Our family lives in Southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Our weather in the "Southern End" is often quite different than that of the rest of the county.  This often leaves us at a loss as to know what to believe about the forecasts that are given for the county as a whole.

Yesterday I noticed a township truck putting cinders/gravel down on the streets in our small development.  It registered as a surprise since it didn't appear to be precipitating at all.  A bit later I noticed that my dogs returned from their morning trip outside kind of wet.  Ahhh....so there was something going on out there.

Still, the weather reports weren't grave.  So we headed out the door to go to church.  We go early because I make the bulletins and practice music with the worship team before most others arrive.  As I headed out the door Warren cautioned me that the driveway was very slippery.  He was right.  But even so we got in the van and headed on our way.  We are very used to our roads being less than perfect here in our development but as we passed a car headed our way from the main highway Warren kind of joked about terrified drivers....they were going about 5-10 miles per hour.  Well, it took us about 30 seconds to figure out why.  As we pulled out onto the main road we found it to be just a huge sheet of ice.  There was no grip, no patches to get a grip, no nothing but slippery ice.
The rain was coming down at a pretty good pace and every drop just became ice as soon as it hit the road.

I immediately began begging Warren to turn around at a local business.  He did....sliding all the way. We went home even as I called our Pastor to report our findings.  Pretty soon we were calling every member of the church to tell them that Sunday School, at least, would be cancelled.  With these calls came the information that some ladies had gone out of their way to make a lot of food for our scheduled fellowship meal.  They were quite concerned that this might be cancelled as well.  One of them went so far as to suggest that we meet at lunchtime to eat together and then have an afternoon service.  Gasp!  Could we do it?  You know, step outside of the routine?  Worship at an unusual time?

It would be a problem if we felt we had an appointment for church. You know, this is the acceptable time and place to have church.  God shows up at 10:30 am on Sunday mornings at churches and He is done at noon.  Off to other places to meet with others, right?

As ridiculous as this sounds it is often how we act.  There are certain things we do at certain times and in certain ways and places.  It is good to mix it up every now and then.

We met for our lunch and those who were able to come found it to be a bonding experience.  The strangest thing was, though, that our experience was unique.  Even though we live about a mile from the church, as the crow flies, those who came from other directions met with no ice...none...zero...zilch.  So...of course....some had to really brag on their ability to get there.  Haha.  We are such a family.

After lunch we began our "Morning" Worship Service.  Perhaps we were even a bit more into it for the excitement of the change.  Some families didn't make it due to bad weather where they were, or other reasons, but those of us who were there very much enjoyed worshiping God in the afternoon. No question about it...He was there!

Now...I've kind of gone out of my way to stress the point.  So often we get into ruts.  You know we do our devotions in the morning, we say our meal blessings, perhaps we whisper a prayer when we see a prayer request on Facebook.  We, in our own ways, have appointments with God.

God doesn't live in time.  He doesn't need an appointment.  Schedules help us to know when to show up corporately and that is a good thing.  But I challenge you to think outside the usual worship box and just visit with Your Heavenly Father just any time at all.  Shake it up a little.  Be intentional about it.  Routines can be helpful or they can be boring and legalistic.

There is joy in Worship....any time!

Hugs, Becky (Good Neighbors Candle)