The Road to Church

Hi there!

Well it's the beginning of a new week. Woke up to another warm day this morning with some snow that fell last night making the porch creak when I went out to milk at a half-past six.

Not really any out-of-the ordinary topics to cover, so I thought I'd chronicle our Sunday drive to church in Minot. 

The Road to Church

I was finishing up getting things together for church and David came looking for the keys to the van. I had forgot to hang them up after filling the van last night.

David's always thinking ahead to start the vehicles so they're warm when we get ready to go.

Mom checked the road travel map and told us the roads were snow covered with scattered ice most of the way to Minot. She's the best at keeping tabs on road conditions -- helping us plan ahead to get to church on time in bad weather.

As soon as the bottle calf was fed and all the animals were taken care of and we sped out of the driveway hoping be on our way a little early to allow time for slower driving.

We make a point of asking God to protect us on our way to Minot, so Andrew obliged us with a prayer. With such icy roads, we were especially thankful to have a protecting a Hand watching over us.

Sunday is the Lord's day. That's the day He commands to be set aside from our own work, and be dedicated to simply resting as His grateful children in this world. Listening to the pastor, praying, and reading His word are all important things to do on the Sunday Sabbath.

As I drove, David, Andrew and I tossed back and forth questions to the Westminster Shorter Catechism we're learning. David punched his smartphone over to the young people's Facebook group that's doing the Catechism together, and announced "We're on questions 25-27!"

After a few laughs and friendly correcting of each other on our mistakes, we finished the Catechism questions and Andrew inserted David's new Michael W. Smith album. He turned up the volume and we cruised along the highway to the beat of "Sovereign Over Us."

At one point we were nearing Minot and the slush made driving slow. Plow trucks had salted the roads to melt the ice, but that created a dirty slush that narrowed the range of passable roadway.

Slowing to less than 45 on a 70 mph zone, I thought about passing the oil tanker in front. Needless to say, I soon realized the roadway was too narrow and flashed my blinker back toward the right-hand lane. But without my notice, a pickup had pulled up behind me and crowded my rear end, making it unwise to immediately pull back into the right lane.

Andrew and David, my back- and side-seat drivers, informed me of my dangerous clearance and ordered me to stay clear until the lane was safe. Then I was able to successfully merge back into the right lane and continued behind the tanker all the way into Minot.

We arrived at church just in time and settled into a great sermon on Romans 3 by Pastor Phil Poe. The theme; How can God "justify" the pardoning of a sinner? Great topic and wonderful service.

A few conversations visiting with friends later, we hopped back in the van and traveled the slushy and ice-patchy roads home.

Mom had the house filled with the smell of potato/carrot/beef stew when we got home, and we offloaded the latest news from church to Mom and Dad. We routinely take turns going to church so there is always someone at the farm for emergency's sake (we're about 100 miles from church).

With a successful trip to Minot and back, we're thankful to have joined with God's people to give glory to our Maker.

Now some of us have had naps, read books, and chatted around the table, so I'll probably rest a few moments before heading out to milk cows.

All for now,

Peter

Isaiah 58:13-14. "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."