MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS -DOUBLING GAP, METS VS CARDS, REDEEMED REJECTION

This is where my week will ultimately take me, Doubling Gap Center. Doubling Gap is the retreat and conference center for the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God, located near Newville PA. It is also the home of Camp Yolijwa. Originally a famous hotel with mineral springs, it was secured by the Churches of God in 1935 to become the home of its fledgling church camping ministry. (You can learn more about this magnificent place by going to: camp yolijwa Along with a number of other persons from my congregation we will be attending the annual conference sessions of the ERC: a time of church business, prayer, inspiration, equipping, worship, and fellowship. People rarely like attending business meetings, but this "gathering of the church" is far more than something so mundane. By the time it ends Saturday at lunch time, many of us will have a special time of blessing from God. I will return in June to serve as a Head Counselor on the staff of the Youth Camp. That will be far more grueling, but in many ways more rewarding. I look forward to my time at Doubling Gap.

The Mets and the Cardinals put together a twenty inning extra inning game Saturday. Fortunately it started at 4:15 in the afternoon or they might have watched the sun rise on the Mississippi before the last out was made. Six hours and 53 minutes before Jose Reyes hit a sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 2-1 victory. Cardinals' utility man Joe Mather was pressed into service on the mound when Tony LaRussa ran out of pitchers. Poor Joe will probably never get another chance to pitch in his career that now sports an 0-1 pitching record. Perhaps the real hero was Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who caught all 20 innings (a superhuman effort by baseball standards) and gunned down David Wright in the 14th inning as he attempted to steal second, prolonging the game even further. Alas, Yadier's efforts were for naught, but he was behind the plate 24 hours later in the final game of this series.

Yesterday's sermon was called "Redeemed Rejection." Rejection is with us from the beginning of life until life's, but thankfully God allows us to overcome rejection with a fresh start. We "redeem rejection" when we choose to live by the truth of God's New Creation and stop living the lie that comes from people who do not value us God does.