FROM THE EDITOR

Season Of Change

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. Genesis 8:22

The rhythms of God’s creation stand sure for us. As the heat of summer rolls around again, park district pools open, people stand in line for Dairy Queen, special outdoor events happen in all our towns and many parks. It’s a time to relish.

But not only that. Summer is often a season of spiritual change and growth. It’s a time of change for us as a church, but also a time for us as people to look at things from a different perspective than we have during the academic year. This issue of Connections provides us with stories of change that should encourage us.

Ray Smith’s saga from the missionary past, and Heather Owen’s story of present missionary change help us to see broad brushes of God’s care as the world swirls and changes all around us in the past, present, and by faith, in the future. Danielle Everett tells of the architectural change in Crossings that transformed a space into the library of Clapham School is another kind of change entirely.

Wallace Alcorn’s piece for Father’s Day honors both his earthly and heavenly fathers, seeing one reflecting the other—a change of perspective both familiar and new at once. Kara Beth Vance’s piece reflects change in the pro-life movement shifting from the frigid January March for Life to the new Summer of Life rally coming up in Chicago.

Summer signals an opportunity for growth and change. Our Summer Crew team is giving their summer over to our kids. This kind of ministry can change a child’s life, but it can also help set a life-changing course for those young adults on the team. As you read about them, pray for God to work in them and to use them to help make Jesus and the gospel come to life in the children of College Church.

Not everything changes. God does not change. Jesus’ love never ends. The Word of God continues to live and breathe like no other book every written. These unchangeable truths can give us hope that we can change for the better with the help of God.

May this summer find us more like Christ. Happy reading.