Sunday, July 3, 2011

NYC take II

I've been trying to find a church around here, but the general impression that I'm getting of New Jersey is that they don't really like Protestantism. Or English speaking Protestants, at any rate. I was hoping that I'd be able to find a church within walking distance of my apartment, because walking to church sounds so quaint, and it means that I don't have to move my car.

Unfortunately the churches within walking distance are all 1) Catholic or 2) Protestant in Spanish or Arabic  or something equally as un-English (unhelpful, considering that I took French for 5 years and seemed to have retained only the ability to say my name and ask where the library is).

I found a church about 10 minutes away that looked decent so I went this morning. Or I tried to go. I swear. There wasn't a parking lot, so I spent 20 minutes trying to find street parking, but all the non-resident-only parking was full (of course).

So I apologized to God and decided that I'd go worship at the Church of American Consumerism instead, otherwise known as Wal-Mart. I plugged the address into my GPS and took off. I got about a mile down this highway-ish road that suddenly split off into two roads, but Judy the GPS didn't really think it was necessary to warn me that I needed to be in the far left lane on this 6 lane interchange thing. Needless to say, I was not in the left lane, or anywhere near it, and I ended up in the toll lane for the Lincoln Tunnel into NYC.

I sat in the stupid toll lane traffic trying to decide whether or not I was going to cry. The problem with not knowing where you're going in New Jersey, is that making mistakes is expensive. So I got to pay $8 for the privilege of driving under the Hudson River for two miles and ending up in Manhattan. I sat in traffic (at noon on a Sunday, seriously?) for 15 minutes until I could get myself back to the Lincoln Tunnel and back to Jersey. But, hey, I can now say that I drove in NYC and I didn't die, in fact, I mostly just sat at a complete stop and looked at all the really tall buildings.

And I won't be skipping church next week, that's for sure.

1 comment:

  1. I really know nothing about where you live other than that it is in New Jersey, but I am reading a book by Tim Keller (who pastors a NYC church) and was on his website. There was a section for "affiliated churches" and one of the sections was for New Jersey, so I thought it might help... at least it would keep you from ending up in the City again. Anyway here it is http://www.redeemer.com/connect/affiliated_churches.html

    Thanks for your stories

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