Welcome Back to Pastor Rob and Family

We snapped this shot at the summit of Old Rag Mountain. There was a thunderstorm coming our way so we didn’t linger for very long at the top!

As some of you know, we were camping in the Shenandoah National Park. It was a unique time in the mountains, not only because of the bears (we saw 3 or 4), or the majestic Monarch butterflies happily sipping on the nectar of milkweed, or the turtle we found crossing the Appalachian Trail, or even the beautiful views that grace Skyland Drive, but because we were able to join you for worship on the 16th, with Imogen and I serving as liturgists for Sarah Lloyd. While Sarah preached in our beautiful sanctuary, we “liturgized” from an overlook about 10 minutes north of the Big Meadows Campsite. It reminded me of John Muir rhapsodizing about the cathedral of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, with its spires of rock while also being blessed by the fellowship of saints beneath the Spire of First & Franklin. Imogen, the accountant in the family, says that in the past four years, we have walked 102.7 miles of trail in the Shenandoah National Park. On this trip, we hiked up to the summit of Old Rag Mountain (3290 feet). It was a tough scramble to the top and a more leisurely walk back to the trailhead, about 9 miles total. As we joked along the trail, the mountain got its name because after you finish climbing it, you feel like an old rag!