2 Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

3 Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

- Psalm 100: 2-4

A week or two ago, our family was heading over to the Fishers' place to get an introduction by Andy to "God's Garden," which, by the way, is simply amazing! God has definitely blessed this effort to create a community garden with fresh produce available to include in the food give-aways at Cool Community Church!

As we drove down highway 193, something threw us for a loop. There on the north side of the highway between ALT gates 2 and 3 were sheep...loose as loose could be! (This photo is from a free stock photo site...no sheep were wounded or maimed in the creation of this blog entry!)

The next day, on our way heading the same direction up toward Georgetown, we saw cattle loose on the south side of highway 193. One thing was clear...someone sure seemed to be having a bit of a heyday, wreaking havoc, opening gates that restrain livestock. We haven't seen any sheep or cattle carcasses on the side of the road, so we have to think things ended well.

This got me to thinking though. Sheep especially benefit from having the boundaries of a fence. Sheep tend to wander otherwise. Sheep without some sort of guidance or boundary could result in some pretty awful things...lamb chops, for instance! Or road kill, anyhow! Not well for the sheep. :-)

In some ways, our flock at Cool Community Church could now be like that flock of sheep that was meandering along highway 193. We have no human shepherd per say (though we are blessed to have an elder board and two other pastors that are our leaders if we will look to them). What is to keep us from wandering off? There is no lock on the church door to keep us from wandering. The pastures may look mighty green elsewhere!

What *does* keep a person from heading for another "pasture," or another "flock?"

Bob and I want to urge all of us "sheep" to stay put a spell. This may be a very tempting time to head out to what appears to be greener pastures - or maybe just to wander. But please consider if God would have you do so right now. He may want you to be a part of the adventure that he is unfolding for us here at Cool Community Church! That highway may look mighty appealing, but it may not have the best to offer when all things are considered.

Please ask the Lord if he might not use YOU to encourage others--just by showing up--during this time!

I have found that when I stop being about "Why should I go? What will be there to encourage ME?" and more about "Who can I find to encourage if I attend?" it is literally amazing how God encourages MY heart. I have been blessed beyond measure to greet some of you on Sunday morning or at women's bible study at the parsonage and I love love love my time of being with the other search team members or the worship team members on Thursday nights. I find God has given me SUCH joy in doing that which he prepared in advance for me to do (Ephesians 2:10) that any sense of tiredness or need to relax at home has been overcome by HIS joy flooding through me.

It has been such fun to see changes not just in us (Bob and me), but in our teenagers, too, as we have dragged them along for some our shenanigans with our church family. :-) Daniel often changes the overhead slides for our worship music on Sunday mornings and we are loving attending the youth group on Wednesday nights. God has been encouraging our hearts so much just by being with others of you!

It really is something when I think of how not even six months ago our family prayed and evaluated if God was calling us to leave Cool Community Church. I think of all the time that we spent wondering about this instead of resting in God's will for us and I am saddened. We could have been enjoying all these blessings of getting to know you all that much better for that much longer! :-)

So now that we have settled in to being God's sheep in this pasture in Cool, we are eager for everyone to be just as settled. Psalm 100:2-4 makes it clear...there is such joy when we take our place as His sheep where he calls. Just be sure that you follow HIS leading to wherever He may call! If He calls you to remain a sheep at Cool Community Church then worship Him with gladness along with us! Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise! Let's give thanks to Him! We have one another and we have Him! We are ultimately His sheep...and he won't let us wander out along highway 193! :-)