Joys and Sorrows

This week has been full of highs and lows here at the King house. God has blessed us with tremendous times with friends. Old friends Kate and Justin and their super cute/fun kids Ryan and Emma have recently moved back to Walpole - yay!  It's been awesome to be with them, and we love how we can just "pop over" places to visit friends now. We're blown away by God's faithfulness and how He is bringing our prayers for community into reality - we are so blessed.


We've also had truly encouraging times with our campaigner group. It's been great to mix up Bible study a bit and really dig in with our high school friends. Even more joyous however, is seeing how Jesus TRULY IS changing lives. -Watching our once "un-churched" friends now not only KNOW God, but now grow closer to Him and see how He is changing hearts, families and lives .... it is beautiful.


We've started "the basket". (We joked of maybe calling it some mixture of rhyming words like Questions, Suggestions, Objections and Reflections ?). It's been a unique opportunity for the leader leading the talk to ask kids to write down questions they have or comments or topics that THEY want to learn more about. Really just give kids a chance to write down their thoughts of any kind, feel heard, and we hope/plan to compile them soon to help us shape our lessons for next semester. The responses are sometimes guided by specific questions, sometimes open, all anonymous, and many have been so sweet. 




A few recent ones:


 "How to talk to my family about God."
"Whenever you ask God for help, he would someone make it happen so your day would be better."
"Should you try to date other Christians?"
"Evolution"
"Is there a proper way to pray/read the Bible?"
"[I have learned] My relationship with God is unbreakable...God's words give me strength whenever I think I can't do something. God's love is so beyond unconditional."




We love that these kids feel comfortable asking these types of questions, and we hope to encourage openness and make campaigners a safe place to not only learn, but also doubt and grow if needed. So fun to walk with most of these kids for at least one more year, and with some 2-3 more years! We've also been so happy to live within walking distance of 4 of our campaigners - and love having them pop over or stay late. Our home is truly growing into a place of ministry, something we have always prayed for and dreamed of.




Cait in particular amidst all this joy has had a tough week dealing with the sudden passing of a co-worker. Trying to process her own grief, looking for tangible ways to support her co-workers and praying for Christ given words of comfort have been both tiring and rewarding.  God and all things spiritual become very real in death and Cait has spent considerable time meditating on 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 which we will leave you with today :

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.