was the wonderful spirit and attitude our pastor, Kenneth Phllips, had towards those kinds of things.
When we expressed our hurt and disappointment to him over how we were being treated he counseled us to not become bitter or hold anything against folks. He said words that have stuck in my mind these past 24 years. It was simply that we were "flying with the eagles" and not to let things like this get us down.
I realized then that I could live in my past and be hurt by it or I could look forward and move on. I chose to move on. If I had gotten bitter and developed a bad attitude at my mistreatment by those in my past I would have been in no better of a place than they were.
Over time I have also come to understand that even when exhibiting this type behaviour people are not trying to be mean. They are simply operating within the religous culture they are in.
That is why I can genuinely enjoy getting together with people from all the different stripes of Pentecost for personal fellowship and to worship together in services.
I know that fundamentally we all share a love of God and desire to serve him to our best. We also share some fundamental doctrinal basics such as the same general understanding of the godhead, baptism in Jesus name, Holy Spirit baptism,etc.
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