As you read this, we are now in the wake of the Easter Sunday celebrations, the spring break get aways, and hopefully some warm sunny weather will start to be the norm and not the exception.

This year, Paul and I want you to think of something else as you walk through your Lenten season. Even though we are already into the season, it is not too late to give it a try. Instead of just giving something up, how about PICKING SOMETHING UP? How about picking up a time of prayer, fasting, committing to weekly church attendance, making sure you take communion, and other practices of faith. Is there one of those that you can pick up instead of just dropping something else?

I invite you to imagine yourself standing under the falls of God’s grace upon grace. Picture yourself being washed over and drenched in the grace that God has for you. That is what he did at Christmas. Sending His Son was to let us know that his grace will forever flow into our lives if we will just choose to stand under it and welcome it.

I love Jesus Christ more than anything in the world and I want to thank all of you for allowing me to live out that relationship as your pastor here at RRUMC. I look at 2024 through the lens of 2023 and that brings me joy, excitement, wonder, and hopeful anticipation of what God is going to do in this new year.

The greatest gift you will ever receive is waiting for you this Christmas. It’s a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Will you be there?

I wanted to start this Circuit Rider article with a quote from Genesis 12:1-2 which says, “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.’”

We will never stop working to make sure that both of our campuses are not just one day a week churches. It is not about being busy, it is about being called. As people feel called and led by God to study the Bible, volunteer in our ministries, come to church on Sunday, give generously, pray fervently, and love exponentially, our church will always be growing into the church that God has always created us to be-a church helping people meet Jesus Christ in the midst of their story.

I wonder what amazing ministry is currently hidden deep in your heart but has not come to the surface yet because God’s Word has not had a chance to set it free. A study is calling you.

As I was taking the picture of the scaffolding, I was led to a text from 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, where Paul says, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here!”

Please offer a prayer of thanksgiving this month for your church and the way Christ is alive and moving in and through it. Thank you, Lord!