Searching For Sanctuary

Step One: The Two W's

Yes, two W's - Wichita and Washington D.C. My last Sunday of Palm West responsibilities was the 6:00 p.m."modern" worship gathering on May 28. The next afternoon we boarded the Allegiant Airlines direct flight to Wichita, Kansas for four days of fun and frolic with our daughter and her family. The weather was gorgeous, our son-in-law's gourmet cooking was delicious, and the two granddaughters, ages 8 and 6, were an absolute delight.

They are growing and maturing so quickly, so we try to visit as often as we can. Fortunately, Allegiant's no-frills fares makes it easier to fly out to the "Air Capitol of the World."

Our return flight to the "Valley of the Sun" departed Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport a little before 10:00 p.m. CDT on Friday. The flight took a little over two hours which put us back on the ground at a little after 10:00 p.m. Arizona time - there's a two-hour difference so on the return flight we land at almost the same time we take off. [Side note:I use "Arizona Time" rather than Mountain Time because in our part of the state we do not observe Daylight Saving Time. I think of our time zone as being on California Time during daylight saving or Colorado time the rest of the year.] Then we had an hour's drive home. All this to say that we finally got to bed at the equivalent of about 1:00 a.m. Wichita time. We were beat.

Saturday was spent washing clothes and repacking for Monday's flight to Washington D.C. Christine practiced the organ for her Sunday responsibilities and we just chilled the rest of the day.

On Sunday - Pentecost Sunday, Christine played at the Congregational Church and I attended a small Methodist congregation where our long-time friends the Vogts were leading the music for their last time before moving to Alabama. They did a wonderful job leading us in singing and directing a small but disciplined choir. The congregation was warm and welcoming. It is a multi-generational congregation so there was a children's message. A man from the congregation gave a moving testimony about the Holy Spirit giving him courage to be a witness for Christ. The pastor delivered a biblically solid message in a clear and approachable style. I was refreshed to merely be a worshiper and not a lead worshiper.

Monday began the great adventure of visiting the first of our "bucket-list" cities: Washington D.C. Here is a picture to prove that we were there. My next post will give the details about our trip to our nation's Capitol and the impression it made on me.