Another Great Sunday

This is Ryan writing for this post, my first appearance in the author's seat. Hasn't Kimberly been doing an awesome job sharing on here? I certainly think so. She encouraged me to contribute today in response to a very special 4th of July church service we attended at Lake Norman Baptist, where we have been visiting for the last 2 weeks.

I've been to a lot of services in the Church held around Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, but nothing has compared to the service we attended today.

It began with the worship time. After singing How Great Is Our God and How Great Thou Art, we sang as a congregation: The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Our Country Tis of Thee, America, the Beautiful and God Bless America. The congregation paused and the pastor had current and former members of each service branch of the military stand when called. As should be, the Army led the way and we were invited to stand first. I stood to represent my own service (12 years in the Oregon Army National Guard) along with a handful of other men. To my surprise, the whole sanctuary erupted in applause. It was humbling to be singled out. I never really thought of my service as being all that noteworty, certainly not deserving of recognition. I probably would have preferred to sit and applaud the others. After the Army, the other services were called in order and applause followed for each of them.

After this, a choir assembled on stage and they sang a medley of the service branch songs (The Army Goes Rolling Along, Anchor's Aweigh, The Halls of Montazuma, etc.) while a multi-media presentation of photos and military videos played on the screen.

It was really special to see a church body celebrate patriotism and national pride in such a public way, and to tie that in with appreciation given to the military as the defenders of our freedom. It certainly left me feeling honored.

We also attended the young adult Sunday School class with a room full of young parents. It was a great way to meet some of the other couples in the church. Afterwards we picked up Lauren from her class and hung out at the playground in the back of the church while she played with her new friends. Some of the couples we had met in Sunday School invited us to the local after-church hang out, Jason's Deli. It is a modern day cafeteria style restaurant. Every Sunday families from the Sunday School meet for lunch after second service. Guys at one end of a big table, ladies at the other, and all the munchkins at a kid's table laughing and eating together. It felt really good, after making a solid connection with one family last week, to be invited in by a larger group on just our second visit. I overheard Kimberly and the other gals planning playdates and some initial discussions about a Lia Sophia jewelry party (how much is this "fellowship" going to cost me?).

Smiles from the Girls!