Pentecost 5a - conclusion

I’ve been blogging all week from Ebert Ranch Camp in the Texas Hill Country. Most of my day was spent helping the wranglers with the horses and encouraging confirmation youth to keep their hands on the reins with heels down and heads up. Back in the day, as they say, I was a camp counselor so I truly appreciate the young women and men who give up their summer to work long hours for little pay to share the love of Jesus with 7^th and 8^th graders. This year the community that was formed by their efforts and the work of the Holy Spirit was truly a foretaste of the feast to come and although the Hill Country was so dry it was fixin to blow away it was still a little slice of heaven. “Do not tremble and do not be afraid” is a good word when sitting on a horse or traversing the Ebert Ranch high ropes course, but truth is God’s word is for all of life’s ups and downs. The psalmist's “save me” is not the same as “whoa Nelly” but none-the-less believes the compassionate and gracious God will deliver. Like the apostle Paul and the church in Rome we experience the hope of the future in community shaped by the Spirit of God. And while some horses may act as weeds among the wheat a good wrangler can make a difference, which come to think of it is what Christ does with us.