On the road again!

I'm about to hit the road again, heading for North Carolina. I'll go to my parents tonight and then on to Gardner-Webb in the morning to pick up the boys. I'm planning on getting there in time for the final worship service at 9 a.m. I've heard it's great and I want to experience a little bit of camp. I never got to go to camp when I was young. So here's my chance!

Church Search: I thought I'd share my experiences with you as I'm looking for a church home here in Virginia. Not that anywhere can every replace KBBC! But we need to find some Christian friends here. I've done quite a bit of preliminary research online. And so far, I've visited two churches.

• Mt. Ararat Baptist Church: The first was a very large church, but also very contemporary. The boys didn't like it, but I think it was too soon for them. They were still very upset about the move and hadn't let go of the idea of living in Jax. But, I also wasn't too impressed with the church either. I went to Sunday school and no one spoke to me. They kept looking at me like they couldn't figure out if I was a member or not. I guess that's a problem when you have a church so large it has three Sunday school times every Sunday morning. There were also a lot of youth. But Thad and Adam didn't seem to fit in.
  Rock Hill Baptist Church: I visited a smaller church the next time. It's more of a small country church, circa early 1800's. I was told that they just went to two services on Sunday morning because it was getting crowded. There were about 75 people in the service and only 7 in the choir (including the preacher). Throughout the service, it seemed I only heard two or three names mentioned and it gave me the impressions that only a few people were doing everything there. When I met the preacher, it only added to that impression when, although he was friendly enough, he seemed to be hurried. His message was also hard to follow. He seemed to have chosen a subject and just pulled a few scriptures to support the subject. I know there is nothing wrong with that, but I had a hard time following his main subject. As for the youth, I was told they had about 15-20 in their youth group, but I didn't see more than two or three there.

• Ramoth Baptist Church: I have chosen to visit another church this Sunday, also circa early 1800's. This is a mission church. The first church I visited, Mt. Ararat, was actually started by this church, as well as several other churches in the area. But it still has about 700 members. They are currently looking for a new preacher. But it appears to be a more traditional church on its website. Something both the boys and I would prefer. I'll let you know Sunday afternoon!

Critter update: One more sighting. I was on my way to work this morning and as I came around a curve, there was an owl sitting in the middle of my lane! It was beautiful...and stubborn. It wouldn't move until I slowed down and blew my horn. Then it flew away. This time I had my camera, but since I was driving, I couldn't get a picture. But it was beautiful!