Without going into great detail, we started attending Sunday services again on Palm Sunday.
Our Plum Tree at it's full Glory
My first criteria in choosing prospective assemblies, do they have a web site?
(We absolutely HATE the process of visiting churches, and 'weeding out the wheat from the tares')
Our second criteria, do they have early services?
We were determined not to go back to the 'old ways' of our youth, ie; Sunday School at 10, service at 11, and the preacher had better not go past noon, etc. etc.
I found only two such churches within 10 miles or so of us.
We are in a very old fashioned, traditional area.
After reading their statement of purpose, the blurbs on their staff, and determining that their beliefs matched our own (an extra point, did they preach solely from the K.J.V., or were they more focused on actually teaching their people than doing things the way they have always been done) we decided to visit the church closest to us.
The people were friendly without being overbearing.
And to quote a favorite philosopher of mine, Marx (that's Groucho, not Karl!)
"I would never become a member of any club that would have me!"
they accepted we two children of the sixties.
We both noticed the obvious musical talent for such a small church (maybe 200 members)
The humility was just as obvious.
The pastor evidenced a true compassion and humility himself.
He was obviously not in it for himself, and there was no pulpit pounding, screaming or other theatrics.
A common thread in all of his messages has been to challenge his congreation.
Sermons are delivered without apologies or excess adornment.
He closes each with with, "Now, what are you going to do with it?"
In other words, I've given you the message given and applied to me, now deal with it yourselves.
We are both in the process of dealing with it.
In all of our lives (if we are honest with ourselves) there come times of spiritual introspection.
We must examine the personal tenets of our own faith.
I distinctly remember doing so after losing my dad at 22, during our toughest years in Texas, and just recently.
The Apostle Paul saved his greatest praise for one of his early seedling churches that
"eagerly searched the scriptures and examined them" to prove what he had taught them was true.
We must all continually do the same.
Even old Uncle Dinosaur and the lovely Queen Felicia are in the process of once again doing that very thing.
So we want to encourage the youngsters in our family who are just now embarking on their own paths.
Rock on, fellow Pilgrims, and "Keep the Faith!"
