When it rains...

...we get very, very happy. Keep praying! It's been raining for a couple days now, but it's not the time to quit. It's the time to keep praying! This is a drought, and it's gonna take a lot of rain to end it. So keep praying, and hopefully God will send the rain we need.

Thinking about the rain has got me thinking about my day today. One of the things that I have not had to do a lot of since starting The River is what is called 'pastoral care.' That's when someone has a problem and they call a pastor for help. Maybe they just need to talk, need prayer for a sick relative, some basic counseling, whatever. I'm not quite sure why it's not just called 'care', but somehow since I'm a pastor it gets called 'pastoral care'.

Anyway, there hasn't been much of that in the past year. Until today. All of a sudden, folks are coming out of the woodwork. Living here, it can look like life is all happy and pretty and no one has any problems. Today it's as if the rain has washed that veneer away and the misery of life is coming to the surface. I'm glad to help these folks. I'm glad they came to me, and I'm glad they are reaching out. I wish I could help more people, and I ask you to help by praying for them.

I also hope today will be a reminder for you, as has been for me. A reminder that this community is about as nice a place to live as you'll find, and people's lives are still a mess. They are hurting, they are broken, and they are in need of help. There is plenty of ministry to be done right here to hurting people.

In an email, the director of a local service organization for kids with disabilities wrote to me about our helping at one of their events: "Good people coming together for the right reasons. Probably what Jesus had in mind. Not so many rules...just love one another." Indeed, and today has been a reminder to me that there is still a big need for that. Today, I'm going to go try and help some hurting people feel God's love. Wherever you are, I hope you will do the same.

Let it rain.

If God didn't want us here....

...this would be a good place to be.

link

The things you can buy online....

Reality Check

It's kinda funny how I sometimes have trouble noticing the progress we have made. For instance, the other day someone from The River called and the conversation went like this:

"Hello," I answered.
"Hey, how are you?" he said.
"Doing well, yourself?" I replied, recognizing the voice.
"Good thanks...what are you up to?"
"Oh, nothing much...just starting a church," I joked.
"Haven't you started it already?" he deadpanned.


To everyone else, it probably seemed obvious, but I had missed that little detail. It's already started. Something accomplished right there. Obvious, perhaps, but easy to miss in the hazy craziness of actually doing the work.

So now I'm looking around at where we are and thinking, "Wow, we really have come pretty far." The list of people connected to this community has grown a lot in the past 6 months, and it continues to grow. Leaders continue to emerge. More and more people are growing closer to God and each other. Lives are being touched, needs are being met, and God's reign is growing through what we are doing. There's lots of good stuff happening. We really have come a long way. Sure, there's a ways to go yet, but we're never going to be done. The work will never be complete until Jesus returns. But significant progress has been made, and that is something to celebrate and for which we can all be thankful.

So if we're chatting or emailing or you just read this blog and I get lost in the trees again, please feel free to help me see the forest. Sometimes I get so far into it that I can't actually see it, and that's a shame, because this is one neat forest that's growing here, and I'm so glad to be part of it.