The ironic thing is I had finally decided to drive to church
that Sunday, for the first time since we moved to the Bronx.
See, we’ve been attending a church that is across the 207th
St. Bridge in the Norwood section of Manhattan. To get there, we walk about a
half mile to a bus stop, wait for the bus, ride the bus for 5 stops, then walk
a couple more blocks to get to the church building. We leave at least 40
minutes for the trip. We do it this way because the church has no parking lot,
only on-street parking wherever you can find it. And finding it is difficult. On
Saturday night I had seen that rain was forecasted for the majority of the next
day and I thought, “Well, this would be a good day not to ride the bus.”
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| Our beloved Bx12 SBS |
Riding the bus has its downside, of course. If the weather
is bad (too hot, too cold, too monsoon-like, etc.), then the walk to and from
the bus – with 3 little kids – can be very annoying. Too, there is no guarantee
of a seat on the bus, depending on how full it is. Unless, I must say, you have
a child with you. We have NEVER had to stand if we’re holding Juliet; someone
always gives up their seat. Always.
Anyway, it was supposed to rain, so I decided we should try
driving and see how bad it would be. At the very least, even if I had to drive
around for 20 minutes looking for a parking place, it would be better than
walking a mile in the rain.
But then the warnings from my phone’s weather app began:
“Wintry mix.” “Icy conditions.” “Take extra precautions on the roadways.” My
resolve was waning.
Amber, our Priority 1 colleague who was under the weather
that day, texted me and told me to be careful, that there had been two car
accidents near her building already that morning.
Hmm.
I even started seeing warnings about sidewalks and
stairways. Ice. Slippery. Use caution.
Ultimately, we decided simply to stay in. The thought of the
mile-long walk in the rain on icy sidewalks was just as bad as driving,
considering that (as I saw on Twitter) the police were “urging” people to stay
off the roads.
Yep, we skipped church. Turns out we made the right call
though, because around noon they suspended all bus service in the Bronx because
the roads were so bad. So even if we had made it to church, there would have
been no bus to take home.
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| No buses = No go out |
So we had family church. I put my church shirt back in the
closet and reached for my guitar. We’d sing a song or two, then pray together
as a family. We sang “Oceans” because I knew that Ginny could sing along with
that one, and then sang “Who Is the King of the Jungle?” complete with motions.
Then we went around and prayed for each person individually, especially for
anything she was afraid of or worried about. My favorite moment came when Ginny
(a week shy of 8) prayed for her baby sister. Cora is still pretty shy about
things like that, and just shook her head when we asked if she would pray, but
no matter; she still got a glimpse of Jesus. Juliet, of course, is only just
learning to say her own name (She currently refers to herself as “Et”). We didn’t
belabor it, didn't force it. Altogether, it was maybe 20 minutes. But it was a great family church service.
We don’t want Jesus to be someone we go visit once a week at
church. Our kids (and we ourselves, for that matter) need to know that He is
always with them, and that all they have to do is knock, and the door will be
opened for them. They also need to see their parents following hard after Him,
even if we’re just in our living room.
We’re not perfect. Not even close. We have plenty of areas
where we can – no, must – grow. But we hope and pray that as we learn to listen
and obey our Father better, that our girls will watch us growing and then turn
and do the same.
And we'll see about driving to church next week. They're forecasting no precipitation, but I'll keep checking my Twitter feed, just in case.
