Sunday and Saint George

We knew we would be in Carrabelle on Sunday so we were looking forward to going to church.  When we checked in at the RV park they had given us a list of local churches and their phone numbers.  But I headed straight to Google to find one for us.  Not on the campground wifi though…it was completely useless.  No I searched using my 1 bar of 4G through Verizon only to find the same list of churches but no web sites.  We picked up the phone and started calling.  I was not having much luck placing calls and Steph finally got a recording at First Baptist that listed their worship time at 11:00….perfect for our late morning family.  Not knowing the dress code we figured it better to gussy ourselves up a bit…I even put on long pants…IN FLORIDA!!

We show up at church and I think just about everyone we saw made it a point to say hi and welcome us.  The lady in charge of Sunday school spotted the kids and came over to greet us and invite the kids to “Junior Worship” after the singing.  She brought over several kids to say hi to us as well.  Being a church in the Redneck Riviera (this is what the gulf coast of Alabama and Florida’s panhandle is called by some) I think they are used to having visitors.  But, as I’ve already told you, the people here are just super nice.

There was a piano for accompaniment and we sang hymns from big, well worn, hard backed hymnals.  We even sang Holy, Holy, Holy which I found interesting given my recent post by a very similar name.  The choir did a sort of presentational song set to a recording…it was How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin (at least I think he wrote it…he’s who made it popular at least).  If I was asked to give one piece of feedback I would say to the choir, SMILE!  I think they were so focused on reading the music that they forgot about how great our God is!  That aside, I like that song and was moved by God’s greatness.

I asked the kids what they thought of the message.  One said “the preacher was definitely passionate” and another noted that “he was really loud”.  A couple times when he got wound up I heard someone behind me say “uh huh” and “amen”.  He did a fine job and the content made for some good discussion after church.  Speaking of after church, several people approached us to say hi and welcome us and were thrilled about the adventure we are on.  No doubt, we felt VERY welcome at that church and it felt really good to be in community worship.  Thank you First Baptist Church of Carrabelle!

After church we changed back into short pants…whew!…and then drove out to the state park on St. George Island.  As Florida Junior Rangers the kids get us into 3 state parks for free.  We used Caden’s coupon to get us into this one….thanks Caden!  Kids had swim trunks this time and they got pretty wet.  We worked on a couple shell art projects in the sand and just relaxed.  As we drove past the entrance to the campground I felt a twinge of jealousy.  I really like the state park campgrounds…much more so than the parking lot RV park that is twice the price, half the space, comes with free non-working wifi and ice cold swimming pool.  Snap out of it Huck…be content with and make the best of what you have…you are living on the gulf coast of Florida…quit your whining!

Once back home Steph made pizza….in this tiny little propane oven.  It was excellent!  She’s done such an awesome job of adapting to this tiny kitchen.  We ate outside because the table had been taken over by a puzzle that we were working on as a family.