One of the great joys of our work in the New England Region is visiting so many of our congregations across New England and seeing the variety of ways our shared values are being stewarded and shared from the coasts to the mountains; in urban neighborhoods and on islands at sea.
Recently I traveled to a lovely congregation, about a five hour drive from my home. I planned to arrive on Friday and stay overnight at a hotel so I could be ready to start the retreat at 9:00 am Saturday. Of course, summer-Friday-afternoon traffic stretched the drive from five to seven hours, but I finally arrived at the hotel, ready to check in. I opened my travel app to find my reservation number — but — there was no reservation number there!
Oh, I did in fact make a reservation, I knew that. I had the confirmation email for my reservation…
…for NEXT Friday!
On a Friday in August along the 228 miles of Maine coastline, how likely is it to find a room? Not likely. I checked my hotel app anyway — it agreed with my initial assessment. I considered driving to the church and sleeping in the parking lot. Too great a chance for embarrassment — what kind of trusted professional does that?
Widening the search in my hotels app to a 75 mile radius yielded one room a 90 minute drive away. It would make for a meager night’s sleep by the time I got there, and the morning drive back.
I stared at my phone and debated reaching out to the board president.
