The news of flash floods in the Texas Hill Country and so many people, including lots of young campers who have died or are yet unaccounted for is heartbreaking. I have spent time in the Texas Hill Country. I have driven past those camps. I have played in the Guadalupe River. The devastation is horrific.

I am also heartbroken because a mother with 2 young girls came looking for help to self-deport. Her husband was arrested by ICE and she is terrified to be split from her girls. All of this is heartbroken, and I have to think the heart of God is broken too.

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I have seen in recent weeks the need for community. We read about community and its importance throughout the Bible. We need others. We need relationship. Community can help support us in times of need, celebrate when we celebrate and weep or mourn with us when we need that too. How can we better be community in the way in which Fred Rogers asked us to be neighbors?

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The church I serve is celebrating 40 years of ministry. The day has been in planning for over a year. Then the night before, news breaks that the US has bombed 3 nuclear sites in Iran. I felt the need to address it, but didn't want to take away from the celebration. I found a poem by Nikita Gill that speaks to rage and love coming from the same place. I leaned into the love. The text Romans 8: 31-39. A reminder that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Even in the midst of cataclysmic events - whether military strikes, hurricane, flood or fire - we cannot be separated from God's love. Good to remember for anniversaries and for times of trouble.

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