Another busy week!

Yet another Summer program element has passed. Vacation Bible School was last week. Rome - Paul and the Underground Church. We had a smaller than usual crowd, probably because it was a good vacation week with the holiday on the other end. BUT we had a great week. This VBS was a little different than others in the past, the kids had more time than usual to spend at their stations and things didn't feel rushed as they sometimes do. And the hightlight for everyone was going to see Paul in his prison room with his Roman guard Brutus. Corey and Gary played their parts to the nth degree and did a great job telling the story about what it was to be a Christian in the days of the Roman Empire. The kids were hooked from day one when Paul was arrested at the pool while sharing the good news that God's love is a gift.

God was there as the kids shared what they learned and Jordyn said that God's love is always there..."kind of like your mom...you do the wrong thing and she still loves you...I don't know why, but she does" Couldn't have said it better....we don't know why, but God still loves us even when we do the wrong thing. If that's all they ever remember - it will be enough.

At the same time, I had many people at my door this week or on my computer. One woman said she recently left the "cult of Mormonism" after 25 years. She had left her compound to escape an abusive relationship and was raped. When she tried to return to her home, the "church elders" met and decided if she hadn't of left in the first place, she wouldn't have been raped, therefore it was her fault and she has been excommunicated. I tried to assure her that God was not the author of her troubles and neither was she, but 25 years of doctrine will be hard to break through.

Another woman is at her wits end in dealing with an ex-landlord who is driving by her new residence and taunting her. He claims she owes him money, she doesn't...she was so very upset by it all that it occured to me that perhaps he had hurt her. I asked and she said he had tried to rape her but she had neighbors watching her door and when he came they knocked on the door after 5 minutes to keep him off balance and run him off. Again, her turmoil is not at the hand of God but of humankind and she is feeling powerless to take on the power structures that bind her.

SO much pain and so much confusion about where God is in their life. I can only hope I helped to point the way to the light of God. Please keep them in your prayers.

Off to vacation! Yellowstone here we come!