Twelve Years Later

I write this on September 11th. It’s a date on the calendar I’ll always remember. I was working at a Psychiatric Hospital in Cherokee, Iowa twelve years ago. It was a part-time job. I was a Chaplain. My full-time job was serving a church in a nearby city. Professionally and personally, it’s a day I won’t forget. 

I worked with patients who were bi-polar, depressed, or schizophrenic. We watched airplanes crash into buildings and giant structures fall. We witnessed people’s hopes and dreams crash and fall even harder. Our world seemed less secure than the day before and it was. We also saw courage at its absolute best. We experienced solidarity as perhaps never before.

Benjamin, Twelve Years Later

Benjamin was just over three months old at the time. I saw him and Amber in the late afternoon. It didn’t seem fair this was the world he was inheriting. 

I didn’t stay at home for long. We had a worship service at the church that night. The sanctuary was usually filled with laughter and joy and grace and hope. That night only tears and sadness were evident. Grace and hope will still present. Nothing can ever make them vanish. Nothing. I told the people a time has never existed when we need God more than we need God today. 

Twelve years later I’m even more convinced of that truth: A time has never existed when we need God more than we need God today. 

It’s amazing to see God intersecting with people’s lives at The Water’s Edge. Our small groups started this week. I am already hearing stories of grace. A missions team has just returned from Oklahoma City and another one is preparing to head to Uganda. I am hearing stories of hope. Just a few nights ago, WE launched our new Sunday evening worship experience: WE at Night. It was a great night and an excellent start! Our youth groups have launched for the year. Between the two middle and the high school groups, we have over one hundred students and dozens of volunteers who are growing weekly! Our food drives are done of the year. We collected over 10,000 pounds of food for hungry people right here in Omaha. Our new sermon series – gods at war – has started and over the next five weeks we’ll continue to look at what it means to put God first in our lives. It’s great to see God at work because a time has never existed when we need God more than we need God today. 

It’s September. The summer months of June, July, and August have ended. You wouldn’t know it with the hot temperatures. Those months are typically financially challenging for churches and The Water’s Edge was no exception this summer. As our ministry expands our generosity needs to expand as well. I want to invite you to help The Water’s Edge finish the year strong financially so that our vision is resourced and that our impact on people’s lives and our community continues to expand. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig