I was reminded, on all levels, why I love our particular family of churches. It seems like no matter where you go, whether it’s in another state or another country, our particular brand of services will always be somewhat similar to each other. Most of the songs we sang were songs I knew (some sung a little differently, but same words), but there were some new ones I didn’t know, there were plenty of church announcements (done at the beginning of service instead of the end, like in Montgomery County), and the communion and sermon were both very powerful. Ron Drabot preached the sermon, and not only was his message biblical, encouraging and convicting, but it was also quite entertaining…he warmed up the congregation with a joke related to him turning 50 recently, and throughout his sermon, little music clips played with messages that reinforced the points he was making. It was great!
After service was done, Caitlin introduced Nick to many of her friends, and Minh and I talked to various people. Everyone was really cool to talk to; I’d definitely love to visit this church again. Eventually we made our way out of the theatre, took some pictures in front of it, and headed off for lunch. Caitlin had a special lunch locale in mind for us…
Minh is a big fan of the Food Network, and one of the shows on there features diners that offer good and unique foods. Well, one of those diners was right there in Charlotte, a few blocks from where we had church: the Penguin Diner. This place was well known for its burgers and fried pickles, so of course we had to try both. The fried pickles actually were really good…I didn’t know you could fry pickles, but hey…we WERE in the south. The burger was actually really good too…I was tempted to get the 1 pound burger that they offered, but feared I might regret it later in the day, since Minh and I were supposed to go hiking. But that didn’t stop Minh from getting it. He wolfed that thing down with no problem. He’s definitely my hero.
After lunch, Nick and Caitlin headed off for some alone time. Minh knew one of his old co-workers named George lived in the Durham area, and apparently George had agreed to meet us half-way at a state park to do some hiking. So Minh and I drove about an hour to Morrow Mountain State Park and met up with George. George was a nice guy and he lead us around a couple trails, showing us some beautiful views of the park and some of the area’s “mountains (none were more than 1,000 tall, so they were more like little hills).” But we enjoyed the views and had some good conversations. We finished our evening up with dinner at a local place and continued having good conversation. Eventually, we parted ways and Minh and I took some of the local back roads back to Edwin’s and Chris’ place. Their other roommate Corey was home, so we got to meet him. All three of those guys were really cool and funny; I was glad we got to stay at their place. Nick got home a couple hours later, and we finished the evening with watching a couple episodes of The Office on Nick’s computer. What better way to say goodnight than watching the antics of Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute?
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