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O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy. . . we pray that with you as our guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal. (from Collect for Proper 12) I hope many of you have made plans to do something special this summer; I believe that it is important to break out of our normal routines in order to see our world differently and to imagine new possibilities for ourselves. My family will be enjoying a week at Camp Allen in June and then two weeks in the mountains of Colorado in July. In Colorado we stay in a beautiful house near Winter Park (altitude 9,000 ft.), so the mornings and evenings are usually cool. Sherry loves to sit on the balcony in the early morning and watch the wildlife (especially the birds) and enjoy the views and the stillness of the woods around us. It is a perfect place to reflect on things eternal—especially the incredible wonders of the world that God created for our earthly journey. I have been faithfully training so that I can also enjoy the views from the top of a few mountains. I plan to do some serious hiking again this year. I love the challenge and exhilaration of a successful climb, but the real rewards are the incredible views that come along the path and on the summit. It is so much easier to live into the above prayer when I am in the mountains of Colorado – surrounded by God's creation - than when faced with the realities of my everyday life. So much easier to not lose sight of the things that matter most, when I am in the midst of the wonders of God, than when I am lost in the noise of the world. My prayer for all of us is that we will bring that sense of God down from the mountain and into our daily lives. Whether you walk on a beach, take a cruise, hike in nature, or read a good book this summer, I pray that you will experience an inner peace that comes from knowing that God not only put creation in place for our benefit, but then loved us so much as to come to earth and take our sins to the cross. May your summer plans include a time to turn your thoughts away from things temporal, in order to reflect to the wonders that are yet to come.
May God bless us and keep us all,
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