A Different View

It's a rare occasion for me to go to church and unheard of for me to go to church and sit in a different spot.  But today, I did just that.  It gave me an opportunity to make some insightful observations.

1.  It's way harder to pay attention sitting on the back row.  I've always had a problem with this, but it was way harder today.  I think it's because people watching just got so darn interesting.

2.  The iPad is a great tool for bible search and making notes during church.  However, I am not the only one who thumbs through email, scans facebook or even places a competitive online game during a sermon.  And here I felt guilty about doing that, like I was the only one.  Who knew?

3.  Speaking of not feeling guilty about something...my husband is NOT the only person who falls asleep during church.  I really did see a guy nearly bang his head on a pew in front of him.  That must have been a good nap!  He wasn't the only one either.  I'd say the average is at least one per row and that's just the ones who have yet to master the ability to sleep while looking wide awake.

4.  Some of the younger ladies in our church need a serious lesson in modesty.  With all the shirt skirts/dresses and low-cut tops, I saw far more than I wanted to of our congregation today.  Good grief, dress like you would if Jesus were going to be sitting right next you!

5. The family atmosphere in our church is very sweet.  Because I sit up front, this is an aspect of our church that I often miss.  Seeing families sitting together is such a precious sight for me.  What is really awesome is to see children, parents, grandparents and even aunts and uncles sitting together.  It warms my heart to know that really happens.

6.  My pastor and God are super tight!  The past two weeks there has been thunder or lightening at particularly interesting moments during the service.  They provided an exclamation to the point he was making and happened exactly on cue.

7.  From my seat, I could see our drummer during the music.  I must say, he is fun to watch.  I go to a Baptist church, so you might not think the drummer would necessarily be kickin' it.  But he was!  It was so much fun to watch him really enjoying the music and enjoying his part of the worship team.

8.  When you change seats, you maybe mistaken for a visitor.  I've been at this church for over 5 years.  In fact, I've volunteered in the church office for over two years and spoken at a women's conference.  However, I was welcomed to the church by a member.  I know it's my photographic memory, but I've met the person several times.  I smiled and said thank you. 

9.  I got to see a completely different  group of people.  It isn't that the people I normally sit around are bad at all.  I think it's funny how most people have their section of the church and never journey far from it.  The awesome part of it was that I got a few hugs from people that I normally wouldn't ever see in church.  A few of them were particularly meaningful to me.

And drum roll please.....

10.  My biggest observation is that some people need to seriously update their facebook photos more often.  I'm friends with a large number of people from our church.  However, I barely recognized them because the photo that pops up every time they post something on facebook is a few (quite a few in some cases) years old. 

Ahhh....the joys of a different view.