Old Time Religion

There is part of me that is fundamentally lazy or I aspire to achieve a state of laziness.  Lazy never works out for me.  Even on lazy rainy days like today, someone usually forces me into action.  Today Holland called me into action with a hostile high-pitched whiny repetitive nagging that forced me out of the house.  Holland was determined to visit a church because Miss +Donna McCown  invited us to attend. I am so thankful for Holland for many reasons but today I am thankful for her keeping me on track.

Is it just me or do people seem to lose their religion getting small children ready for church on Sundays? Maybe that is just me, or my family, because I remember thinking that same thing sitting in church as a child as well. Anyway, the kids and I loaded up and headed up the highway to Elkmont, Alabama to check out the Church of the Living God.  Please note that not only were we on time but we were fifteen minutes early. That right there is a modern miracle.

Being raised Church of Christ, growing up I did not visit many other churches.  Religion is fascinating to me. This was my first experience with a Church of the Living God, so I had no idea what to expect.  Brother Doug performed a wedding ceremony that I photographed last month and I said then I would love to hear him preach.  After having visited a small Methodist church earlier in the Summer, I at least knew to pack coloring books and markers for the kids when visiting small churches.

The service started off with everyone on their feet clapping and I liked that.  It might have been eleven o'clock but I really was half asleep and that woke me right up.  They really included the children in every aspect of the service and I liked that the children were included in the service instead of being excluded from the service. The children were also allowed to act quietly like children too as a couple of them toddled from row to row as they were passed among family members during the service.

The music was AMAZING!  Now, I LOVE ME some good gospel music.  This was not just good revival gospel music but it was good, Southern Bluegrass style gospel music.  They had a really diverse group of musicians that could really jam.  The main female singer sounded like Loretta Lynn and I loved that she had her grand-baby on her hip for a song or two.  The audience even called out song request to the band, so it truly felt like a jam session.

The service was inspirational for me and others as well because I do not think there was an eye in the house that did not shed at least a tear (from either happiness or sadness) at some point.   My two oldest children even paid attention.  The church was cold and I LOVE A COLD CHURCH because that means I get to cuddle up with my children.  There was lots of yelling and screaming of the word.  Not the kind of yelling and screaming because the speaker knows you are not listening but the kind where the speaker is so moved that they are 'in the word."  There were some other things too that I didn't really understand like going forward for small prayer circles.  Whatever was happening, it was good and I observed that people were truly feeling the word.  Donna's son and daughter-in-law were even saved and even thought I do not truly understand what that means entirely, I was glad I was there.

Afterwards, we were invited to eat with the preacher and his family.  The preacher lives out behind the church so that was really convenient.  My friend Donna happens to be the preacher's daughter, so that is how my family managed an invitation.  Big families are equally as fascinating to me as religion.  There were tons of people there and loads of little ones.  Anna had packed up the leftover candy and water guns from her wedding yesterday and sent them home with my children.  Naturally, I seized the opportunity and distributed as many suckers and water guns to those little ones as I could.  We had a great time and so did those little ones but we might not be invited back:).

Here is a picture Donna took of us at Brother Doug's.

Look, my children are all still and acting timid (temporarily at least)!

This evening, we walked out of our house and saw this rainbow!  It seemed fitting to see a rainbow on a church-filed rainy Sunday.  When Austin saw the rainbow he got excited and started running down the sidewalk yelling something about looking for leprechauns.  (Austin has been on a quest to capture either a leprechaun or Big Foot for a while now).  Jackson got really excited and asked if we should tell the neighbors that they had a pot of gold in their house, which obviously appeared to be at the end of the rainbow to Jackson.  While I was debating how to answer him, Jackson asked if we should just break into their house instead and that I knew how to answer!  At least he asked first...