The last couple days have been spent traveling through the Appalachian mountains in West Virginia. Saturday night we spent in Charleston,WV, and worshipped Sunday morning in the First Presbyterian Church of Charleston--a very different setting than last Sunday's worship in Scottsbluff. The Charleston church is large and its worship was quite formal, obviously it carries with it a long and respected history of witness and presence in the city. But equally as obviously it is faced with figuring out how to relate to a new generation and reach out to people outside its traditional circle of mission. The challenge of mainstream downtown churches!

Then on to the mountains... Very different from the mountains of the west, but impressive in their own rights. We stumbled across a lodge in one of the State Parks and spent the night there. Called Hawks Nest, it overlooked a river below and looked out on a panorama of tree covered hill after hill. A tram carried people down to the river where a jet-boat trip provided entertainment for part of an afternoon. It was a joy...

We have been avoiding the interstate highways as much as possible, and in this part of the world that means going through many small and often poor towns. The mainstay of the area seems to have been coal mining, and there is still some of that, but it appears that many of the mines have closed and there is little to replace them. I wonder about the future and what it will hold for many of these people--but have enjoyed their friendly hospitality and warmth.
Once again I am reminded of the value of meeting new people, going new places, and learning along the way.