Our Surprising Visit to Old Orchard Beach

Sunday Evening:  Just got home from our trip to Maine and trying to get caught up with everything and everyone!! I just looked at my blog for the first time since last week and was surprised to see that there was a post on it that I did not write!  Click HERE to see "Get Moving by Oswald Chambers".    Many of you commented on how much you appreciated this nice post...and here is my comment response:

"I am really having a good chuckle over this! My husband accidentally posted HIS daily devotional blog on my blog site while we were on vacation and trying to figure out how to post things. He somehow got onto my blogger dashboard instead of his own. I only had my phone with me, so I didn't even look at my blog until today when we got back home. Thank you for all of the nice comments. I have shared them with hubby. His blog site is http://simposiousblog.blogspot.com/ and he usually posts a devotional similar to this every day! It can also be found on Simposious.com Anyway, thanks for commenting on this! He appreciates your comments, and invites you to visit his blog daily! Now I will try to get caught up on my blogging now that we are home. I am WAY behind!!!!!!! But SO thankful."

So now, after solving that little mystery, I'm thinking I do need to "Get Moving" back to work here and get caught up with you all as well as share some of our wonderful trip with you. If you are on my Facebook you've already seen a good bit of our time with our grandson Noah and his graduation celebration.  I may write more about that in a few days.  

This little trip evolved into so much more than what we expected it to be. There was so much packed into four days that I really don't even know where to begin.  In addition to spending that special time with our grandson and his mama, Hubby and I were actually able to carve out a little vacation time just for us, which is something we truly needed.

We decided to do some exploring in the area where we were staying, and had no idea that all of this existed in this part of the country!  About two miles down the road from our motel was a place called "Ocean Park at Old Orchard Beach, Maine".   If you are familiar at all with Old Orchard Beach, you may only know about the more popular spot where the pier is along with the amusement park and other shops along the shore. We did visit there as well with our Grandson and his mother that evening, but what I want to show you is a different part of Old Orchard Beach that is like take a step back in time to a whole different time and place...Check this link for more information about the history and current story of this community.

Since I missed out on "Friday Foto Friends" last week, this will be my post, because I don't want to wait until this next Friday to tell you about this place!!

 When we first arrived our intention was to go look at the ocean and beach.  We had no idea what other surprises awaited us!

 We stepped up on the dunes overlooking the ocean and beach, and then we looked back toward the town from that vantage point, and this is what we saw on either side...

 Who would think, looking at this expanse of shoreline, that there would be such an amazing collection of turn of the century (1880-1900's) homes facing the ocean?

 I mean, most of these homes are probably in excess of 100 years old, and they have withstood many a storm throughout those years...

So I'm saying to hubby here, "Come on! We need to go explore a little further..."

And as we walked the streets and drove a little ways as well...this is what we discovered:

 We drove down what was called "Temple Drive" and there are these large, very old buildings...we had no idea what they were or anything about their history.  This was the first one we came to:

The doors were open, and so I stepped inside, and this is what I saw...

 Hubby was waiting in the car so I could just take a couple of pictures, but I called to him and said "You have to come inside and look at this..."

As we wandered around we discovered this very ornate old grand piano...

 And this picture of the boy "Jesus"....(I thought later that it was interesting that the fire extinguisher was nearby...because Jesus is the One who saves us from the fire...)

 And another ancient picture of Jesus with the fishermen... and there are many other things that make us realize that this is some kind of church or religious education building...

(Meanwhile, I needed to find a restroom, and this tiny little room was actually named the "children's restroom"...don't you love this antique sink?)

 So our curiosity is really growing as we came back outside and walked to the next building, which is just beyond this interesting Bell tower...

 This picture does not do justice to the enormity of this octagon shaped building...

 Thankfully there was a gentleman outside working in the yard, and he shared the history of this place with us...(for more about that please go to the link given earlier in this post)

I can't begin to tell you how magnificent this very high ceiling is...and I'll bet when they sing in there they literally can make the "rafters ring"....

And then we went to the next building:

Inside this building were a lot of pictures about the history of this place, which was built by the Free Will Baptist Church back in 1881, and used as a summer Bible Conference Center as well as for other religious educational meetings, etc. These pictures show some of the people who came here back in the day:

 The old brass band marching down the street...

 An early view of the village:

Looking back at the "Temple"in the pines...

On the other side of the street were several homes, but this yellow one caught my eye:

 This house is named "The Prophet's Chamber", and is where visiting ministers stay

 Here are some other interesting facts and places along the street:

This house was across the street, and please read the little sign that was posted on the edge of the woods/yard below:

 I thought this was a cute idea...

This sign is posted on the tennis court:

 As my hubby and I further explored this little village, we were captivated by the beauty and peace of this sequestered place...which felt exactly like we had been transported back in time. We could just imagine hearing the powerful voices of those strong revival preachers of old, preaching the Gospel to the hungry souls who gathered there from near and far...and the choirs singing as the organ and piano swelled out the music, along with the brass bands and possibly even orchestras playing...the old time pouring out of the Spirit of God on His people...

This was all significant to us because in the back of our minds was a story we had heard about the founder of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, A.B. Simpson, (which is the denomination that we served in the ministry for many years), who had come to Old Orchard Beach and held Bible Conferences back in the late 1800's...and we wondered if this was the place.  Upon further research (unfortunately not until after we had left there) we discovered that A.B. Simpson had indeed been at Old Orchard Beach, but not at this exact location. The place where he had held those Bible Conferences that literally birthed the founding of the C&MA was a little further down the beach where the current Salvation Army conference center stands.  I guess you could say we were in the "right church but the wrong pew"... I wish we had known and could have visited there as well...here is a link to more info about that:https://theorchard.org/about/history.php

and a picture of A.B. Simpson from that time:

Click on this link for more info about this location:  http://www.seasidepavilion.org/default.asp

I also discovered this article on Facebook that shares a little more of the history of the whole Old Orchard Beach area from a spiritual perspective:  https://www.facebook.com/MaineAwake/posts/377991182288976    

I know I am overloading you with information today, (it is now Monday morning...I couldn't finish this last night as I was too tired from traveling...but there is so much here that I wanted to keep for my own recollection in the future, so I am writing it all down while it is fresh on my mind...something that is hard to keep...my mind...fresh...you understand, don't you??  :)  )

Perhaps what my hubby and I felt as we walked around and explored this little community was the continued Presence of the Holy Spirit of God, as He continues to reach out to people visiting this anointed place.  Yes, I believe it is a kind of a "Holy Place"...where God's Spirit has been very active in reaching souls for His Kingdom for many, many years.  This particular community of Ocean Park still holds special meetings every Sunday with visiting ministers from all over the country.  The place where A.B. Simpson held his meetings is also very active with current ministries and hold many concerts of contemporary Christian musicians, etc.   

All I know is that hubby and I felt so peaceful and relaxed there...we wished that we had more time to stay and participate in their services...which began for this season yesterday.  (They are seasonal just through the summer and early fall).  We went back the following morning after our initial visit and had breakfast at the little local Ice Cream Parlor:

And visited a wonderful little gift shop...

And admired some more of the local architecture and flora and fauna...

And then we had to head back to our little motel down the road and continue our visit with our sweet grandson and daughter in law, which was the real reason for our being there...but wasn't it wonderful of the Lord to give us this glimpse of His Presence in this place....it was something very palpable to us still over 130 years later from the time of the beginnings of these amazing ministries that continue to this day...

It reminds me of the verses in Genesis 28, when God is speaking to Jacob at Bethel in a dream:

Genesis 28:15-19

15.  "Behold I Am with you and will keep you wherever you go, 

and will bring you back to this land;

for I will not leave you until I have done 

what I have spoken to you,"

16.  Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,

"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."

17.  And he was afraid and said,

"How awesome is this place! 

This is none other than the house of God, 

and this is the gate of heaven!"

18.Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, 

and poured oil on top of it,

19.  And he called the name of that place Bethel..."

Interestingly, after finding this verse and writing it down, I looked back up at that old picture of A.B. Simpson, which was taken of him and the people gathered around him as God led him to begin the missionary society that later became the Christian and Missionary Alliance at Old Orchard Beach so many years ago...and what does it say on the gazebo or booth where he was standing, but, "Back to Bethel"...   Wow!....

According to the reference in my Scofield Reference Bible for verse 19, it says:

"Bethel becomes, because of Jacob's night vision there, one of the significant places of Scripture.  To the Christian it stands for a realization, however imperfect, of the heavenly and spiritual contents of faith, answering to Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:17-23."

Perhaps there was more to our feelings than what meets the immediate eye on the surface...perhaps God's Presence truly IS in that place...and His power is still reaching out to people of faith across the centuries of time...

I will stop here and let you ponder these thoughts. Perhaps you have had similar experiences in places that have been set apart as sacred spaces?  

Sorry this was so long of a post...but as I said, I needed to write it all down for my own benefit and to remember how special this was for us in the future. 

I'll be writing more about our visit to Maine in future posts.  This is enough for one day...

Have a blessed day...I hope to catch up with your blogs as I get settled back into the "routine".