Visiting with Old Friends

Yesterday we went to yet a third church in three weeks. Interestingly, I noticed that I was addressed threee different ways at them. At the first one, I'm becoming known as Paul, at the one last week when we attended with my mother at the church I grew up in, everyone who spoke with me addressed me as Casey. Then, yesterday we visited a church where there were people who knew me as Pastor.

It was good to see the Dursts and Hills again after such a long time (almost 13 years). Their children are growing up. Dee recognized them even before she heard their names, I was clueless. It was a happy time of getting caught up with their lives both before and after worship. We have a lot of fond memories of those families when they were in our Wilkinsburg church.

The church is without a pastor right now and so the worship service somewhat reflected that. It lacked flow. The speaker was a guest speaker. The choir was "off duty" for the day, and so a solo was sung by the organist as he played the piano. He did a nice job and brought some energy to the service. Very worshipful although the congregation applauded after he finished. (That seems to be a western Pennsylvania thing - applauding after special music in worship.) I did notice there there were quite a few teenagers in the worship service. Evidently the church has a strong youth program and that's encouraging. It was good to sing the old hymns from the hymnal where I could see the base notes. After worship, we went out to lunch with the Campbells who rode with us to the church. (It was their home church before they moved to the Mars area. They enjoyed seeing old friends. Marilyn said, "I got more hugs today than I have since I moved.") It was nice to be there and re-connect with people we cared about and ministered to many years ago. They're doing well and have become leaders in that congregation. That makes me feel good.

Later, I was able to take Bonz for a nice long walk. We enjoyed the sun and the lack of wind. Temps reached a high of 53... spring can't be far away. During the evening we worked on the jigsaw puzzle (#4) and completed it. The Bible verse on the puzzle reads, "I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken for He is right beside me." - Psalm 16:8. Here is a photo of it... - there was a piece missing. We don't know if it just got lost, was never there in the first place, or whether the dog found the piece on the floor and decided it was a snack for him. Nonetheless, we enjoyed building it.