Dear Fam,
O happy day! As most of you have now heard Madison & McKala Peters were rescued early this morning in Montana. Our girls are coming home. It feels like Christmas morning! For the last 11 days we prayed for this day when we went to bed at night, when we awoke in the middle of the night, when we got up in the morning, while we ate breakfast, while we drove the kids to school, while we folded clothes or worked at the office, when we gathered for Bible study, when we stopped throughout each day and realized something in our world was horribly wrong and we needed Jesus to set it right, when we sat down at the dinner table and as we put our children to bed at night. Consider King David's words in Psalm 27:5-6: “For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord." Today is a day for offering shouts of joy as we sing and make melody to the Lord!
- While our joy today is boundless -- it's not without the recognition that Kari Peters and her girls will need more grace as they recover from the trauma that’s been visited upon them over the last days and months. Let our big sigh of relief be followed with prayers for the deep healing they need.
- MORE Campaign Project Update — "Na na na na, na na na na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye” (were there ever greater lyrics written?). The portables are bidding us farewell in the next week. Groundbreaking for the preschool will be in October and then things will move very fast. The slab will be poured and walls will go up in November and the roof will be on by the end of the year. If all goes as planned (and of course it always does!) the preschool and playground will be completed by the end of April.
- Please pray for me. I'm speaking at a men's retreat at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend and preaching at their Sunday service. This brief trip to South Florida will give me the chance to catch meals with Paul & Jean Carland and Joe & Kim McKey -- all dear friends and forever part of the SRPC family.
- Ever wonder if your children are a big bother to others in church and if it's worth the hassle to bring them. Here's an excellent post written to parents with young children in church.
- We continue with "A Heart for God" -- the Life of David this weekend and we'll receive the Lord's Supper together as well. Should be a grand weekend of joy!
This is a happy, happy day!
Ray
