This weekend we are going to celebrate Western Hills Church’s 30th Anniversary. (Why we call it an anniversary as opposed to a birthday? I have no explanation.) We’re going to serve coffee, latte’s, and all kinds of other coffee deliciousness as well as bagels, donuts, and pastries. There will be pictures worthy of blackmail material and other fun archival things to see, but I hope you find something else.

A Look Forward

Today has been hard. It’s been good. But it’s been hard. Why? It’s Cayden’s 17th birthday.  Seventeen. How in the world can my baby girl be 17?? We celebrated with breakfast waffles, because waffles are the best kind of birthday cake ever.

I remember gobs of pink. I remember her running around the house taking video interviews of everyone. I remember her loving “bas-ghetti” and “Tooper” and “Tammer.” I remember missing teeth and incredible dance parties and concerts during commercial breaks. I remember hikes where her heart was willing, but the little legs were done. I remember kayak time and fishing days, and lots of pictures of sunsets and flowers.

But for all of those memories, I’m really excited about her future. She’s got dreams. She’s got goals, ideas and direction. I’m amped about how God is changing her, molding her. I’m not always happy about the bumps in the road or the obstacles we have to navigate. But it’s helpful to remember that these too are a part of the journey. Even these things that we don’t like are being used by God to form and mold her, as well as me.

Bottom line – she’s not 3 anymore. She’s not 6 or 12 or even 15 anymore. She’s different. She’s changed. She will continue to change. And that’s good. Because if she didn’t change, she wouldn’t be growing.

It’s not all that different when it comes church.

We’re going to have some fun on Sunday taking a glimpse backward, but we’re going to take a good look at what God has put in front of us as well. It’s still about the core of the call of Jesus on His church – to make disciples of all people of all cultures. It’s fundamentally about loving people like Jesus loves people.

The core question that I’m reminded of as we celebrate 30 years is, “How can we get better at loving people like Jesus?” The church was placed and gifted on the earth for that sole purpose. How can we better leverage every single ounce of resources we have to do that?

Dallas Willard wrote this in Regeneration of the Heart, “We also need to keep in mind the multitudes of people (surrounded by churches) who will NOT be in heaven because they have never, to their knowledge, seen the reality of Christ in a living human being.”

Can’t wait for Sunday to unpack this a bit more…