Crooked River State Park, St. Mary’s, Georgia
When’s the last time you heard “Sweet Home Alabama” played and sung during a Sunday morning worship service? Ah, come on! Never?!?
Us neither. Until today.
This morning, Christ’s Church in Camden challenged my idea of what church should be like. I’m still not totally on board with their idea, but I get it.
They are relaxed and fun-loving, and seem to be Christ-led. The ‘Welcome’ people were terrific, their worship team reminded us more of a Christian concert, but those around us seemed really into worship. There were 21 large screen TVs up front in various configurations and an additional one down front for the Pastor’s use. Before service, the Pastor walked around near the front offering donuts to those sitting there (is that a bribe to sit up front?? 😊) They have some type of “party” every Sunday after the first and second services. Today was a ‘tailgate’ party for the Georgia/Alabama college National Championship game tomorrow night. They had several grills set up and were serving hot dogs, hamburgers, chips . . . there was an ice cream truck, too. And a few games.
This morning, before the message, the band started playing the intro for “Sweet Home . . .” and we wondered what in the world they were doing. Everybody knows that song as soon as the first few notes are played! (I can Name That Tune in 3 notes!) And then they started singing it. After a couple of minutes, the Pastor interrupted and he and the Georgia fans in the congregation started singing “Glory, glory to old Georgia” (tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic chorus).
A little fun before the serious business of teaching God’s word.
They played a video of the Georgia team’s season highlights, too.
The message was centered on how we, as Christians, are commanded to ‘Go and Be’ to all people. And how that should be fun. ‘Jesus must have been a fun guy because the kids all wanted to be around Him!’ I never thought of that before, but it’s true. Kids are drawn to fun and authenticity, not stodgy-mask-wearing people. They know genuine when they see it. And they know fun!
He also did a lot of football referencing (which I didn’t always get, but Blaine did). He talked about Ga/Al players being so focused on the game that they’re not distracted by other things going on. They’re focused on the end result and how to get there. We, as Christians, should be the same. And this is how the evil one gets us sidetracked – by claiming our focus and redirecting it away from Jesus and our Great Commission.
He talked about our faith. Belief does not equal faith. Just because we believe something, doesn’t mean we have faith in it. Here’s my own example of that: We believe in the Cleveland Browns, but we don’t have faith in them as a team – at least now right now. 😊
Jesus calls us to have faith, not just belief. Having faith is the hard part! Faith to let go of our fears and worries and be the person God created us to be and do the works He created us to do, is HARD.
Don’t just be a “Sunday morning” Christian. Figure out how you can go and be the church to others Monday through Saturday.
After church, there was not much going on today. After lunch, we drove around St. Mary’s. It was supposed to be historic. Compared to what we’ve already seen? Not so much. There were a couple of homes built in the late 1800’s, but that was pretty much all we saw in that regard.
Before we got to town, there was a former sugar works with tabby architecture. Very cool, and much larger than it first looked!
This shows a bit of perspective.
Just look at all those oyster shells!
That got me wondering where they come from. I read a very long article about it, but will show mercy and just give you a basic run-down.
Oysters grow their own shells from calcium carbonate. They start as a teeny-tiny larvae that’s been spawned from a male oyster (by the way – – oysters change from male to female and visa-versa several times in their lives!). The larvae finds a teeny-tiny particle of calcium carbonate and attaches itself to it. Then it just starts growing. The older it gets, the larger and heavier it gets because the actual oyster bulks up and the shell grows to accommodate it. It takes about 3 years to be edible size.
We stopped in the Visitor Center and talked to a National Park Ranger about Cumberland Island, then walked around St. Mary’s city park for just a minute. It’s still cold, and today, the wind picked back up some.
It’s still Christmas at the VC!
Look how cute!
It’s an opossum with babies on it’s back!
A deer!
Some info that relates to tomorrow’s outing:
Both times the mansions were built, they were lost to fire. Devastating!
This is an actual submarine in the Base’s front yard!
The USS George Bancroft.
Had to take this one from the road because you’re not allowed to stop anywhere!
TOTAL MILES: Maybe 1 (and that includes walking around a grocery store again)
Year to Date: 9.25 (that brings our average to 1.3/day! WooHoo!!)