almost time to go

It's Thursday night and I've been in New Hampshire since early early Monday morning.
I was blessed with an opportunity to travel here with my friends Drew and Caren, and spend time with Caren's family. It's been a unique experience. Caren's mom and dad have been on staff with the Navigators and building relationships with students at Dartmouth College for over 15 years. You know how every neighborhood or small town has that one house where everyone goes to hang out? The Parker's house is that house in Hanover. For five days there's been a constant stream of people coming and going. Not just Navigator staff, but other students and friends. It's one of the coolest things I've ever experienced, and it's made me realize that I want to have that kind of house.

It's also been great spending time with Drew and Caren. Truly, they're two of the coolest people I know, and I'm so blessed to get to serve with them and enjoy their friendships.

I've learned a lot about New England. This was my first time in this part of the country. New England is an interesting place. The mindset here and the ways things are done remind me a lot of Amsterdam. One main difference is that here, people reason their way out of a relationship with God. They think religion is a trivial thing and faith is for those poor souls who aren't strong enough to think through life on their own. Where in Amsterdam religion seems to be essentially ignored, here's it's frowned upon. A large portion of New England is unchurched. It's intriguing.
What's also interesting is that there are no "mega churches" here. Again, like Amsterdam, there's simply no room. The churches are small. Quaint. Most seat 150 people max. The similarities are interesting. The differences are, too.

I like this part of the country. Tomorrow we're stopping in Boston for a short time on our drive back to Michigan. I'm excited to see Boston. Drew and Caren have talked about it so much, it'll be great to have them show me some of the city.