Ticket to Ride from the Rockies

Greetings from Colorado! Our crew took off after worship last Sunday. We're spending five days in a cabin at the YMCA of the Rockies, then we'll stop in Kansas for a couple of days, catching up with friends who moved there from Texas. Usually our family vacations are urban in nature : Chicago,  New York, San Diego. So this has been a change, and a good one. The camp offers a ton of activities, guided and independent. The weather has been spectacular. Cool in the evenings and mornings, warm during the day. And it's rained every day so far. 

Yesterday we spent an hour or so in a neighboring village doing touristy stuff during the rain.  Following a picnic on the shore of Grand Lake, we drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park, which was beautiful and thrilling and exhausting. Today a dear friend I once served with at Custer Road UMC is driving up from Denver with her three kids to spend the day. 

A couple of fun back to school events to keep in mind: August 12& 13. Our church has reserved the Splash water park at Fairview for the evening, 6:30-8:30. It's a free event for community families. Everyone is invited! This is going to be a big deal. We created a Facebook event on our church's page, and it's been shared nearly 50 times, almost exclusively by folk who do not attend Grace. The next day we'll bless backpacks and pray for students, teachers, and administrators as they begin a new school year August 16.These are two important opportunities to invite others. Last year our Back to School Sunday was the biggest non-Easter Sunday in several years. Let's improve this year!

But enough church stuff. We'll be back next week. I'm grateful for Carolyn Nicholson, who will continue the Genesis sermon series this Sunday as Joseph takes center stage. I'll be back the following Sunday to wrap up the series. Thanks for being an awesome place to serve.  Now the boys are anxious for a Ticket to Ride rematch..