So, I've been a little more intentional in looking around. The edges of my driveway are showing some places where grass will be growing. Most encouraging though, are the trees. If you look closely, there are the smallest of buds, not yet ready to burst – but you can see them, with their ever so slight green tint. Most promising of all, is Easter! Once again, we look forward to the Celebration, that in the Christian church is it brightest moment in time. That moment when Christ's body breathes its first breath of new life! That is an incredibly, awesome moment! Although no one was there to witness that exact moment, Mary and Martha soon realized Jesus body missing, and that most importantly, He was alive!

How can we, as Christians, not be excited? The very one that said he would conquer death has done that. The very one that talked about life, and his own need to die has also risen from the grave. Jesus has done what no one else has done.

Just as we think back on those rough, windy, snowy days and nights of these past few months – where the snow piled up, the temperature dropped, and we thought we would be looking at snow piles right up until the 4th of July. Suddenly there is a glimmer of hope as life begins to emerge once again.

Imagine the feelings of the disciples and all that they experienced in that final week with Jesus. They were revered on Palm Sunday, then endured the feelings of a tortuous week of suffering, watched helplessly as he was crucified, then placed into the tomb. John 20 captures the events of the first Easter morning – letting us know that the story did not end there, his body did not simply disappear – but Jesus rose from the dead. He appeared to people, first to Mary, to the disciples, and to the crowd!

As we celebrate this Easter, may it once again be the reminder that excites us about our Lord and our Savior – who not only sacrificed everything for us, but also conquered death and appeared again to those he was closest too.

May the reality of His resurrection shine brightly through you!

We can do amazing things when we work together! There is great excitement in recent weeks as the Church Nursery opens up for kids! It has taken us a while to get to this point – about six months longer than initially thought, and a couple of thousand dollars beyond projected costs. Oh well, isn’t that how most construction projects go?

I believe that there is something special about this project. More than anything else, there are two great aspects to this project. First, very simply, we can do it! The second, we will continue to move forward with great minis-try.
The “we can do it” attitude was first evident as the work began. Initially, there were lots of people involved in moving and sorting the old church office stuff. Then the demolition began! Then the cleanup and the rebuilding process followed by the finish work and decorating, which brought an end to the lengthy project. There would be a long list of people if I were to list all that participated. Let me simply say, “THANK YOU!” to everyone that had a hand in the designing, planning, demolition, rebuilding, decorating, cleaning and finishing of a great project. You have proven that we can do it – and that it can be done well.

Secondly, it is great that we now have an inviting place for parents and toddlers. I am confident that children will have the opportunity to find out that Jesus loves them, and that parents will also begin to see our church in a fresh new way. In addition to all the people that were involved in every aspect of the project, my special thanks go out to our project managers – first to Bill Dean, who got us started then left to serve in Iraq. Upon Bill’s departure, Jerry Gunn stepped up, but then was sidelined for a while for medical reasons. Then Mark Tuck stepped in to fill in the gaps and make sure we continued toward completion. And of course – there is great appreciation to Marilyn Littlefield for her vision and her input to be sure that it was child-friendly as well as worker friendly.

With all of this behind us, now it is time to think about what is next on the horizon. There are many projects to be done, and I have appreciated the “small group” feeling that projects like this create. There are the regular meetings and work time, there are times for fellowship, brainstorming possi-bilities, along with conversations about current events and past history. Always there is a hope for a future that is enhanced because of work that has been done together. There is reason to celebrate together.

With confidence we can approach many of tasks that were outlined during our Loyalty Banquet and Annual Meeting, knowing that we can do it! These tasks are not limited to building projects, but there are challenging projects waiting as we look at the operating structures of the church, evaluate our programs, anticipate additional work within our community and respond in faith to the ministries that the Lord entrusts to us.

While I know that “we can do it”, I also know that we can do it well!

Blessings,