August 2021 Newsletter
Hello!
Hello from the C’mon Inn in Park Rapids, Minnesota. I am here to officiate at a wedding for a family friend of the Jeskas. The rehearsal last night went well. This is a wedding that has been postponed about 3 times due to COVID, but tomorrow it will happen on the shore of their family’s lake property. A beautiful setting. It did thunderstorm last night, but sunshine today, so it should be a wonderful celebration.
I am here in a hotel room getting all sorts of work done before the wedding. It is weird having a day in which you have limited opportunities. I am not saying Park Rapids is boring; I haven’t really looked at what might be out there. If I was at home, someone would want something from me. My house would want cleaning, my garden would ask for water and weeding. If I was at the office, there are people I would want to visit and my office would beg, as it has been for 10 years, to be cleaned and organized.
But I am here in Park Rapids writing emails and service outlines and newsletter articles. I have been doing this all morning and yesterday afternoon. I will step outside soon, I promise. A few weeks ago, I fit in a walk at Lowry Nature Center. It was only 30 minutes, but it was filled with a sense of the presence of God. It was a reminder of my youth when I would play outside with Jesus all day or when I would go to primitive camp at Mt. Morris and climb evergreen trees and find Jesus waiting for me at the top.
As I write this, I feel God calling to me. Calling to me to come away again and find Jesus waiting for me somewhere. Last Sunday we talked about the power that goes out of us when we are caring for others. It is good we have the ability to share this power, it is a true pleasure, but like Jesus modeled for us, it is good as well to find those deserted spaces and rest awhile. That deserted space could be your car, as you go out to do an errand by yourself; it could be your boat on the lake; it could be a walk you take in the woods or even just a walk in your neighborhood. Your deserted space could be stopping by the church during the week and sitting in the sanctuary for a moment, or the Bertha Luke Room. We are open 8 am to 1 pm every weekday and most days longer than that.
From the C’mon Inn in Park Rapids, I invite you to come away awhile with Jesus!