Pastor Angie's In-Spire-ations September 2018


As we prepare to welcome our first exchange student, the word courage has really been on my mind.  The amount of courage it takes for a 16-year-old student to travel half way around the world to live with total strangers for 9 or 10 months is mind-boggling.  The courage it takes for parents to allow them to do this is equally mind-boggling AND humbling that they would trust us with their son.  I have friends who have said the courage WE have to turn an empty nest into a home for a teenager we have never met is mind-boggling…or if it isn’t now, our minds might boggle a little getting used to having a teenager in the house again.  Not to mention that he will be involved in playing soccer and swimming!  Our kids were in music!  We never did the sports gig except golf for Andy.
My favorite scripture about courage is represented in Joshua 3:14-17.  The Israelites are finally preparing to cross the Jordan into the promised land.  The waters of the Jordan were at flood stage and over the tops of their banks.  The priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant had to have the courage to put their foot in the raging waters BEFORE the water would stop so they could cross on dry land.
I have loved this image for years and it has given me courage many times over.  Part of my assigned work for ordination was to write a Bible Study.  I don’t have much on my bucket list, but writing a book is one of those things.  I chose to write the Bible Study as if I were going to publish it and I wrote it about Joshua.  My ordination interview team encouraged me to publish it. 
This is where you come in.  I have had one person, Jean Hostler, read it.  Kathy’s ladies’ group is going to work through it and provide feedback this Fall.  I would welcome more readers and more honest feedback to prepare it for publishing.  If you, or a group you are in would like to read it and work through it, I will give you a copy to read if you promise to critique it for me.  That’s where courage comes in again because I have to admit I feel a little bare putting this out there, but it’s time for me to put my foot in the water if I’m going to fulfill that bucket list dream.  It’s never too late…after all…I waited until I was 54 and a grandma to be a soccer mom!  Please let me know if you are willing to help me cross this Jordan.
Blessings,
Pastor Angie


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