As some of you know, this is the third summer I’ve spent in Maine. Today I finally snapped a photo that will help convey a funny misunderstanding I had in the very first days of my experience in Maine!

Upon my arrival to Maine, in June of 2007, one of my first priorities was to find a church to attend during the summer months. If you know me personally, or even if you read my blogs with any regularity, I suppose you have learned that I worship in a style that is free and without many of the trappings or strongholds that is often found in traditional, denominational church styles. As I sought a church family those first few days, I prayed for sure, but as I traveled through the towns of Maine, I also kept my eyes open, searching for a church that might be what I was seeking.

Now, I don’t know where you live or what, in recent years, you have done with your recyclables, but in CT, we put our recyclables out on the curb in a separate container for the garbage collector to take away! When I grew up in the country of central PA, everything was simply lumped together, burned in an old oil drum we called “the incinerator” and eventually taken to the local “dump” and from there, hauled by the township to a landfill. Anyway, I had never heard of a place called a “Redemption Center”!

Can you guess? Well, you got it! As I quickly drove by this very location, seeing only the first few words on the sign, I got very excited! In my thinking, any place called a “Redemption Center” could only be a Holy Spirit-filled house of worship! I was feeling really great about my new discovery when a few days later, in another small town in Maine, I drove past yet ANOTHER “Redemption Center”!

DUH! I quickly realized after visually investigating the facility that the Redemption Centers that I had seen were, indeed, places to drop your RECYCLABLES! You know….you drop them off and REDEEM them for cash, I suspect!

Imagine if I had actually gone to THAT kind of “Redemption Center” on Sunday morning! Pretty funny, huh? Seems I’m often confusing things like this; guess it’s the price you pay when you live in “La-La Land”.

As you may know, I have, since that early experience, found two great little places of worship where I summer in Maine. I am thankful for the REDEMPTION I have found in Christ! I pray that you each experience His power of Redemption in your own life!