Greetings from Maine!

I'm on vacation this week! My parents flew the family to New England to visit my sister's family. They live in Epsom, New Hampshire, but we're spending the week at a timeshare in Bethel, Maine.

It's Sunday, and if you heard Dewey's sermon last week you know how important it is to be in church with God's family each week. I couldn't agree more. I think a key part of my relationship with God and my desire to serve in the church today is the fact that my parents brought my sister and me to church with them every time it was open. It's just plain a priority (like it tells us in Scripture)! Of course, going to church regularly doesn't automatically make you a good Christian--but I'm a little suspect of someone who claims they are a good Christian and doesn't make it a priority to be in church every week.

So, even when I'm on vacation, I try to go to church. I just figure God never takes a vacation from me, so why should I skip church just because I'm away from home?

Of course there's no place like good ol' New Hope Christian Fellowship, but after looking online and asking around at the resort's front desk, we decided to go to Bethel Alliance Church (CMA). We all enjoyed it very much! It's about the same size as New Hope, which I think makes it a mega-church here in Bethel, Maine (population 2,500). They didn't rock out as much as we do, but they sang a good mix of hymns and choruses, we got to share in communion, and Pastor Kevin Bellinger (a self-proclaimed big Yankees fan) preached his message fully dressed in a Boston Red Sox uniform--apparently somebody bid plenty of money in a church fund raiser to see him do it! He was pretty apologetic about dressing down for church, but our whole family thought it was great, and he preached a really good message on Matthew 5:8. Three of the four elders up front prayed during the offering and communion, and Kelly and I chuckled a little bit that they all sounded like Cliff from Cheers with their New England accents--awesome!

All in all it was a pleasure to worship God with these folks that I'll probably never see again here on earth, but I look forward to joining them for more worship one day in heaven.

So if you've still got some vacation trips planned this year, find a worship gathering to attend. And let me know how it went--I'm always curious to hear what other churches are doing!