Initially, we intended to visit an outdoor church in Naples today. However, record cold temperatures drove us inside. We found ourselves attending church in a nearby High School. I suppose you could say the church was quite "trendy" (the antithesis of what we will experience in the high church cathedrals of England). The music contained a strong hard rock edge, the service was occasionally interrupted with previously recorded video "commercials" for a Bible study or upcoming event. The pastor dressed in blue jeans and an untucked button up shirt. I have to admit I found the smoke machine and effects lighting a little over the top, but the message was sound and people responded. There existed a deep sense of worship and the presence of God was clearly felt. As a family, we left encouraged, challenged to move deeper in our time with God, and grateful for the experience.
The afternoon followed with me engaging in my favorite Sunday afternoon spiritual discipline--nap taking. Feeling refreshed, I then began reading a book by Calvin Miller, one of my top ten favorite Christian authors (at least of those who are still living), entitled Loving God Up Close. Calvin Miller possesses a way of writing that penetrates into the soul, leaving behind a contagious desire to know God more intimately. All in all, today began to rekindle in me that ever present, often unquenchable, hunger for the Holy--where life remains completely, unreservedly about God, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else.
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You're swell. And funny. And, I didn't know this until now, a great writer. :)
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