Dear friends,
     It's spring – and you know what that means.  That's right – SPRING CLEANING.  Marcia and I have gone through practically everything we own.  All the old clothes, old stuff that we're saving for who knows what, and old pictures.
     We found pictures of our kids when they were born.  Pictures of vacations long since forgotten.  Pictures from our wedding that I thought were lost.  Pictures of family members that we need to get in touch with.  And lots of pictures of thumbs and camera lenses!
     But to look at our kids!  It seems like only yesterday they were tiny!  Do you remember when we came here?  Margaret wasn't yet in school.  Benjamin, our newborn, couldn't yet walk.  Joanne was only saying a few words.  Now look at them! 
     They're same, yet they're different.  In the last four years, they've grown.  They've developed personalities.  They've changed right before our eyes!  Did you see it?  Do you remember when it happened?  Or was it a slow, gradual kind of change?  Marcia and I see our kids every day.  We don't know what happened to them!  It seems that they were toddlers only yesterday!     Well, Lincoln Chapel has changed in these last many years.  I was talking with someone a few weeks ago – someone who was a part of our church years ago, but has since moved away – and they shared with me how much things have changed at church.  So many new faces.  So many new kinds of ministries.  So many opportunities that are ours now that weren't there years ago.
Do you remember when that change happened?  Or was that a slow, gradual change, too?  It didn't happen overnight.  Good, positive growth takes time.  And it sometimes escapes our notice when we're involved in seeing it happen.
     The one thing for certain in our time is that change will happen.  We may pine for the “good old days” when our kids were young – or when we knew everyone at church.  We may think back fondly on the time when we knew what was going on – in our families, and at church.  And we may sometimes be guilty of wishing the past to come alive. 
     But just as my kids are different now than when you first met them, so are you.  God has touched your life with joy and pain and blessing and heartache.  YOU are not the same person you were years ago.  And for the most part, that's good.  That's God's promise being made real within you – that He will be with you always.  The same is true for our church.  Lincoln Chapel is the same as it was years ago – but at the same time, it's different.
     Rather than wonder where or when the change happened, let's give thanks to God that He is the one who is always changing us – helping us adapt to new times and new needs for ministry.  Yes, things may look a little different.  Things may run a little different.  But the same love, acceptance, and friendship is still here!  Come and share in the things that'll never change!
    
Marcia and I send you our love,
     Pastor Jon