My wife Amy wrote the following as an article in our monthly newsletter called the Good News. It was so well done, I thought I would share it with you.
"I think it is pretty amazing how God works. He has a way of reminding us of lessons that he wants to teach us. He has a way to make all things work together for good. (Romans 8:28) Let me share an example of this with you from my life.
We have been blessed with an amazing back yard. Running through the back of our property in Verona is the Badger Mill Creek. It is one of the things we fell in love with when we first moved here. I love water. And I thought it was an extra special touch that God gave me a running creek in my very own yard. You can hear it babble, it never freezes so there are ducks that swim by during the winter, the sun dances on the water and I have a visible reminder of God’s mercy and love that flow into my life! Well, occasionally that creek will spill out of its bank and actually floods our back yard. (we get instant lake front property) Thankfully, so far it has not reached the house. We have a bridge that allows us to walk over the creek and get to the Ice Age Trail, another bonus as we love to walk on the trail and appreciate God’s creation. As you are all aware, with the 100 inches of snow and the extra rain we have gotten, especially the first weekend in June when we got that 7 inches of rain in one weekend, not only did the yard flood, but the bridge was washed out and is now laying in our back yard!
So, why am I sharing this story with you? Because, like I said, God uses all sorts of experiences to teach us lessons. We have no idea what to do with that bridge. We would like to rebuild it, but really don’t have the know how and certainly cannot do the job alone. At our circle party that we had, to celebrate that school is out and summer is here, the discussion amongst the neighbors was how can they all help out to fix the bridge. We have an engineer on one side of us and a carpenter on the other!
If you have been around Christ Memorial for anytime at all, you have heard us talk about cultivating spiritual friendships. Another way to say that is, "Take time to build bridges." We build relationships with people with the hopes of introducing them to Jesus! Not only do we want to serve our neighbors, and serve alongside of them, but also allow them to serve us. We have been given a great opportunity, because our bridge washed out, to allow our neighbors to serve us. God has given them the gifts and skills to be able to help us. And we need them! Perhaps we will even have an opportunity while working on the project to talk about the very most important bridge there is: the cross! God sent Jesus to die and rise again so we could have a bridge to cross over and make our way back to a relationship with God and have eternal life."
What are some bridge-building events that you can participate in this summer? How can you partner with people you know who may have a gift or skill that can be used to serve others in Jesus' name?
