We Liked… (Part 4)

This will be my final blog post from Italy, as we fly from Venice late Thursday morning and are scheduled to arrive in Charlotte about 7 PM. It has been a great trip and we have some incredible memories. Monieca and I deeply appreciate your prayers and support. I’ve enjoyed sharing with our church family and others photographs and thoughts via this blog and Instagram. Thank you for following us and, again, for praying for us.

This week I’ve been briefly describing some of the things we’ve liked about Italy. This fiinal blog post from Italy will be a variation on that theme. Today I want to say we are glad to be headed home because we really do like America.

Every time I travel outside this USA I return more thankful to live in America. That is true this time as well. There is much to like about Italy, but it is not America. Here are some things I’m really looking forward to when we get home (because they are generally lacking in Italy):

air conditioning that is cold and found everywhere
ice in my drinks
restaurants and stores that don’t close from 1-4pm each day
enough electricity that breakers aren’t tripped when you turn on more than one appliance at a time
variety and choices…in almost anything…especially food. America is a great melting pot with Chinese, Mexican, Thai, Greek, country cooking, etc
vegetables…I may eat every meal next week at Mary’s Cafe, the Little Cafe, Kinchs, and the Varsity.
elevators big enough for more than two people
did I mention vegetables
churches that aren’t mostly empty
my yard…very, very, very small yards here if you even happen to have one
tea and diet cheerwine
public rest rooms and actual commodes with seats…that you don’t have to pay to use
did I mention vegetables

Sometimes you don’t know how blessed you are until you’re either in a new situation or you lose your blessings. Visiting other nations is fun but it ALWAYS makes me appreciate the good ole US of A. So I like the fact that we’re coming home and we’ll be at First Baptist Church Sunday morning. I hope you will be there as well because I’m going to preach the first sermon in a new series titled, “I Like My Church” – and I really do like my church.

Ciao

Pastor Steve Hogg

Streets of Water