Easter 2012

Ah, was Easter really a week ago? It seems like yesterday that I was in Sumter with Frederick, but yet it seems like 3 weeks ago at the same time.... Confusing, right? 

After discussing where to go for church Easter morning, we decided to go to the first church that Fred visited after moving to Sumter. Alice Drive Baptist Church. The church was decently sized, had three services, and we went to the contemporary 1100 worship service. I loved it! The last time that he went, they were in the middle of a D-now, but he agreed that he liked the normal service as well. (And they have an orchestra for him and his clarinet!) 

The pastor was cool, and his message was good. It was about taking a "Roadtrip" with God, with Jesus.... the beginning of series of sermons. The passage of scripture was from Luke 24:13-35, which is the passage about the two men that were walking down the road discussing the crucifixion events when Jesus joins them. Then Jesus joins them, but they were totally clueless as to Who they were actually walking and talking with. The pastor encouraged the congregation to take a roadtrip with Jesus, to step out and let God take control, and to not be oblivious to Jesus in your life. All I could think about was Uganda, how our 2011 group took a crazy roadtrip with Jesus and how He provided and took care of His children. All of the fear that I allowed to consume me, letting other's opinion sway my peace, and how the money involved scared me. But God challenged each and every one of us to step into "the car" and let Him drive it... not us. 

I found myself this morning so wishing that I was going back to Alice Drive Baptist. I would have loved to be a part of the rest of this sermon series. Another thing that I was super impressed with was an insert in the bulletin with TONS of service opportunities on April 28th. They called it "Operation Inasmuch," based off of Matthew 25:40... Truly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me. Involvement ranges from visiting the home-bound, the hospitalized, assisting with yard work, painting for Boy Scouts, sewing projects for nursing home residents, etc, etc! My favorite was handing out quarters at the local laundry mats to show God's love. I really think that churches are sucking things up now a days because of the lack of involvement in the community. A church with a heart for reaching out to its local residents speaks volumes, and I would so love to be a part of that.

After the morning worship service, Fred toured me around Shaw AFB. We stopped by the Base Exchange for a Subway lunch and a haircut for Fred. Then he drove me around the other portions of the base, showed me the commissary, his running path that included F16s taking off during one of his runs (drooling...), and of course his weather building!

Since the commissary was closed, it was onward to Walmart in pursuit of a ham.... on Easter. Yeah. I know how much Fred loooves ham, and I usually have it for Easter too. So we decided to do one ourselves. He picked it out. I picked up wheat yeast rolls, and the handsome man even bought me tulips. :) We went back to the apartment, lathered the ham in brown sugar, added pineapple juice and slices, and then threw that baby into the crockpot. Then it was picture time before we changed out of our Easter outfits. A run then took place, followed by a shower, and the cooking of green beans and yeast rolls.

I asked Fred to help me position the camera and had a mini-photo shoot as well.

The ham turned out awesome, and we had more of the coffee crumb cake for dessert. We ate at the table with the tulips in front of us. Both of us full, Fred played a little more Mass Effect 3 as I watched. It was one, great day.