This Week from Mitch

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Summer is here. I am seeing beach pictures from our beach people and mountain pictures from our folks who prefer the mountains. I am seeing pictures of swimming pools and nature hikes, along with zoo pics, river floats, and baseball. It is wonderful. I love the summer. It is a time for family, friends, and adventure. I encourage you to make the most of it. 

Jesus in the Gospels has moments when people were bringing little children to him. The disciples did their best to stop them, to tell the crowd that the teacher couldn't be bothered with children. Essentially, the disciples were saying "hush children the grown ups are talking." Jesus sees this happening and stops it. He then places a child in the midst of the disciples and says, "to such as these, the kingdom of God has come."

For our parents, I know that you may be busy, and summer childcare is always a challenge. Nonetheless, I encourage you to try to take some time to connect with your children. Bring them to church and sing with them, color with them in the pews, put church art up on your fridge. On top of this, I especially implore you to enjoy nature. It does not need to be a fancy trip to the beach or mountains; the trails of Sesqui right here in Columbia are awesome. I encourage you to find time to wonder at God's creation and to rejoice in the world around you. Count the turtles on the river walk and skip some rocks. It's nice, it's beautiful, it's real, and in many cases it's even free. All it requires is time and effort.

Work will always be with us, time with our kids and our families will not. Jesus says let the children come to me... sometimes the ones keeping the kids from Him are ourselves. It is not on purpose, it just is. But, purposely it can change. Summers are short, I pray that you take a moment to enjoy.

In Christ,

Mitch+