"Stay!"

On one of his comedy albums, Steven Wright says, I bought a dog the other day. I named him Stay. It's fun to call him. "Come here, Stay! Come here, Stay!" He went insane.
We can laugh at the absurdity of this scenario, but how often do we struggle with the pull between staying put or being active?

Most of our lives consist of the need to keep active. We need to accomplish the tasks of our jobs and home lives. We want to keep physically fit, so we keep moving - sometimes even using a device to monitor how many steps we've taken in a day. And even in our spiritual life we want to be sure that we're reading, praying, serving, and worshipping so that we can be better Christians. 

But, in Jesus' 7th "I AM" statement recorded in chapter 15 of the gospel of John, he says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."

Remaining sounds a lot like "staying" and that seems counter-cultural to how we tend to live. Maybe that's Jesus' point...

I hope you can join us this coming Sunday, March 26th, as we unpack this idea of remaining connected to the True Vine.

This Sunday we'll also have some special guests with us from our camp.
Chris Dean is the Food Service Manager at Cascades Camp and Conference Center in Yelm, WA. He'll be with us to share a bit about camp and the opportunities we have to participate in their various programs. By the way, this is where our ladies will be going to attend the Women's Retreat this coming Fall.

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