I've been lately thinking...

I am sure there are a handful of people out there who will remember a young man named Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.  Maybe you will remember him best as a folk singer who called himself John Denver.  Ah, yes, Far Out!

John Denver wrote a song called Poems, Prayers and Promises.  It was recorded on an album of the same title and released in April of 1971.  Ah, yes, those were the days.

The song was an autobiographical reflection.  The lyrics were a journey through Denver's memory of people and places in his life.  The song starts of in a very reflective mode: I've been lately thinking
about my life's time all the things I've done and how it's been... 

I have been in that same frame of mind over the last couple of weeks.  I've been lately thinking...

• About all the people we have been blessed to know and serve.  My journey of reflection always takes the path of congregations we have served...Fort Morgan, Longs Peak, Broomfield, First Colorado Springs, Wilson, and now the Parker family of faith.  What a gift each group has been in our lives!  There are so many individuals we have known and loved.  Each one has added significantly to our lives.  We have served together in mission, laughed together at tables, cried together around loss, and learned to love one another as people who are committed to grow in our faith.  Thank you...( I name you in my heart )!
• About the way God has shaped our lives around experiences that challenge, encourage, and grow our spirits.  Shiprock, Arad, San Jose, Port au Prince and a thousand places in between.  But the place is just a gathering spot where relationships can be nurtured into bloom and fruit.  So the mission of the church provides a garden that grows and flourishes with the tending of a trellis made of hands and hearts connected by faith.
• About the assurance God has provided along the journey.  Assurance that we are serving and investing in the right place at the right time.  I confess, there have been times when I have wondered if our wanderings have been productive and if they have all been centered in the will of God.  But as soon as I lift the question in my heart...along come the mystery of the incarnation that provides the power of assurance once again.

So I've been lately thinking.  It is good to reflect.  I talk to students about a three fold process of reflection, integration, and application as we look at our physical and relations journey of faith.  Without looking back, we will never know where we have been...or at least we will not see the fullness of the journey that is only revealed in the fullness of time.

Poems, Prayers, and Promises...not a bad sequence!  Amen.