I have been traveling from here to Boston and Montreal recently. We saw some amazing scenery and visited with some interesting people. One lady from Vancouver, Canada, was thrilled to meet some Oklahomans because she is a great fan of Blake Shelton. We visited with a wonderful Christian Appalachian couple who fell for each other in kindergarten and never dated anyone else. They have been married over 30 years now and have several grandchildren. They even invited us to come visit their neck of the woods and to stay with them.

We visited churches in Boston, Quebec City, and Montreal. The steeples and architecture were beautiful. The stained glass and interior of the churches were amazing, even extravagant. But we soon quit snapping pictures and simply stood there in awe, forgetting every day cares, drawn to worship God instead.

Did my views of the world change on the trip? A fi lm in the Halifax Immigrations Center Museum showed through interviews of people from various lands how desperate and hopeful many immigrants to North America are. The fi lm also showed how people new to a free country have often recognized opportunities and made the most of them.

Quebec City was our favorite place on the trip. We got a sense of the verve, preciseness, and style of the French-Canadian people, and I began to understand why they refuse to give up their language, art, and way of life.

I saw young employees at our hotel in in Montreal maintain their patience and diligence as they found room in the inn for lines of people and luggage from 3 cruise ships while guests who were late checking out complained angrily about not being served fast enough. Most of the young people here are unsung heroes, too. They will step up and do their share and more when it is needed.

Returning home, we are reminded that from time to time we need to see the people and place we live with the eyes of a tourist. It helps us see what needs doing and what is better than we had realized. Kind of like a Sunday sermon.

Some info for your calendar: next Sunday, the 21^st , is Fellowship meal Sunday, and that evening we will be taking the van and as many other vehicles as needed to Cromwell to attend services there. Then on the 27^th of October is the Fall Festival in Atwood. I’m sure there will be more information on this later.

This Sunday the special music was brought by Tom and Kathy Spillman. Tom sang “Peace in the Valley” and then they both sang “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” and “Walking in Jerusalem.” The last two songs were to a rockityskippity tune that we all enjoyed very much. It’s always a blessing when either Tom and Kathy sing so it was really a treat to hear both this Sunday. Now I can truthfully report that there wan’nt no dancin’ in the aisles, but that doesn’t mean our ears weren’t rockity-skippin!

Rev. Brown’s message was from Ruth 2: 10-12. Ruth had left the home of her birth to return to the land of Judah with her mother-in-law Naomi. She did her best to take good care of Naomi and had been gleaning grain in fi elds that belonged to Boaz.

There are more parallels than fi rst meets the eye between this story and the New Testament salvation experience. First, in verse 10 Ruth asks Boaz why she has found favor in his eyes. We should never take it for granted that we have found favor in God’s eyes. What have we done that could ever merit Christ dying on a cross to save us?

Second, Ruth left her old home in Moab, which had become a land of famine, to make Judah her new home. We are born into a fallen world here on this earth, but when we accept Jesus as our Savior, the Kingdom of Heaven becomes our new home. We learn new ways and become aliens to what seemed natural in the fallen world.

Third, Boaz tells Ruth to stay there, not to glean in other fi elds. When we become Christians, God tells us to stay in our new home and not to stray to other fields. We are His now, bought at an extremely high price from the fallen world that will promise much and then only deliver misery, but not anything of real value.

Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life. It behooves us, and is to our own benefit, that we stay in the new Kingdom that Jesus made possible it for us to live in.