Holiday Inn Express Livonia, MI

A new hotel needing to iron out a few wrinkles.

I enjoy traveling. I also enjoy writing about my travel experiences. In the past I have posted reviews about hotels and tourist traps on a well known travel website. Starting in 2018 I have decided to post my experiences here at my own blog, starting with my recent stay at the Holiday Inn Express located in Livonia, Michigan.

We stayed in this Holiday Inn Express while visiting family during Thanksgiving, a gift from a Holiday Inn points member. What we found was an inn that was clean with a slight hint of new hotel smell. Our room was a good size, especially considering rates are just below average for a hotel in the U.S. We had enough room for a family of four using the hotel primarily as a nighttime basecamp. The beds were comfortably firm with just the right amount of give to allow for a good night’s rest. I especially liked having the choice of either a firm or soft pillow, each with its type sewn into the pillow case.

Blackout curtains prevented the light from the surrounding area from becoming a night time distraction. This was good considering the area is very commercialized with a highway, a shopping center and what looked like a shipping company all within visual range. While there is not much as far as a view, the room itself did allow for a comfortable stay. This hotel is good for a short visit with family or friends or perhaps for business but not for a long tourist type vacation, though it is a short drive from Detroit.

I would like to give this hotel a very positive overall review but it misses the mark in a number of small details which added up during the course of our stay. The first minus involved a miscommunication in booking our rooms. As a result when we arrived it took the desk clerk longer than expected to find our reservation even though our host attempted to sort things out the prior day. To his credit the clerk was a true professional while working to sort out the issue. But later, an odd response from another employee left me trying to figure out if I had insulted him or if I had done something unexpected when I offered him a tip. Either way I did not want to start my stay scratching my head trying to figure out if I had violated some rule of etiquette.

The free breakfast was not what I expected from a major hotel chain. The selection was decent but quality was inconsistent. Having enjoyed a warm cinnamon bun the first morning I was shocked the second morning when I bit into one that was ice cold. Both reminded me of something premade and store bought. Had both been warm I might not have cared as the first one was very good. Unfortunately these kinds of inconsistencies held true with the other warm foods served during our stay.

There is a learning curve when starting any new business. This hotel shows promise but is not fully ready to deliver. Hopefully it will move along its learning curve quickly. For now the hotel and its staff leave me with mixed feelings. The people are friendly and professional but lacking in areas of service. In all I can only give two stars to what should be a three out five star hotel. Perhaps, once this hotel grows up, it will fully meet the standards customers should expect during their stay.

Is Your Worship on Target?

I Samuel 4:1-11

They started worshipping, making such a great noise that their enemies heard them from over in the next valley. This was a great celebration with singing, praising, and dancing till the earth shook. Surely God would answer and grant them victory over the obstacle looming in their path. Unfortunately with all of their noise and with all of their ferver, the people of Israel did not stop to listen for God’s answer. Israel attacked the Philistines who proceed to apply an old fashioned beat down, the second in only a few days. In defeat Israel ran home to lick their wounds and to try to figure out why God allowed the Philistines, the great enemy of Israel, to win.

Like many of us today, Israel blamed God when things did not go their way the first time around. "How could God do this to us?" they implied (v.3). They sent for the Ark of the Covenant and when it arrived in the camp they broke into the aforementioned celebration. They assumed the presence of the Ark brought with it a guarantee of victory. But in their pre battle zeal they forgot to ask God why He allowed the initial defeat.and in the sorrow of defeat. Had they done so they would have seen the truth. They would have seen that they had no one to blame but themselves.

Prior to the battle, Israel was spiritually off base. Hophni and Phineas, two of the top temple priests, were selfish and corrupt. They were not concerned with the things of God, using the ministry for their own personal gain. Under their leadership God became an afterthought. Not until after suffering defeat at the hands of the Philistines did Israel decide to seek God. Even then they put their faith in the presence of an object, never taking the time to pray or to call out to find the Lord’s will. Instead of seeking God their worship was based in an assumption that doing something religious would give them power over their enemies.

Yes their worship was loud and full of energy but their hearts were wrong. Winning was the priority not seeking God as demonstrated by the fact that they never once stopped to pray. Like their religious leaders the people were all about self gain, using religion as a means to achieve their goals. Their worship was honest but misguided leading to a terrible defeat. We must make sure not to follow this path in our worship today. We must make sure our worship is on target, with the goal of truly seeking the Lord.

Real Faith: Forged in the Fire

Blacksmith's fire: fir0002 | flagstaffotos.com.au [GFDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

When do we get to see real faith in action, the kind where Jesus singles us out like He did the centurion in Matthew 8:10? Real faith is seen in testing, during those times when we are asked to trust God with something we would really rather handle ourselves or would really not have to deal with at all. It's during those times, when the climb becomes too difficult or the temptation too hard to resist, that we find out if our faith is real or just something we say because Christians are supposed to do so. Are you willing to endure trials in order to see your faith grow? Are you willing to demonstrate the strength of your faith by following God down the sometimes difficult path of the Christian walk?

For years I settled for easy faith. I settled for a life where I said I had faith while trying to avoid trials and tribulations. In the process I was only cheating myself, missing out on opportunities for growth. Yes this path was easier but it was also empty. It held the assurance of going to heaven while being devoid of the abundance promised by our risen Savior. And after years of saying I believed while not growing as a person, I found I didn't fully like what I saw each day when I looked in the mirror.

Real faith does not magically appear. It is given by God, then cultivated as we allow Him to work in our hearts. At times He chooses difficult situations as His tools. This is where real faith, and the process of growing faith, does not come easy. But for those who are willing to fully surrender to God, difficult growth is followed by immense reward as from the fire comes faith that is forged by the hand of the Almighty.

I have accepted the challenge of growing my faith while facing whatever God allows in my life. Are you willing to accept the same challenge? Real faith is forged in the fire. Are you willing to let God take you to His forge?