Going to church

 It is Wednesday Morning, we are headed for church.   WE have attended many churches in our about 70 years of marriage.  After a hitch in the USMC and the USAF,  I even thought I was a preacher for a few years and pastored a church in Missouri, got to know some wonderful people, some we still are in contact with.  Then we moved back to NC, to pastor one, a little later we organized and built another.  It is hard to believe that when the church was doing great, going from about 20 up to about 80 in attendance, I lost my faith.  Looking back that is hard to believe even for me. but I resigned the Sunday after I realized all of a sudden, I saw no answered prayers, and I had lost it all down inside, I was going thru motions.

After resignation I tried attending Surveyor's School. nada, I finally returned to the life I loved, the miliary, I joined the Navy.

I continued to attend church with Sherry.  Usually thinking of my next project or  planning the rest of the day......Years later I regained my faith. We were actually in a church service at the same church My dad pastored when I met my sweetheart; when it happened, a light just came on and my FAITH was back!

Now after many years we are back attending that church.  The church is far different now, years later and having had good pastors came covid.  The Attendance back has averaged 175 to 250. (Once many years ago, my dad promoted Sunday School and we had over 850 one Sunday, Blocking streets)

BUT now it has dwindled to  35 to 55, mostly all us OLD people. Our resources have dropped that we must dip into church savings  each week just to pay a pastor and keep the doors open.

Older pastors kept their finger on the pulse of the times. The churches that are growing in today's world, are doing that;  the rest of us are just biding our time.

WE enjoy the pastor and people, we have some great folk.  So since our church is old, evidently leadership accepts what it is and has decided to just have a slow death. So we have one Sunday morning service and a Wednesday Morning service. You  know that no working families can attend mid week services in the mornings, just us old folk.

So WE will be there and I will get a few smiles and maybe a laugh or two.  This is what I found in my closet:

In 1976 Gas was about 59 cents a gallon.  Yes we voted for Jimmy. We once lived about 20-25 miles from him in Georgia.  Of course we never knew him. He was in Plains, and we were south a few miles in  Albany, Georgia LOL

I found this shirt and button along with buttons of FDR and Stevenson.

Yep a Jimmy Carter shirt. My sister Shirley bought that in Plains when She and her Husband Jim went to the Campaign HQ there.

Enough, gotta go.  I might attach more shots.  No more shots but I got a lot of laughs and some NONONONOS AND SOME yeaS!

Nite Shipslog