Everything Is Different, But Christ Is Not Different.

I am sitting at my sister's dining room table. I spent the week here exploring the coastal towns with her, her husband, and their three children. Tomorrow (Wednesday), I will fly back home to Michigan. 

It’s a different world here. The ocean dictates things here. The industry, the weather, the flowers. It's all very different here.

Pumping gas is different. You don’t pump your own gas at many of the gas stations. Someone comes to your car and does it for you. 

Clothing is different and made for hiking in the forests or for ocean-going people.  

Coffee is different. I am not joking when I say there are hundreds of coffee shops. They are in little drive-through buildings; some are elaborate little cabins, and some are in makeshift sheds, but they are everywhere. If you miss one, just keep going; you will pass another within a few miles. 

On Sunday, I walked into church, and the congregation seemed different. They looked like people who live on the coast. 

Then the music started, and suddenly everything felt familiar. I looked around at the people joining in the worship, and it was familiar. The pastor began to preach, and it was familiar. Everything is different here, but not Christ. Christ is not different. 

One of the beautiful things about following Christ is that he does not come to a culture and remove people from the culture but changes the person inside the culture. Bless you

· Pastor