A Visiting We Will Go

There are a few benefits to visiting a different church each week. There is meeting new people, hearing different styles of preaching, and seeing how God is working in that place. There are also a couple of less righteous high points such as being able to wear the same thing every week with no one but your own family to notice. JD also pointed out this morning that we can park in the visitor parking spaces.
We started our tour of churches this morning and have already learned a very important lesson. Preachers take vacations in the summer. Oddly enough we actually changed the church we planned on going to today because we knew the regular pastor wasn't speaking and yet we ended up with a fill in guy anyway. The people were welcoming, the music was toe taping southern gospel, and the substitute speaker was...well meaning. More than one person apologetically told us the pastor would be back next week. At one point I was sure the man was about to pass out, but he pulled through. He was brief and I am pretty sure he set a record for the number of if times a person can say "God bless your soul" in a 20 minute period. There was actually something oddly fun about it. The overall experience was pleasant and encouraging to us.
Don't ask me where we went because I won't tell you. I will tell you that we might go back to hear the pastor speak, but not next week because we already have another one picked out.