Tata Jesus is Bangala

I said I would post more about church and the great church debacle. But tonight my brother told me he's going back to school to be a teacher, which means quitting his job at the family company...it felt like a moment when the earth moved, and I'm still trying to figure out why.

But instead of trying to figure that out publicly, I'll tell you about Intervention on TV (a good episode), and church. First, let me preface church by saying I'm reading The Poisonwood Bible again. It, along with many other faith-related things, have been resonating differently since I've started my new job. I've seen people in circumstances that just makes me really look at things in a new way...but I digress.

So I'm reading the Poisonwood Bible. And we're going to church on vacation. I missed most of the past vacations that involved 3-4 hour long indigenous church services, but this time there was no escaping, and I was assured the service would be only 1 hour long. Then I found out it was to be a "local, quaint Baptist church." I laughed. A 1 hour Baptist service?

So we went. The babies sat quietly the first 45 minutes, during which we kept them entertained with various toys, and eventually the lint roller I keep in my purse, which they tried to eat, cat hair and all. However, when we finally finished singing and having announcements an hour in, it got to be too much for them.

During the sermon I couldn't help but imagine that the preacher looked a lot like how I picture Nathan in the Poisonwood Bible. And he sort of talked like him too...it was all condemnation, of poker, people, activities, etc. The only good use of money is to save souls, amen. And there should be no focus or purpose in this life on earth, other than saving souls. There was also much talk of drawing lines and not doing certain, unnamed things to set ourselves apart, dedicate ourselves to the Lord. The songs were about thanking Jesus for making us so good, and that was about all I could take.

This is one of the times being maternal and having offspring would definitely be a benefit. My sisters-in-law both got to spend the last hour of the services hanging out in the nursery.

Despite the hour (or 2 or 3) of being agitated by the Baptists, I'm thoroughly enjoying vacation. I tried turtle steak tonight (not bad...), and there will be a visit to a turtle farm and swimming with sting rays.

I also discovered a reef not too far off-shore from our hotel. It's great snorkeling, and I was actually nerdy enough today to take the fish identification card provided with my snorkel gear out to the reef with me. Vacation rules.