Nothing Lasts Forever

Chapter 13

However I had Chris with me and that eased my mind, a little. We pulled up at 9:10 am in the church's parking lot, there were so many more cars here today than the night when I came, which just meant more people to stare at me.

I guess I had a look of pure terror on my face because Chris took my hand, "relax Sisi, they are just regular people who love God." He smiled warmly at me and led me into the building. I was taking deep breathes to calm myself.

The moment we were indoors, an usher greeted us with a big friendly smile, "hello, and welcome."

She seemed so nice I had to smile back at her, "Good morning, thank you"

She hugged Chris and they spoke briefly, she handed us a program and led us further down the hall to another door, where another usher took over greeting us just as warmly as the first.

She proceeded to show us to some seats. Chris was right next to me but was saying hello to a lot of other people who when I made eye contact with, would say hello, good morning or welcome. I did hear a few say happy Sabbaths as well.

We then sat down and Chris handed me a hymnal. A group of young ladies went up to the front on the pulpit, and called out a number from the hymnal. The congregation all joined in singing and the whole place came alive.

The rhythms of the drums were on point, the low key smoothness of the piano player was beautiful and the guy on base was phenomenal. With the young ladies leading out in unison was amazing and inspirational.

A few other things took place after that, we had prayers; they had children's time where all the kids gathered around to listen to a story, and so forth. Then everyone rose and a few people in a line led by and usher came down the aisle and went to sit on the pulpit.

Chris leaned over to me, "the man with the robe on is Pastor Mac" he then briefly looked down at me and smiled. I was enjoying the church service, the people are so warm and friendly and welcoming it was hard not to feel right at home.

Before the pastor stood up to deliver his sermon, we completed a few more items listed on the program. We had prayers, certain announcements were made, they welcomed all visitors and even the regular members, people went around during this time, singing and greeting, they all seemed so loving, I was just amazed. A few other things that I wasn't familiar with took place and just before it was time for the service; the praise team (the same girls from earlier) got up and sang some amazing songs and everyone surely felt the presence of God.

The pastor stood and thanked them, and then we were told to turn to Matthew 25:1-13, which was a rather long scripture if I do say so, but although I had read my bible in the past and started back reading just recently I never fully understood the reason why Jesus used this parable.

After the scripture was read by the pastor and the entire congregation, he did a short prayer and then announced the title of the sermon, which flashed on the screen behind him simultaneously. 'At The Door' the scripture was about the ten virgins who were waiting to meet the bridegroom. Pastor Mac then said they were divided into categories, five foolish and five wise. This I was familiar with because I had read, when I was younger all of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

He then went on to give us a little back ground history, "In ancient times the bridegroom was led into the feast by 10 virgins/maidens. Weddings normally took place at night. So it was customary for there to be lamps used. They would wait for him at a particular spot, to come from the bride's house and sometimes he delayed his coming. So the virgins stood waiting for they knew not the hour of his coming. The long wait would often cause them to feel tired, so naturally they would sometimes fall asleep. Their purpose was to lead him in with the lamps lit and perform the first dance."