The Gift of Welcome

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I never thought a lot about the St. Lawrence River until working on America the Beautiful; but because of what I learned then, I was excited when our cruise ship sailed into it a few weeks ago.

I had never thought a whole lot about Quebec either but that has changed dramatically since we went there in June. Our first stop in Quebec was at the town of Saguenay. During the night or in the early morning hours, we had sailed out of the St. Lawrence and into the Saguenay Fjord.

Saguenay Fjord
Along a bank of the Saguenay Fjord which empties into the St. Lawrence River.

The town of Saguenay is on the banks of the fjord. I had never heard of Saguenay until I learned that it was on the cruise itinerary. We had no special plans for the day we stopped there except to get off the ship and see what we could see. That all changed at breakfast.

Suddenly almost fifty costumed townspeople were on the pier with many performing French folk dances for us on board. The dance caller invited us all to come to the pier for free blueberry pie and blueberry juice, saying that they weren’t trying to sell us anything. They just wanted us to come ashore. We soon took them up on their offer.

Folk Dancers

We enjoyed our blueberry pie . . .

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. . . and blueberry juice.

Sign for Blueberry Juice

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Ray and I each cut a slice from a log with a cross-cut saw.

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We joined in the folk dancing, and we enjoyed the historical displays . . .

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. . . and the people who came to meet us.

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When I think of Saguenay, I remember our welcome. After Peter preached to the Gentile Cornelius, he saw that God welcomed Gentiles into the family of God. The gift of welcome is one of the most priceless we can give: welcome into my home; welcome into my life.

Opening his mouth, Peter said:
“I most certainly understand now
that God is not one to show partiality,
but in every nation the man who fears Him
and does what is right is welcome to Him.
Acts 10:34-35

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