Back into Idaho to Idaho Falls

The ride today (8/3) was interesting. The first part of the ride was absolutely beautiful, but the second part was trying. It's the closest I have come to running out of gas. I forgot about the long straight ways with no services in Idaho. You can ride for 30 to 45 minutes without seeing a tree or a house! On the way to Idaho Falls, I passed through the corner of the Idaho National Laboratory. This flooded back the memories of December of 1989 and my time with Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory (Westinghouse MTS) when I was a young technician in Idaho for qualification.

 

I arrived in Idaho Falls, safe and sound. It has changed much over the last 28 years. Reconstruction and new developments have the place looking great. I wasn't able to get a picture of the fountain in the round-a-bout, but I found one to share with you. It really is magnificent!

It was nice to be able to be here once again after all the years of being away. Places change and people change. It's a fact of life. Sometimes, like connecting with friends from over the years, the conversation continues, but the people have changed, grown, matured, "seasoned." Sometimes, places change. They are reformed and recreated into something totally different and even surprising, that is - if they are tended to and nurtured. If they are neglected, they fall into disrepair. I appreciate the fact that I saw a sense of pride in the city of Idaho Falls. It was nice to be there again, even though so much had changed, it was still very familiar.

In the book of Acts, the early church "devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

This is the formula to nurture and growth. The Spirit guided these early believers to gather with one another in loving fellowship, to reach up to God in praise and to reach out to those in need. They were connected to the grace of God that built them up in their faith. That grace showed itself in several ways, including through the sharing of communion and worship, but first on the list of their activity is devotion to “the apostles’ teaching.” God then "added to their number." You want church to grow and be renewed, you need to nurture it. People change, places change, churches change... it's not going to be the church that you went to 20 years ago, don't expect it to be. In order to stay vital and healthy, things must change.

Challenge to Self: Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. (R.Neibuhr) 

Challenge to Trinity: Evaluate how you have changed... If you have been at Trinity for a while, evaluate how Trinity has changed. What can we do to tend and nurture our community so that I continues to be the life giving entity that it should be? What have we neglected? What has fallen into disrepair?