I am in Troy, Michigan (a northern, rich suburb of Detroit) to finish studying for and taking the MCAT on Friday morning. Last Friday, I had a kidney stone--which has now passed, but I am still suffering from some mild side effects. I finally had it with one of them this evening and left my hotel to find a place to purchase Pepto Bismol rather cheaply.
I turn right....as I have too. I dont' really want to go to the Party Store to get it....really, I'm looking for a Target, Walmart, Kmart or Meijers. So I drive right a few miles. I find a few stores that I will have to stop at after my test on Friday, mainly REI, and then I turn around and head the other way on Big Beaver Road. I pass many stores and resturants but not what I am looking for. I then pass the most high class mall you'll ever go into and right next door is the K-Mart HQ (ironic, I know). So I am like...there has to be a K-Mart around here somewhere if HQ is right there. I drive and drive, slowly the road turns from 3 lanes each way to 1 lane each way and I decide to turn North. I go north through mostly residental neighborhoods to the first traffic light, and I head back east. I drive and drive and drive and nothing.
During my drive I am amazed at how many different places of worship I pass. Catholic, Free Methodist, Zionist, Lutheran, Greek Othrodox, Othrodox, more Protestant churches, a Synagogue, Jehovah's Witness Place, and I think I even saw I Mosque. Sitting at a red light I was just thinking to myself, all I need to see is a Morman Temple and Troy has it all. As I go through the light I see a sign that says "St Lucy." I was like, "there is a saint Lucy?" Then as I got closer I saw that underneath it reads, Croatian Catholic Church, a Croatian-American Parish!!!
I bet you can imagine my excitment and my tempation to abandon the quest for Pepto to slam on the brakes and turn into the parking lot. I never knew that there was a large enough Croatian population to have a full church for Croatians (even preached in Croatian). Naturally I had to turn around and drive by again at a super slow stalker speed. I'm thinking that now I will be stopping at the church on Friday afternoon just to see if they have anything else going on other than Mass everyday--you know, Croatian cultural nights, dinners, language lessons, ect.
I started my drive back towards Big Beaver Road, remiss at the fact that I would have to go to Walgreens and pay like $7.00 for a small bottle of Pepto. I didn't realize that I was only like 3 blocks from my hotel and was in the wrong lane and couldn't get to the right hand lane to turn left (I'll explain some day). I had to go straight. As I made it to the first traffic light that I could turn at---Eureka! A K-Mart!!!! I found a $3.00 bottle of Pepto!!!!
As I praised God for this finding, He brought to mind how spiritually dark my experiences in Michigan have been so far. I have met so few people with a passion to follow Christ--almost everyone just has a passion to drink and forget. So while Troy may have the most diverse and numerous ways to worship that I have seen in Michigan, I have to wonder-how full are those pews? How many people in Troy are actually trusting Jesus? How many will be praising HIM in eternity with me?
LORD My mission field is where EVER you place me...as I long to go over seas, to leave America I am reminded that all people from all nations are equally doomed without Him.
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