Barkhamsted Winter Wonderland

 
 
 

The Church Journey (Introduction)

I've been hesitant to write this "series", as it will become, but we have been encouraged by several people to do it. Actually, we've been told to write a book, however, it would have such limited appeal based on geographic location and also the topic matter, that I will just blog it. My hesitancy to do this is because most times I try not to name names in my blog--no cause for ruffled feathers or embarrassment. I will try to be gentle.

My husband and I, at this stage in our lives, know what we believe and I can't imagine what would ever change our beliefs, however, this year we have decided to go on a spiritual journey. This is not to change our beliefs, but to study and to experience the different types of worship services there are in our area. Each week we have decided to go to a different church.

Let me pause to state that we know that God's plan is for people to be in a church home and to fellowship and to serve God and others in that church. I have struggled if there is something we could leave with each church (besides our monetary donation), but have yet to find what that could be. We do try to "serve" God in our daily walk by trying (not perfectly, obviously) to walk the Christian walk and talk the talk and to help others when the opportunity arrives.

It has been interesting talking to people and the different types of worship that they like. It is a diverse world. We have been to the charismatic with the raising of hands and the verbal, "Hallelujahs", to services with traditional songs to the contemporary, one with no music, and to the ritualistic services. In six weeks so far, we were surprised at two services to find one person in each without shoes on. I don't know if there is some symbolic reason or just sore feet. My husband and I each know what we like and for the most part we are the same, except I do lean towards contemporary music and he likes the traditional. That is our little hurdle.

For George, also, it is extremely important that a church carry the American flag. It is, of course, because of this great country that we all can worship how we please and being a veteran, he wants us all to remember that. He will worship at a church without the flag one time.

I have taken notes on each church and since I did not start this series until now, I have six weeks to bring you to date. I have my notes in a journal that I will start transposing to here. So, I hope you will enjoy this journey through us. Please note this is only our personal opinion. We realize that everyone has to find their own comfort zone and this is highly subjective. This series is through our eyes only and we encourage those of you who are searching for a church, don't take our word for any of this. Someone else can have a very different take on it. It is a personal journey. As of this date every single church was welcoming, though some more than others. Only one church did we feel slightly uncomfortable in, but again those are our personal feelings.

Cape Cod--East Sandwich

 
 
 
Back from a wonderful weekend in East Sandwich, Cape Cod, MA. Saturday was not a complete washout and we were able to walk on the beach. Then Sunday was moody--cloudy and sunny, but it didn't rain. These are some neat artwork that we found on the beach. We appreciate the time and effort people put into these, so thought I'd share them here. It was fun to be walking along the beach and to come across these surprises. I would never have the patience to make the towers.
I found a piece of green sea glass and a white one and a real rarity--red in the shape of a crescent moon. They go into my glass jar I reserve for my sea glass treasures.

One last look at Memorial Day

 
 
 

This is my husband George and his childhood friend, Rob. They are both Vietnam Veterans. In the second picture, they are by the truck instead of in it like they do every year (except this one) handing out sodas to the band members.
The last picture I thought was kind of neat. This is the shadow of the flag that I was holding and George saluting as they called off the names of the veterans who have died.
The speaker asked if we remembered the first time we got teary eyed when we saw our flag go by in a parade or heard the National Anthem. I don't remember the first time, but I do know that these American symbols are important to me and they do make me emotional and proud and happy to be a part of this wonderful country. It makes me sad that the younger generation appears to be losing these feelings and fast. The respect that our country deserves is dying to the selfish greed of people who only think of themselves and give no thought to the blessings that they have only because of those who have suffered and died before us--they should be saluted and remembered and their legacy respected. This generation doesn't seem to respect the past, but lives in the now not caring how "now" came to be and what will happen should they forget their heritage. I am sad for the future of our country and hope that somehow the original American spirit will be one day revitalized.

Easter Sunrise Service

 

Goodwin Dam, 7 am.
God bless America.

American Flag

 

This picture was taken by Ben Washington at Cape Cod, October 2008.

Six more days...

Okay, I can't contain myself any more. There are only six days left and I just can't do it. I have tried to keep this a happy place, a mostly non-controversial blog--no politics. I did not want to step on toes, or perhaps I did not want to take a stand. Political choices are personal. This has truly been the most interesting and most covered election that I have ever seen. At times I've been fascinated and at times so sick of the whole thing. My husband, a political and history junky, is going to have withdrawal when it is all over. He's relished this and if his guy wins, it will be a sweet victory. He will be shouting just like he did when the Red Sox looked like they were going to make it to the World Series. The Red Sox disappointed him and time will tell if the election disappoints him too.

I am registered independent, however I am conservative. I have tried to watch different TV stations to see the biases and how different people react to the debates and speeches, etc. I even caught part of a special on the history channel that I can't wait until they rerun. It was on body language. I have been naive and was so disappointed to learn that besides speech making, all the candidates learn body language too. However, there are times when they cannot control their body language. I believe I heard them say (but I want to see it again) that McCain's body language was honest whereas Obama's was less so. In my gut, I did not need a history channel special to tell me so. From the last debate, I felt like Obama had a smug smirk which reminded me of another presidential candidate that I did not like.

What bothered me first was the Rev. Wright issue. I debated a friend about this. I could not understand how someone could continue going to a church and hear such things if they did not believe the same. My friend told me that she continued to go to a church when she didn't believe everything they said. Ah, there's the difference. She opened my eyes. I never realized that some people do that. My husband and I jump ship whenever a church starts preaching something we don't feel is right. Perhaps we take our religion more seriously? Besides that, Obama didn't just go to church there, he said Rev. Wright was his spiritual advisor. Of course, he has since denounced him, but only due to public pressure. He would never have done that otherwise.

Then there's Bill Ayers. It amazes me that this man is a professor. What a liberal world we live in. I saw the video of his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, praising the Charles Manson murders in horrible words. After 9/11/2001 Bill Ayers still said he had no regrets for any of the Weatherman's bombings and only wish they had done more. If any of you have been to the Spy Museum in Washington, DC (I highly recommend it), there was a large special section on terrorism in the USA and the weatherman were among the terrorists. It was quite educational.

I see that Bernadine Dohrn is still fighting against the government and here Obama was in their home when his candidacy was decided? Shouldn't this bother people?

Obama is close friends with Tony Rezko, a felon, who helped launch his political career. Tony Rezko was a global arms dealer who worked with Sadamm Hussein. Doesn't this worry people?

Obama clearly gave money to Acorn and they clearly have deliberately forged absentee ballots. I haven't heard that these are not going to be counted. It sounded like it would be too much of a hassle to do that--yet when Florida's ballot was questioned, we waited for that to be settled.

I never understood how Obama did not feel the need to pledge to the flag when this is the flag of the country that he wants to "reign" over. I would be so proud of the flag of my country. To be honest, often when I watch a parade and our flag is being carried and the patriotic music playing, my eyes well up. I am so proud of our country and happy to live here.

I will say that I was listening to NPR radio the other day and they were commenting on different neighborhoods and that they discovered that black neighborhoods were less likely to fly the American flag. They interviewed some black people and they said they still did not feel like this was their country. I find that very sad. I don't know what has to be done to change that. I wish they would consider the hundreds of thousands of white men who gave their lives for their freedom. Is this taught in the schools? America has developed special scholarships for black children and other minorities. I don't know what it is like for them, but I cannot understand how they still feel unAmerican.

Anyway, the list goes on and on of the company that Obama keeps. He has been in the company of some pretty scary people. If I could draw, I would draw a political cartoon of the White House with Obama in there and all these questionable characters looking out of the White House windows and of course, no American flag.

I also have heard on TV that people don't care about who his friends are. They care about the issues. Well, being conservative, I have to go the other way. Yet, if that were a supposed conservative candidate with all those acquaintances, I would think twice. To me, character is just as important as the issues. I've heard Obama change his mind on the issues several times. How can you know what he will do?

To be honest, he kind of scares me. I know he's not the anti-Christ, but I wonder about him. He does not seem to be a proud American (his wife certainly wasn't), yet I feel he is smug and has too many dangerous and questionable associates. I want someone running for president who is proud of our country. I haven't seen that in him.

He is urging people to take off election day. Excuse me, this is the man who is supposed to understand the middle class...how many middle class workers can just take the day off? Or want to when they have only a couple of weeks vacation days?

Well, there I did it. I have surely offended or disappointed some--to which I say, get your own blog. It's free and very easy to do.

No matter what, pray for our country because it needs it.

Part Five of A Few Days Away

Leaving Block Island. I fussed with the picture with the American Flag from the ferry. As I've said before, please click on the pictures to get the full beauty of them (if I do say so myself). Just remember to use the back arrow to come back or you'll be bumped off the blog.

The three sunny pictures are as we were leaving Block Island. The dramatic cloudy pictures were when we landed at Point Judith and rushed to our car before a down pour. Now, they aren't in order, but the top one of the last three in the left column was taken from the car. If you click on it and look real, real carefully, you will see a rainbow. I tried to capture it in all it's glory, but I had to retrieve the camera and wait for the car to be aligned perfectly again (all the while supposed to be helping George read road signs and of course, I missed one...but how often do you see a rainbow?).

So, are you ready for part six? Talk about stretching out three days! I just don't know how else to break down the pictures, sorry.