Place - Western New York, in a small post-industrial city continuing to effort of reinventing itself. There are many small towns an cities like this along the northeast. But this is my town. My family and I have lived and worked in this community for over 20 years now. Personally, I've served in three different church denominations during that time here. I don't think it's even possible to count the number of people I've had the honor to get to know over that time, but as my children will tell you it's impossible for me to get groceries without seeing at least five people that I know. But this is not really my story, this is God's story. Over the last twenty years, there are two practices that I feel have been God's gift to me: Creativity and relationships. As suggested before, relationships happen when you are in one place long enough. However authentic relationships require compassion, listening, persistence and grace. For relationships to m...
Life is tough, but hope is tougher.