Columbus Church

We have spent a long few days on layover in Nashville.  After traveling through the lovely Mts. Of upstate NY and across the Pocono Mts. Of PA, we worked our way through the tornados of the south eastern US. They hit 6 states and killed at least 280 people. At times we were within 1 mile of them.

But after making our delivery in Memphis we went to Nashville for layover and the weather was fantasic. I got my shorts on and dug my chair out of the back and soaked up some sun. I turned pretty red after just a short time though.

Pops and I took the dogs for a big walk. We all enjoyed it and it wore the dogs out so that they slept for many hours after that. We had an ideal parking spot at the Petro Truckstop. We were on the end with a wide patch of fresh mowed grass and the turtle pond right behind us.

I tied the dog chains to the side of the truck and left my chair out the whole time we were there. I sat in the sun the next day too but only for ½ hour. My skin is too fair to take too much at once.  But I did enjoy the time here although by the third day, Pops and I both were getting a little restless.

We had decided that we would probably be attending the Murfreesboro Church again. It would be good to see Bert and Patsy again. I like when we get to revisit churches. But it didn’t work out that way.

We had been getting all kinds of load offers but nothing that really caught our interest. At one point we were offered a load going all the way to St. Johns, Newfoundland. Pops described that as the tip of the world. Haha. If you look at it on the map, it sure does look like that. It paid really well, but we have not even done one Canada trip yet, let alone go somewhere like that.

I spoke with my friend, Kim, who also works for FXCC, she and her husband had just recently returned from doing that trip and was going to give us some pointers, but we really didn’t want the trip and so when FedEx offered them the trip they took it. I did listen to her pointers just in case we would ever decide to do that trip.

Anyway, late in the evening we were offered a trip picking up north of Memphis and going to MA, near Boston for early Monday morning so we accepted the load. Pops drove all night and I stayed awake until after our pickup.

When I woke up in the morning I realized that we only had about an hour to locate and get ready for church. I got the directory out and called one that I thought we would come to first, no answer. So I looked on the map for our location and the next church that we might come to. I got an answer and the timing was right and they had parking for our truck so that was settled easily.

We attended the Amazing Grace Christian Church in Grove City, OH. It was a fairly new building with I would guess a  little over 200 in attendance that day.

When we first walked in, it looked like a “coffee bar.” There were high tables and chairs and other comfy chairs arranged for intimate little conversations. We were offered coffee, juice and donuts. Everyone seemed really friendly.

We made our way into the auditorium where the praise team was practicing. It sounded really good. Many people came over and made us feel welcome.

We hadn’t made it in time for Sunday School, but worship was about to begin.

Their service was arranged a lot like our home church. They started off with praise songs and prayer and then into Communion time and offering. Then Dr. Todd Marrah got up to bring the message. He is one of two evangelists there. His message was about the Life of Jesus, in particular, What does it mean to call Jesus, Lord? His text was from Luke chapter 5. It was a very good sermon and I felt stirred to think about some of these scriptures in new ways. And I also realized that Jesus must have been so incredibly busy in His short ministry here on earth, but Luke 5:16, a very short verse right in the midst of the chapter, in the middle of all of His busyness, reminds us that Christ took time to get away, alone and regroup.

The teens gave a presentation too, letting the congregation know what they were up to as far as service and also surprising the congregation with the service of washing all the windows on the vehicles in the lot this morning including ours. Wasn’t that great? How kind and thoughtful.

The other minister, Ronald Sams and his wife, Barb both came and spoke with us. They were very nice too. I really enjoyed meeting so many good people.

Pops talked to Bob Marrah. He had a lot of interesting ways in which he has worked with the teens in the area over the years. Pops is very worried about the teens in all of the churches where we go. Why do so many fall away be the time they become adults? What is lacking? How can we teach them to depend on God all of their lives?

After church we drove on up the highway until we needed fuel. After fueling we parked the truck and went inside for something to eat. We had a good meal.

We continued on our route and later in the evening stopped for some groceries.

We delivered this morning and what a gorgeous morning it is. We are in New England and it is sunny and 70 degrees at 11am. I don’t know where we will go from here. But go we will, I’m sure.

Please pray for a young boy that was badly burned. He has had to have surgery on his hands already and his face and 25% of his body has 2^nd and 3^rd degree burns. He is 10 years old. Pray also for his family who will need the Lord’s strength to draw on in the coming days, weeks, and months.