What I love the most about Spring is that it sets the tapestry for God's art.  Each season is so fresh compared to the season before.  When autumn enters the stage we can literally feel the change in the air, we can smell and taste the approach of winter, when Spring comes the whole Earth joins with the angels in song!  Spring means change, it means new.  A new day.  The glory of our Lord's victory presents itself with flashes of color from the cherry blossoms and dances of sunlight on the horizon.  Christ is victorious over death!  He won, and in Him we have won the prize of life!

Spring also means that youth programming gets jump started towards summer.  Plans for video game nights, intense outdoor games now that the rain has stopped, summer camp, days at the park.  It is easy to get stuck in our society's over programming.  We all have so much to do: sports, school, work, college applications, even hanging out with friends at the mall seems like work when you factor in trying to hear eachother over the echo of thousands of people. 

It is my hope that even as the season thrusts us toward adding more to our day planners that we take time to reflect on God's glory, on the miracle of Easter, on the joy of the birds buzzing around the exploding cherry blossoms.  Take time to breath and rest in your Father's arms.

Peace in Christ~ Kimberlee

Think about it, how often have you had to stay home and study for a test instead of go to youth group. Or when was the last time you went to your friends for advice instead of prayer. I'm not trying to push blame or point a condemning finger, I would be the first one to be blamed or condemned if I were doing that. What I'm saying is that to often we look to worldly things to show us the path we should follow. All the while our Saviour is knocking at our hearts door waiting, yearning for us to answer and to fall humbly at His feet. All the things we do, all the "works" we try to achieve, will never satisfy our need for God. It is by God's grace that we are made whole, that we are saved from all the things that try to take our attention away from Him.

Ephesians 2: 8 says

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

God has given us salvation, He wrapped up a gift in swaddeling clothes and layed it down in a manger so that the gift could grow and eventually die on a cross to save us from our sins. Our sins of gossip, slander, hatred, adultery, being to busy for God, hating ourselves... All by grace. Rest in God's abundant grace and peace.

Peace In Christ~
Kimberlee Richards

As "followers of Jesus" I think we need to approach life like that. We can look at the list of everything a good Christian should be doing and get overwhelmed. Prayer, serving the poor, coming to church, attending a small group, reconciling relationships, sharing the Gospel, visiting the sick and shut-in, collecting food, working to help the homeless, reading the Bible ... it can be a bit much.

Add to that the problems in the world.

• 800 Million people are starving
• 1 Billion lack clean drinking water
• 2 Billion lack sanitation
• 2 Million dying from AIDS each year
• 1.75 Million international migrants
• 940 Million illiterate adults

In the face of all this....what's a follower of Jesus to do? Maybe the answer is the same as Andre Carnegie received - don't focus on all the problems and "TO-DO's" at once. Instead, just do the next right thing.

Through His prophet Micah, our Lord told us what the next right thing will look like:

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8 (ESV)

I like the way its put in The Message translation:

But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously - take God seriously.

(Micah 6:8)

You might not be able to fix every broken relationship in your life right now, but you can do the next right thing.

(maybe put down a grudge, pick up the phone, write that note only to the person you need to talk to...)

You might not be able to share the Gospel with the whole world today, but you can do the next right thing.

(maybe hand out fliers in your neighborhood about your new small group, invite a coworker to church, buy a Bible for your niece...)

You might not be able to solve the problem of homelessness, but you can do the next right thing.

(maybe get involved with Vision House by donating your time, talents and treasure to them...)

The question isn't how you can fix the world. That's not your job. Your job is simply to do the next right thing.

I'm writing this to you all mostly because today is the sort of day that I need to remember this as well. I almost forgot but yesterday marked three years of Glenn and Toni Stokke being members of the church. I remember that Sunday well ... it was my first one here! The three years between that first worship service and today have been marked by many things...but one thing stands out. If I know nothing else about CGS I know that it is a church marked by doing "the next right thing" for Jesus.

What does doing the next right thing look like?

First: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor. When I think about these words, I can't help but think of the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18. The "fair" or "just" thing to do is to show forgiveness and grace. In the Cross of Christ, we receive more grace than we can ever imagine. If we received nothing else from God, the Cross of Christ would be enough to merit an eternity of praise. Along with the Cross, we get family, money, houses, cars, friends, a church, health and more! We have received so much...how can we hold back from forgiving and loving the people around us? How can we hold back from sharing the Good News of this grace with the world?

Good Shepherd was started as a drive in, because the "next right thing" was to reach out to people who didn't feel comfortable sitting in pews. CGS started Wild West Days because "the next right thing" was to help children in our neighborhood have a safe, fun week where they could make friends with Jesus. In a community that is growing like wild-fire and filled with young families who are alienated from Jesus, you can count on CGS to do the "next right thing" and take the Good News to them.

Secondly: Be compassionate and loyal in your love. Tahlia's children's Bible talks about "God's always-and-forever-never-ending-kind-of-love." That's the sort of love we must have for each other. The sort of love that doesn't stop loving when feelings have been hurt. The sort of love that can overlook an offense. The sort of love that sees past the mistakes (and God knows we al make plenty of those!) and sees the potential.

Good Shepherd is a rare church in this area. Newcomers are greeted warmly and sincerely. People of every color and background, with all sorts of baggage and styles, are accepted as people who need the Lord. Some of them haven't been easy to love and some of them have taken and left without saying "thank you" but you guys keep loving, compassionately and loyally. When the chips are down and people are broken, you can count on CGS to do the "next right thing" and extend the love of Christ.

Finally, don't take yourself too seriously! G.K. Chesterton once wrote that angles are able to fly because they take themselves so lightly. While I'm not sure about that, I do know that humility is vital to having a good relationship with the Lord and with others. 1 Peter 5:5 says that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." I know I have a long way to go, but for the past year I've been studying a great book on humility by C.J. Mahaney. In the best times, as well as the worst, by focusing on humility I've been able to see less of me and more of Jesus. Like I said, I have a long way to go, but this journey has been completely worthwhile.

Good Shepherd is great at this one too. We are a church that loves to laugh. We know how to take ourselves lightly and our Lord seriously. Whether its letting the kids dance in the aisles, or singing as loud as you can, Good Shepherd can be counted on to do the "next right thing" by focusing less on itself and more and the Lord.

The last three years have been years of joy, growth and adventure for me, and hopefully for you too. My prayer is that Jesus will give us grace as we continue to do the next right thing as a church and as individuals. Grace to share the Gospel, grace to love with loyalty and grace to pursue humility.

Still Standing With You after Three Years;

- Pastor Tim