The gentleman that pulled up was John and he informed me of "service" that was about to commence in 20 minutes and invited me to join. I quickly weighed resting verse meeting new people, so I asked its location and navigated my way there. I wasn't sure if "service" meant Christian, Jehovah Witness, Buddhist, or whatever. I just knew it had been 10+ years since I attended any worship service and I was overdue in some regard.
Restoration Worship Center, it turned out to be a Christian church and service was great. Pastor Gary Noble spoke about "real peace", internal & external. This is something personally I work on daily and is very important topic that is a big part of my current existence.
After speaking with John I discovered he was a great guy, he is a people's person, energetic, very social, humorous, man of God, encouraging, and real. He spoke to me about his full recovery from a long-standing battle with drugs to now holding substance abuse classes and guiding those who need it. The relationship with his daughter, who is now married, has also been rekindled which I think is wonderful.
After church service Pastor Gary & his family took Jon, John's lovely wife Cindy, and I to lunch which I wasn't expecting especially after the church had already made a donation to my cause. I'm glad I ate well before arriving into town and the previous night or else I would've wanted to eat everything put on the table and maybe even the table.
John & Cindy invited me to stay at their home for the night which was great. We watched sports on TV, which I haven't done in months. Cindy cooked a nice dinner and later we enjoyed John's birthday cake. I'm not the biggest cake person but I thought it was delicious, carrot cake with strawberry frosting. It's not a combination you would commonly think of and as I am writing this, my thoughts are craving for another slice.
Him and wife are currently working towards establishing a local halfway house for women which I believe is a noble cause and will be accomplished.
John told me that God told him to go after me when he first spotted me and to invite me in. To John: Thanks for everything you've done, keep doing what your doing -- fighting the good fight. Take care my friend!
1/13/13