Church Service

While Pops slept on Saturday Evening trying to catch up on some much needed sleep I looked in the directory for a church. There was only one listed for Cedar Rapids and no one answered the phone there. They did give a web address for their website so I looked it up and found out service times and directions.
Pops roused a little while later long enough for me to tell him that I had found a church.
So I set my phone alarm for 6:45am and we both fell asleep.
I woke up in the morning and looked at my watch and it was 7:41. Oh no, we slept in. Well there is no point in rushing around, we just weren't going to make Sunday School.
And then I wondered why my alarm hadn't gone off so I checked my phone. And then it dawned on me that we were on Central Time Zone. I still had 2 minutes until 6:45. Okay, good.
So I got up and took the dogs out for a walk while the coffee was dripping.
Pops and I got ready for church and then sat and relaxed with our coffee until time to pull out.
We found the church easily. It was only 2.2 miles from where we were.
We again took the dogs out for a minute and then went inside.
There were coffee, donuts, cookies and bagels right inside the door. We were offered whatever we would like. Well, I would like some more coffee and they had that delicious hazelnut creamer that I like but don't ever buy.
We were told which direction to go to find our Sunday School class.
When we got to class there were several people there already and the teacher said that they always start by going around the table and finding out how each person's week went. So we listened and when it was our turn we informed them of our long frustrating week. And then the teacher prayed for each person there. It was nice.
Then we got started on the lesson. We were discussing 2 Peter chapter 2. It is Peter's warning about false teachers. It was a good study and Pops and I both particapated in the discussion. We were given travel mugs as a souvenier of our visit there. Nice.
After Sunday School we went to the auditorium for worship.
Once again there services very much resembled ours back at Wills Mt. except for they took their communion as it was passed which a lot of churches do.
I enjoyed the praise team leading the music and they had a nice mix of contemporary and old hymns.
The youth minister which they called, "Next Generations Minister," got up and gave a little talk on a recent mission trip to Colorado that the youth had taken. It sounded very interesting.
Then the preacher got up to speak. His name is Bill Holley. We met him in Sunday School. He got right to the sermon which was Genesis chapter 26 about Jacob and Esau.
He preaches on book of the Bible at a time and in order. I like that. That way the audience can always have a heads up and study ahead if they want and also you can't ever feel like the preacher is preaching "at you." If you are convicted by a sermon then for sure it is the Holy Spirit convicting you.
Anyway he spoke of how each of these family member of Abraham were deceiving and dysfunctional. And yet how most were considered to be Godly, even patriarchs.
We all have the option of being good or not, we all influence others each and every day. When you look in the mirror do you see the good person or a bad person? Which person does the world see? Hmmm, there is a lot there for me to think about.
I want the world to see the good in me, I want to always be a positive role model and good influence, but I am human and I fail. And usually those close to me, such as my husband and family see the "real" me more often than anyone else does.
The preacher also said something that I grabbed on to. He said, he wanted his children to love God and have a good relationship with God inspite in him. I want to say the same thing, I want Starla, Tom and Drew to love God and have a good relationship with God inspite of me.
After church we said goodbyes and went to the truck.
We were changing our clothes and trying to locate a laundramat when the preacher and his wife came over and invited us to their home for dinner. Oh how I wish we could go but laundry HAD to be done and what if we get a load offer and can't stay anyway. We explained our situation and they directed us to a laundrmat.
We just got all the clothes washed, dried, folded and almost put away when we did if fact get a load.
See, story of our lives. We sit and sit with nothing to do and as soon as we meet someone nice and want to be able to do something we get a load. Oh well, I'm thankful for our job. It is good.