Rockaway Beach

I rode to New Baptist Temple on the train with Mike, the youth pastor of the church. NBT is the church of the pastor Erica and I stayed with the past few days. The church is an old one built in 1894. The outside is beautiful and the sanctuary contains a historic pipe organ. Pastor Edwin stepped into the church a few years ago and membership was lacking. He has more than doubled attendees since then. God has placed His hand on the congregation for sure. It is still a work in progress, but a great work.

Edwin's associate pastor, Gus, preached on Stones of Remembrance from Joshua 4. It took me back to the last night of the Women's Discipleship Training Program. We discussed how through our lives we have these stones of remembrance...these moments that stick out in our lives of how God was real to us and how we learned a big life lesson. One of my stones was a painting of a target. I placed the word "faith" over the target as a shield. 

This is to remind myself that it is crucial to put on the shield of faith every morning before I go about my day. There is a verse in Ephesians that explains it:

          

                 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication."

It was nice to know that I can go hundreds of miles away from Texas and still receive truth and encouragement from my brothers and sisters in Christ.

After church, I went to lunch at Edwin's. A lot of the church members came. We had a potluck at their house which I found out consists largely of pizza and Dunkin Donuts. :) I didn't have a huge problem with that. By the time others brought their food, I was extremely full from the "appetizers."

I met a really cool girl named, Senanu (Sorry for the spelling! I know I butchered it).

She was Jamaican and we had a great conversation about the country. I asked her if she had seen TobyMac walking around those parts since he lives in Kingston, Jamaica sometimes. She didn't even know who he was... which made me suspicious. TobyMac is always coming out with these songs containing a Jamaican sound, marrying a girl from Jamaica, using their colors... and the people I have spoken to over there have no clue who this man is. It's a pretty small country. I'm onto you TobyMac. I think you need to prove yourself by taking me and my friends over to this supposed house of yours. You know, just to check it out... not for vacationing purposes or anything.

Anyways, Senanu and I hung out a lot that day. We went to the beach with her daughter who absolutely LOVED the water. She didn't want to leave! I had such a relaxing time there.

I met this lady named Betsy. She works for Random House Publishing in the science fiction/fantasy genre. I really enjoyed talking to her about her job and how she came about it. It was very inspiring.

After that, I said my goodbyes to everyone. I am so grateful to Edwin and his family for letting me stay with them for such an extended amount of time. God bless them!

Charles walked me to the Subway and I made it to Manhattan like a pro! Ahem, praise Jesus for that one.

I met up with Erica, Hannah, and Emily. We went to a cool, jazzy restaurant called Cleopatra's Needle. The place had a live band which sounded super classy. I was glad to be amongst friends and enjoy some good food.

After that, we went to Starbucks for a little dessert. This guy that worked there came up to our table and asked us if we wanted to hang out with him and his friend later that night. We were all so tired that we had to decline. He gave us his number and a cool flier announcing the opening of an art exhibit of his. I told him that I'd probably have some free time to hang later that week.

When we had our fill of decaf, Erica, Hannah, Emily and I headed for our hotel. It was nice to be in Manhattan. I discovered how much I love New York in Brooklyn and Manhattan this trip. I highly suggest visiting.