Where in the World?

Glad to be home from a few days away.   Upon my arrival, I was also glad to find that my husband had planned a quiet get away to a quaint mountain town a few hours from home. We headed up along Route 6 to get a better look at autumn and pulled up to the inn.

During the afternoon, we drove through the tranquil neighborhood of Victorian homes accented with hedges and lampposts.  Later, we learned the quiet streets were named for the founder’s family members.  The narrow connecting alleys were named after his favorite berries.  So, we hung a left on Gooseberry Alley, toward the restaurant we planned to have dinner later in the evening.

Since it was Oct 31st, we weren’t surprised to see a few parents walking alongside a ballerina or bear in costume to collect a treat from the charitable merchants warmly greeting each one.  Impressed by kindnesses, I couldn’t help to compare how different it was from our community.

The B & B innkeeper suggested we may want to park our car and walk to the nearby restaurant due to the expected crowd.

You’re kidding. . .

Crowd?  Why would Halloween draw that kind of crowd?  How many people could there be in the small logging town of Milford, Pa?  To our amazement, before long, hoards of costumed creatures cluttered the streets.  Traffic jams rerouted us through the alley to make our restaurant reservation on time.

Along the way, I saw a crowd filtering into a large stone church with an open door. Jesus Loves You carved on pumpkins and sewn on banners welcomed the masked and the unmasked.  Haystack benches held countless teenagers listening to the Christian rock band who were ministering to their ear and heart.  Free food and gospel tracts fed the hungry, nearly 2000!

It was far from the restful setting we anticipated, but we were more blessed by the Christ honoring hospitality we witnessed.  I commend every one of the “world missionaries” that I met last night who have a major local ministry to share LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS.