The church hunt continues

We tried out that church from last week and the answer between us was a resounding no. The message was not one of love, but one of fear. I saw no hope in what was said. It makes me want to get up and share the GOOD news. That although it is true we can nothing on our own, not even turn to God, that with him nothing is impossible.
So I was very glad to also go to church this morning and hear a message of hope - that in the garden, God was giving Adam and Eve a chance to repent and restore relationship... that he wanted relationship with the Israelites, but in their fear they chose law... that Matthew 5 shows us how much we need God, and should lead us to cry out, "Jesus help me!" and how God desires we come to him as children who believe all the promises he has given us, even when we can't see how.
We drove up to Carlsbad to go to the Bethel church plant: The Awakening. It was a small church and met in the senior center (as do 2 other churches). The people were so friendly. God moved - well stirred me up at least. We sang 3 songs - it took an entire hour. Then we prayed and worshiped for about 20 more minutes. Then the message. Afterward we visited with people in the church and it was 3 hours from when we arrived to when we left. That sounds about right. ;) But my poor husband missed most of it. He got only a couple hours of sleep before having to get up and work to put in a full day before we drove the 40-45 minutes to church. So he hung out in the lobby to keep from cutting zzz's in the service. I think we both liked it, but felt it was a long drive for church, especially with Jerry's schedule. They did tell us about another church that is much closer that is similar. We hadn't heard of it, so we will probably check it out next week.