Today is Sunday. On Sunday morning, the Hicks’ go to church. This Sunday we tried out the small Methodist Church in Mancos, Colorado. Pastor Craig Paschal was gone to summer school that morning (we had heard great things about him from Peggy and Lee) so the service was led by lay leaders.There was a lot of singing and a short service with only one gospel reading. Lay leader Howard Thomas gave a brief children’s sermon on miracles for Isaac and three other boys who were about Isaac’s age. He asked the boys if they knew what miracles were and then continued to talk about how our bodies are miracles and that it was a miracle that all the people
in the room were here at the same time.He then announced that Neal Newby would be giving the sermon. Turns out Neal was sitting in the pew in front of us and was a tall, white haired man who looked
to be in his late 70s. By the time Neal was done, we decided that Neal was either a retired history or English professor and it was the first time that I had ever heard a sermon delivered by none other than Columbo himself.Neal’s topic was a comparison of the words love and compassion. Using Luke 6:32-36 as his sermon text, he unpacked the many Greek words that are
translated into the word “love” in the Bible. When he got to agape, which was the word used in this text, he said that he looked it up in the dictionary and found that it meant “divine, unconditional love.” He indicated that this particular definition made him nervous because he wasn’t sure that 
he was capable of this kind of love. He explained that some scholars translate the word agape into the word compassion. He indicated that he preferred this one much better, not only because he thought it was edgier – implying action – but also because that kind of love didn’t ask any kind of reciprocation on the part of the person being loved.
He told the story of the Good Samaritan. “The Samaritan didn’t stop because he loved the stranger,” he said. “And, he didn’t give a damn whether or not the other guy loved him. He just decided to help because he had compassion for the guy. He got involved.” He then told a modern version of the story.
“There was horrible incident that happened right here in Mancos, in this very congregation last week that I’m sorry to say was not a good example of showing compassion,” he began in full-on, Columbo style. “Last week,” he continued, “I was driving down the road…rushing…so that I could come here and worship God. On the way, I saw a parked car at the side of the road.” He paused and looked 
out at us, giving us a steely, frustrated look. “I looked inside the car and noticed that it was the Nelson’s.” At this, he gestured to a retired couple sitting in the pew behind us. “So…I waved.” Another dramatic pause and a slow shake of his head as he demonstrated his neighborly wave. We all started giggling softly. “And Mrs. Nelson waved back –” He demonstrated her wild, two-handed, please stop signal while our contained giggles began to hurt. “franticly.” I had to take a moment to wipe the tears away that were rolling out of my eyes. “But,” he continued, “I was in a hurry to get to church so I didn’t stop.”By this time we all forgot to be quiet about our giggling. “Fortunately,” he continued, “some good Samaritan’s,” he gestured to a couple from Louisiana sitting directly behind us and another couple on the other side of the church, “stopped…” I began rummaging in my purse for some
Kleenex for the tears rolling down my cheeks, “and helped the Nelson’s with their flat tire that they experienced on their way to church.” The entire church was rolling with laughter as Neal concluded his story. “Now, if that isn’t the best example of the Good Samaritan story, I don’t know what is.” After we all calmed down, he concluded by encouraging all of us to show agape love – to have compassion – and to get involved.Feeling refreshed, we went back to the cabin, changed, packed up and called Lee to let him know that we were exiting the cabin. It had been a wonderful stop in Mancos and if we are ever back that way again, we know where we will be staying.
The rest of the day was on the road, driving on Highway 160 through
Pagosa Springs (which 
appeared to be having a Renaissance Festival), Wolf Creek Pass, North La Veda Pass, south of Great Sand Dunes National Park and back over the Sangre De Christo mountains to the plains of eastern Colorado and western Kansas. We saw people tubing down the humble beginnings of the Rio Grande River as it wound its way down the mountain to El Paso and the Mexican-American border. We climbed to 10,000 feet at Wolf Creek pass and watched an amazing thunderstorm develop over the mountains we were passing through. We peered at the white sand dunes situated at the base of the Sangre De Christo mountains just east of Alamosa, suppressing the urge to turn north for another Junior Ranger badge and visit to a National Park. 
As we left Trinidad and headed east for the long trek over the Colorado plains, we saw miles and miles of pasture land. We stopped in Kim, Colorado at the town’s park (three covered park benches in a 20’ by 30’ space between the high school and the Christian church) to eat dinner out of the back of the car. We both decided that children who’s parents decided to live in Kim have the right to be mad at their parents.
We finally reached the Single Tree Inn in Ulysses, Kansas at around 9:30 p.m. Central Standard Time. We discovered that, unfortunately, our bodies had finally acclimated to Mountain Standard Time, so we piddled around for another couple of hours in the room trying to get tired enough to sleep.
