Reflections From Sunday Evening

Cindy and I went to church at Kearney UMC this morning. Spencer Smith is the new pastor there. He was apponted in June. Spencer was in junior high when we began serving in Joplin. He was active in our youth group and along with his family was regular in church. It was during that formative time in life that Spencer was sensing a call to ministry. I am so thankful that Spencer has responded to the call to serve as a pastor in the UMC. It was absolutely great to hear him preach today. When I think of where I was at that stage of life and see where our younger preachers are today -- let's just say we are in good hands with our younger clergy. During the service Spencer baptized a baby. The father was Scott MacDonald. He had been in the church in Raymore when Cindy and I were there. After church we visited with Scott, his brother Steven and mother Barbara. The other neat part of our day was walking into the church and seeing Spencer's mom and dad! It was great to see Jill and Dave. It was a pretty amazing day. The Christian life has so many connections. We find ourselves related to people from many different places. We also find the connections tend to transcend time. In Christ we experience a very unique unity. I feel like I got to experience a bit of that today. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve