Dear Friends and Family of RRUMC,
I am sitting in my office thinking of the fact that Upward Basketball and Cheerleading is coming up on its last week.
It started back in November with evaluations. Practices started the first week of January, with games being played every Saturday for eight weeks starting at the end of January. The amount of work that goes into making that program such a huge success is monumental.
Heather Lutz is our league director and the workload on her and her family was almost overwhelming. If I am honest, it is a program that I love when it starts and I love it just as much when it ends. AND THEN…
“And Then” happens so much in ministry. I was at the new Taza Restaurant in Rocky River and saw one of our members sitting with a friend having lunch. I was introduced to her friend who had a young child in Upward Basketball. She went on for ten minutes about how incredible Upward was not only for her child but for the whole family. Fast forward to a meeting in the church with that church member who introduced me to her friend at Taza. She pulled me aside after the meeting to tell me that the woman’s husband never had any interest in going to a church. AND THEN… There it is again. After seeing what our church would do to create this program for their family, he said that we were the kind of church that he wants to go to and become a part of going forward.
A Scripture is rattling around in my heart and my soul and my mind and my strength right now. It is Galatians 6:9 which says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
There are so many times in ministry you get worn out and beaten down and simply tired. AND THEN… God reminds you in so many magnificent ways why what we do matters to God and to the people that we serve. Thank you to that church member at Taza (you know who you are…), you have reminded me to not become weary in doing good because I am already seeing the harvest right in front of me if I do not give up.
Church, do not become weary in doing good. We must keep working to reap the harvest and not give up on that quest. To Heather Lutz and her whole family ……THANK YOU. To Jason Kraft and his family who played that role before Heather, THANK YOU.
Thank you for not becoming weary and helping to reap the harvest. You have changed many lives, including mine.
Peace and Blessings,
Rev. Dan