Wow! It seems soooo weird to NOT be able to attend worship services on Sunday. The weather, with 4 - 5 inches of snow blanketing the area, caused the powers that be to determine that for the safety of the congregation (and probably themselves) the services would be cancelled. The parking lot was filled with snow and the cost of snow removal was astronomical (that's what happens in a community where snow removal equipment is at a premium!). It's rough to go from attending three services on Sunday to attending none. Wow...again.

However, it did cause me to ponder on our freedoms in North America, heck the Western Hemisphere. We have the freedom to determine whether we will meet as a body of believers or not; we have the opportunity to decide as individuals if we will be going to worship or not; we are free to choose which service style we'd like to go to, which church, what belief. I think about those countries, nations, that don't have those same freedoms. People who are forced to worship in a particular way to a particular set of deities at a particular worship center or face dire consequences - persecution, prosecution, penalties that could include death. Wow, again...again.

I pray for the day when all people will have the freedoms that I have - when all people will be able to worship how they choose, when they choose, and where they choose. I pray for the religious freedoms of all people throughout the world.