Church and Inauguration Kick-Off Celebration

This morning I visited Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It's a town I'm somewhat familiar with because I have family in the area, but I never really explored the area much. So the head pastor at this church is Josh Harris, the author of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", a familiar book in the Christian community - introduced in youth groups in our teenage years. Anyhow, it's a pretty big church... very friendly folks. The topic of abortion was discussed - I think there is a walk for life next week in DC - and a woman who works at a pregnancy clinic shared her experiences. As she shared, I could not help but think of baby Tabitha at Asha House, the precious little baby girl whose 18 year old mother met a local pastor just before she was about to abort her, and instead, had her baby and gave her to Asha House at birth.

I headed back to meet Efren and dragged him to another church where many of his friends go to. It was funny because I ran into some friends from Philly there - Eleanor and Eunice! So random... then, Efren and I headed down to the National Mall to catch some of the "We Are One" Inaugural Celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial. We got past the Washington Monument but the crowds stopped us before we hit the reflecting pool area. They had big screen tv's and speakers everywhere so we could all watch. It was pretty cool... a very civilized crowd... a true family, not just of Americans but of people who came together to fellowship together and celebrate and enjoy a free concert. It was amazing to stand there among a crowd of millions, and yet during any speeches, it was oddly quiet... everyone respectfully listened, cheered when it was time to cheer, and sang when moments called for it. After the concert, even the mass exit to the street was an organized chaos... more on the organized side. Here are some pics from the afternoon.