First off I feel as though I should apologize for prejudging West Springfield Church of Christ. When we entered we saw a drum set in the back. We weren’t sure what to think, but did make a pact to leave should they break out the drumpset. Throughout the first part of the service I sat wondering if we’d have to embarrass ourselves by leaving. But they didn’t get out the drumset. The service was like any other service, only that the preacher was doing the entire service sans the closing prayer. Acapella singing was pre-recorded and I wasn’t sure if anyone else but me was singing.

We surmised the drums set must be part of a shared building with another denomination. I felt bad about misjudging the entire time. Also later in the day I thought about how incredibly blessed I am to be part of a strong church…..a church where things are taken care of. At West Springfield the preacher was doing everything. It was truly a mission field as he did mention he was going to Lubbock to give a report about the mission effort in Massachusetts. This area truly needs the gospel as I get the feeling that many are lackadaisical about religion in general…or if they practice it, it is with false teaching or profane. It’s not all that different from Tennessee, only that the truth is far from being found.

One thing that stood out to me in the sermon was that the preacher mentioned that he was worried what politics was doing to the church. And I concur. Politics are killing the church. I’ve seen brethren, who I once respected, preach hate on social media toward the other political party, thereby completely sabotaging any hope an unchurched person from being interested in God’s people or message.

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to find a lunch venue – Red Rose Pizza was opening at 2PM – so we got Chipotle to go.

Traveling along the scenic highways of western Massachusetts was eye catching and just a bit scary at times. The rented 4Runner seems to be top heavy, but maybe it’s just a feeling I have. I’m scared to death I would hydroplane injuring my in-laws.

We made it to the Norman Rockwell musuem with our prepaid tix. Inside they had every Saturday Evening Post he had illustrated for. It was great to see several decades worth of Americana, from the 1920’s to the Great Depression to school desegregation. Rockwell even made illustrations of the moon landing. One thing I found interesting was that an electric company had paid Rockwell to do a portrait of a lineman. He did, but the electric company sent him back a list of things they wanted changed. And I thought to myself even Norman Rockwell faced criticism in life!

So here I sit in my hotel room with a belly full of Arizona Pizza (highly recommended) and a bit tired from a swim in the hotel pool…looking forward to our visit to Vermont.