Sweet Surprise

Gary did not have to be on the worship team this week and I didn't have any speaking engagements so we got to be this married couple that just goes to church on Sunday morning. It felt weird and we were a little off our game. First of all we got up too early so we decided to go and have a nice breakfast out.

That was great but when we were done we still had an hour to kill before we had to start heading to church. So we went to the park to watch the lake. It is a beautiful day and we were really enjoying the water and the birds when someone decided to park fairly close to us. They kept their car running and played their music too loud. It really ruined the moment. Rather than get in a bad mood I decided I was bored and we just needed to drive around the park instead of parking and relaxing.

We rounded the first bend in the road and there in the field just off the road was this awesome Army helicopter. We pulled over and stared at it. We had never been that close to one of these monsters and the soldier standing near it invited us up for a closer look. So of course we went!

It was awesome. We got to go in it and talk with the other soldiers there. We learned about the massive power this Chinook helicopter has. We learned it has been around a long time and even had been to Vietnam during that war. One of the soldiers shared stories of his trips to Pakistan in it and how one time they landed on top of the Himalayan mountains and got out to have a snowball fight. Cool!

Time went too fast and we had to say goodbye to head off to church. We shook the hand of each soldier and thanked them for their service to this country. I walked away and for the first time was proud that I pay taxes. I also was sincerely glad that woman parked next to me and annoyed me enough to cause me to leave. If it had not been for her we never would have had that opportunity.