Fun Times in Houston!!

Last Friday morning, I headed south to visit with some old friends and to get to know some new ones. It was a great weekend! I didn't get to visit with everyone I had wanted to, but that just gives me an excuse to go back sometime. I'm almost ALWAYS up for a road trip!! :~)

Friday night, we went to my FAVORITE Tex-Mex restaurant, Gringo's, in Houston. YUM!! I ate WAY too much, but I enjoyed every minute of stuffing myself! Saturday we had a lazy morning, which was perfect. That night, a friend from my time in Livingston (who now lives in Houston) had her birthday party. (Happy Birthday, Kristin! . . . if you're reading this) :-) It was fun to get to know so many people that night. I realized too late that I forgot to get my camera out. But, if you have a facebook account, you can see pictures on Mandy's page.

Sunday was full of church activities and Sunday afternoon napping (after what was in my opinion a very late night on Saturday). I got to go back to the church I attended my last semester of nursing school, UBC. Good times! Like a lot of the more traditional churches, they've started offering a more contemporary worship service. Growing up in a traditional church, that's what I was used to (my comfort zone) until I went to college and attended a non-traditional church. I love both! I enjoy the classic hymns - the authors of those songs were incredibly talented! I also enjoy the more contemporary music that this type of service offers. My ideal worship service is a combination of the two, but I digress. I think this type of service is a way to follow in Christ's footsteps - meet the people where they are. Some people are more likely to come to this more relaxed service and hear the Gospel than one that's more tame (for lack of a better word). I'm very grateful that churches are ministering to different types of people in these ways.

We got to attend the more contemporary service on Sunday night, and WOW! The message the pastor gave was great! It was about worship, and he had us do an activity where we write down how we worship - individually and corporately. We were given a blank page, a pen, and 5 minutes to write down everything that came to our minds when we thought of the phrase: I worship when . . .

I liked it because it made me actually look at how I worship - how often, in what circumstances (ie good times/bad times), places I find most worshipful, etc. It's an interesting exercise if you ever find yourself with 5 minutes of free time, a piece of paper, and a pen. :-)

I thought I'd share some of my list that I made that evening.

I worship when . . . (and these are in no particular order)

• I'm by myself on a beach watching and listening to the waves come in
• I see a healthy newborn baby
• I am surrounded by fellow believers worshipping, and I can just sit and listen to them praising our Savior
• I am on a long drive and can sing at the top of my lungs (completely uninhibited)
• God shows me a verse or reminds me of one that is exactly what I need at that moment

Two Freebirds' meals and one night of sleep later, I left Houston to come back home . . . by way of Galveston. (yeah, I know it's not really on the way) :-) I'm not sure when the last time was that I got to visit the island, so I thought I'd drive around to see the changes. One HUGE change was that Chili's has invaded the island!! For the longest, one family pretty much owned the restaurant part of the island, and they wouldn't allow a chain like that to enter. Well, I guess their day has passed because I saw a billboard advertising Chili's on the island. Hmmm! Another important change was that The Spot now has a roof over the "poop deck". For those of you who've never had the pleasure of eating a "Spot burger", they're very good! But, it was never a good idea to eat it on the upstairs, outdoor deck overlooking the ocean because with the beach comes the seagulls. YUCK!! Never a good combination! It was nice to drive around the old stomping grounds for a little while. Then, it was time to get back home.

It was a wonderful weekend!! Too bad weekends are only 2 days long. We could have used more play time. Well, I hope you have a great week!