June 5, 2011: Exodus Church, Charlotte & Mt. Airy

I was super excited about going to see Jerry (Jay) Depoy's new church, Exodus, which was in the Asheville Community Theater in downtown Asheville.     We got to the church around 9 a.m. and had a nice chat with him.   His family new a pastor in Asheville, who provided them with a beautiful home in Mars Hill, which is north east of the city.      When Jerry first moved to Asheville in Sept. 2009, he worked in the men's department at Dillards and then waited tables.      I am sure I will have to work retail when I first move somewhere, until I can find a full-time job.     The best case scenario would be to have something already lined up before going, but we will see.    Jerry and I hugged and so did Jamie and I.  It was so good to see both of them.   I used to attend Jerry's church in Muskegon 3 years ago. It was called Lakeshore Community Church which was in the Harbor Theater.    

Exodus Church is similar to Lakeshore Community Church. It was so good to hear one of Jerry's wonderful sermons.  He truly has a gift for reaching out to people through his sermons.     My mom enjoys his messages, too.

I talked with a couple of gals after the service.    One of them, Mandy, was from South Florida. She works at the local health department as a health educator for reproductive health.     The other gal was from Grand Rapids.      Mandy said she came to Asheville without a job and was able to find one within 2 months, so I felt a little better about that.

After church, mom and I headed east towards Winston-Salem.     We saw the city, Rutherfordton, and decided to go to it, as my mom's friend's brother lives there.     Then, I looked at a map and noticed that Charlotte was only about an hour away, so decided to drive around there.     Charlotte's traffic was horrible.   There were about 4 lanes of traffic all through there.     Today was Sunday and the traffic was bad. Imagine what it would be like during the weekday?     I think I can scratch Charlotte off my list.  

We did find Billy Graham's library in Charlotte.  Unfortunately, it was closed as it was a Sunday.     Then, I drove around downtown Charlottte.    The highways getting to downtown were horrible, but once I got downtown, there were hardly any cars, so I could drive slow through there and look at the surroundings.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Mt. Airy tonight.      Mt. Airy is the home town of Andy Griffith.  We found the home he lived in from 1935-1966.   Our hotel has a deal where you can spend the night at Andy Griffith's house for $175.   I tried to convince my mom we had to do that, but she didn't go for it.     That is too bad as that would have been cool.