Estes Park, Colorado

Think about it… we start off life in the meadows. Fields of green grass that are pristine, with Bighorn Sheep grazing in the park. These “parks” in the Rockies are meadows or mountain valleys.  My image is of Estes Park, Colorado, the headquarters for the Rocky Mountain National Park. This land was once referred to as “The Circle” by the Arapaho Indians. A special place with many named trails, this land was frequented by these Indians in summertime. They always found their way back…

The seasons come and go in Estes Park. While we may define the start of each season on a certain day each year, there is some variability. This summer has been a special one for me as I’ve spent a lot of time with Julia and my family. Not perfect, but very peaceful and meaningful to me, much like the feeling of being in a meadow.

I’ve taken a huge break from writing this summer. It has left me excited about the fall and getting back into the groove with a new game plan. Stepping back from writing I’ve realized that blogging is a strange phenomena. I will at times read another person’s work and think they surely have written this directly to me. Of course, that’s silly. At other times I can say that I’ve read some posts and can only hope that they may have been inspired by something that I’ve contributed to humanity. That’s a good feeling. Here are a few other good tidbits from my field of vision for this summer:

• Love it when I hear that pastors are teaching in the book of Revelation.

• Love it when I hear that churches are supporting local ministries as well as sending tons of missionaries abroad.

• Love to hear how 2,000 years after Jesus lived we’re still learning and growing as disciples.

It’s exciting to see churches and their learning groups looking more and more like our communities. Maybe it all started a really long time ago, like “The Circle” that the Arapaho returned to every summer. Summertime is more relaxed than the rest of the year. We need that. A good time to step back and take a look from a different perspective.

What has your summer been like? Have you enjoyed this season of “life in the meadows”?

photo courtesy of The_Real_Birdcatcher @tripadvisor.com

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