May 24 Salem and area

Sunday we headed out to an OPC in Ipswitch, about 30 minutes North of Salem. The GPS said only 10 miles and arrival time in half hour so I thought something was amiss. Wasn't, it was meandering through Salem at 30MPH with lots of curves and lights, then a country road. Miss garmin was right (this time!)
We did get to the church a little early, only one other couple was sitting when we arrived. No Frank Ezinga to listen to, just silence while the pews started to fill. Even with 3-4 minutes to go I thought many have taken off for the memorial day long weekend, except a flood came in those last minutes. This was probably the largest church we have gone to so far. Two Pastors led the worship service, ones called the leading, the other the preaching; not a bad format. The liturgy was very similar to ours; our first song was a hymn out of their Hymnal. After that the band took over, one song we were familiar with the others not. I could also tell older members were not as vocal with those songs. There were many young people in the pews, I got the sense in order to keep these young people active and coming that the more contemporary music was more prevalent.
The sermon was simply awesome; this younger pastor, who looked to be around 30-35, preached on Esther 8 where she saves the Jews by having King Ahasuerus make the edict that they have been given the house of Haman by having him killed; the sermon was called "The Reversal of Fortune". He started out by talking about Will Smith's lead role in a movie called The Pursuit of Happiness, about a true story of a man who went into poverty with his son, then his life turned around after meeting a stock broker. This sermon was hitting home fast as he explained that in our lives we have things which can cause strain and anxiety, whether death, serious illness (cancer), loss of work etc..but as seen throughout scripture God always comes through for his people. The other pointed fact was that this preacher had no notes or paper! the 35 minute sermon was given totally off the cuff; and he did not stumble once, nor did he repeat any points. And he was very clear, made his points flow; I would say one of the best sermons I have ever heard. I think I've mentioned this before; the preachers in the OPC and PCA are taught not only what to preach on but how; the style and clarity are excellent.
After Church we drove North and visited villages called Newburyport, Rockport, Gloucester, and Manchester. The one thing we saw in all these small towns is how busy it was. The weather was beautiful, slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky and 30 degrees. Here on the East coast the temperatures fluctuate from day to day much more than on the West coast. The previous day in Boston got to 65 degrees, Sunday 90!
With the towns being so busy parking was the issue; we stopped a few times in no parking areas, took some quick pictures and moved on. There was one street that reminded me of St Thomas the day 12 ships were in port and they closed the main street for the first time; wall to wall people. But it was a vehicle road so we drove it and watched as the red sea parted as people saw this big Dodge 1 ton headed their way, they were no match for me :)
After a very busy drive we got back home and pulled out our beach chairs and sat by the ocean and relaxed (with a Grisham book); later we skyped with kids and had a nice steak BBQ. A good day

 if you can blow this up you can see the people just closed in as soon as I passed them on this very very busy street in Rockport

 beautiful coast line and ports in the Boston area

 ditto

 this was our beach

 I decided to trim the beard; it was getting harder eating without having my napkin wiping food off my hair after every bite. Sneezing was becoming a problem too........

 our "glamping spot" was in the open so I needed a makeshift wind breaker to keep the flame from going out on the BBQ :)