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"It been quite the week in Lake Wobegon .." began Garrison Keillor on his "Prairie Home Companion" radio show. In our case, make that plural. On July 12th, we began Vacation Bible School, which really had been a work in progress long before that week. This week, we have youth out on a mission trip to Lincoln, IL. The respite week between was anything but calm as we dealt with a forced staff absence. Yet the work of the Kingdom of God continues. This week, we will read in Ephesians 4 that some were called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers. I would add that some were also called to be carpenters, plumbers, secretaries, doctors, nurses, bank managers, repair people, and you get the idea. As Lutherans, we teach that all vocation is a calling from God. We teach that we are all called into the priesthood of all believers to do the work of the Kingdom of God. Our examples of living daily in the presence of God are noticed. We all have bits and pieces that we can contribute to make the Kingdom prosper. Remember that as you say your kind words, do your acts of love, and pray for those around you or far away. We are living out the unity we have in the Holy Spirit as we seek to become whole in Christ Jesus.

Dear Friends, In my back yard, there is a sports complex with a fairly new high school baseball and softball field. Tonight, the field was all lit up and could be seen for miles because there was an evening game. The temperature was in the mid-80s with humidity high enough that it looked like an evening fog. Although I was never a ball player myself, I love to hear the shouts from the fans cheering on the players. What’s are some of your favorite summertime memories? Maybe your summertime stories are anything but ball games, fairs, farm-life, pools, camping outdoors, or even Iowa heat and humidity. Maybe summers were the time for traveling, sightseeing, or visiting family and friends all over the country. Your memories or maybe even this 2021 summer is all about being on the road and meeting new people along the way. With this big National Holiday weekend, maybe you think of how much you love fireworks on the 4th of July. Just remember that for many people and our furred friends, the sounds of explosives are terrifying. The stories of our joys and challenges, celebrations and fears explain how we understand the world around us. Sometimes our stories seem familiar or unfamiliar, boastful or humble, truthful or impossible or even just plain confusing! In our passage this week from 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, it can be a bit confusing, at least for me. Paul was trying to share the story with the people in Corinth about how he knows a lot of things, important things. He says that he doesn’t have to boast, but he could because the things he knows are the truth. Then there some other things mentioned; it’s a lot to ponder. (Uff dah!) until the very end of passage when Paul basically sums it all up by saying, (Pastor Katie’s translation), God, in my hardships and in my joys, in my story of life, the truth is: your grace is all I need. So, thank you for loving all of your children of your own making and continue to give them your strength, your love, and your promise of life everlasting. What’s your story of God’s gift of grace? To share our stories, we need to gather together! Come to worship this weekend, invite friends over, or meet people right where they are and listen to one another’s story of highs and lows, joys and sorrows, the stories of God’s gift of grace. This weekend, we celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism with Elle Elizabeth Meseck and Andrew Joseph Parrish and their families. We look ahead to the amazing week of VBS and Day Camp. We will have a special summertime Next Steps with Pastor Katie for prospective members on July 18 after 9:45 worship. We end the month of July with a Youth Mission Trip – with 4 open spots that still simply must be filled! Our summertime at Holy Trinity is God-honoring and simply - vibrant! Go to our website holytrinityNL.org for the most up-to-date information and invitations. See you at church, Pastor Katie

DEAR FRIENDS, We welcome the raindrops and pray for days of renewal of the earth, our households, and our communities. Just as soon as I say something like that, I can sense a “but, Pastor Katie the rain is ruining our plans to go to…” Our passage this Sunday from 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 (NIV) has this bold message for you and for me. After Paul encourages us as faithful people of Christ, he says, “see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” Meaning, imaging and addressing the needs of others is our witness to God’s gift of grace for you and for me. Paul continues in the NIV translation and says, “Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.” What a powerful message to say to us this very moment in our time that this isn’t about diminishing one another’s story of joys and/or challenges, but lifting them both up with mutual respect, care, and compassion. I have this amazing group that I meet with each week, my small group. They are “my people” in this place and time who not only share their stories, they listen to my own. I feel safe in this group to discuss but also not feel obligated to solve personal or world issues. The way I see it, “we are holding one another’s story today.” The greatest gift we can give to one another is our time, our fully listening ears, our commitment to be compassionate and to hold one another’s story. In this, as individuals and as a group, we have equality. Paul completes the passage for this Sunday with, “The goal is equality, as it is written; The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” We may read this to mean a political movement. Maybe it could be and should be read in that context. But what I hear in this space and time is our need, our want, and our calling to listen to one another and demonstrate compassion for all of God’s children with equal dignity, respect, and honor. How we could change our everyday conversations if we looked at one another without categorizing or assuming, but fully listened and held one another's story, including the center of each story our personal hurts, joys, and challenges? Beloved children of God, we know we are created and inspired to grow in our relationship with God and with one another. What is the best way to take steps forward in our growth? By engaging in worship, sign up to serve as an usher/greeter/praise team or tech team. Sign your children and youth up for VBS/Day Camp, or helping with the many projects at Holy Trinity including crafts and quilting. What ways are stirring your heart right now to share in the Good News that we are loved and forgiven by a gracious God? Blessings to you always, Pastor Katie

Dear Friends, As I’m typing away, the minutes are counting down to our first summer Club 56 gathering. What is Club 56 you may ask? It is a ministry that is designed especially for our youth who are in 5th and 6th grades. It has been a long road to launch a new ministry, then press the pause button for a year, and then reach out to a new group that is already 50% different than a year ago. There are about 35 students in this combo group! So, my heart is full with anticipation on what could happen in the lives of our youth as they will hear about a loving God, a forgiving Savior, and an inspiring Spirit. How will they look at the world and the issues that we face today and tomorrow? Over the summer months, the Lancasters will have 5 out of 6 adult children move or continue to live out-of-the-area; 4 of them live out of the state. I did this same thing at their same age! What were my parents thinking as we packed up with enthusiasm and moved on and out? I wonder now, do my own children fully comprehend just how proud I am to be their mother at the same time my heart hurts with their absence? I am thankful, deeply thankful, for the summers after summers that our family vacation was decorating the church for VBS at all hours of the night. Or the years after years our family life included an active and engaged life with God and with the church in worship and family ministry. I did not say perfect attendance! I said, we were active and engaged. The church wasn’t a building; rather, it felt like our second home with the bumps and hiccups of any household. As my adult children have entered into this amazing season of life and the life of our growing family, I find myself leaning into the Hebrew passage, known as the Shema, that guided my heart and maybe it will provide you comfort as well as motivation from Deuteronomy Chapter 6:4-9. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Plan to gather this weekend for worship in several different ways: Meet in-person at either 8:30 or 9:45 a.m. Meet on Facebook Live at 8:30 a.m. Watch on our webpage a recorded version of the 8:30 in-person service. We welcome Pastor Ron Schardt as our special guest pastor this Sunday. Pastor Schardt is a thoughtful colleague, former seminary professor, as well as a missionary and resource leader for the ELCA. He is also a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and we are glad to share our time together. He will begin a new Men’s Small Group on Thursday evenings, beginning June 17 at 7:00 p.m. at The Patio at Holy Trinity. Blessings to you and your household, Pastor Katie

Dear Friends, Many of us are connecting with friends and family we haven’t seen in a long time. It has been amazing to catch up and listen to one another. Recently, I connected with a friend who has known me since I was 5 years old and another friend who has known me since we were in the same 1st grade class. We all still live in the same home town and our families were farm families who shared a lot of similarities and differences along the way. Within minutes of our conversation, I felt genuinely safe that the person who sat across from me. My heart gave way to the compassion I was receiving. I felt honored to hear stories of her health fears as well as the heartbreak of the death of a parent. We talked about our careers, the careers of our children, and of course, the news and media. In our passage this weekend, we hear in 2 Corinthians 5:6-17, that we are loved genuinely by Christ. It is this gift of truth that we are loved first and forever that we trust. We find that, in trusting in the promise that that we are deeply loved by Christ, we are invited to lean fully into our own challenges. We can hear the message not just that we are one big failure, but that, in our hurt, we are provided the opportunity for healing and in healing we are transformed; and in being transformed, we are whole again. Our healing is a work in progress called grace. We are called upon to make the best decisions we can for ourselves, our children, our co-workers, students, members and friends with the most and best information we have at the time we need to make the decision. For me as a leader, pastor, spouse, parent, grandparent, daughter, sister and friend, I know I have, and maybe you have, longed for national guidelines to help give us direction. I think we would also agree that each of us, in some way, has been exhausted by ongoing and changing responses to the ever-changing guidelines. But that is exactly how we come out of a crisis and enter into a season of healing…one step, one change at a time - forward. Each step ahead is different than the one behind because we must have perspective to see it. So as a continuation of our on-going COVID response, we will continue to follow the CDC guidelines with an abundance of caution. We will invite all individuals to be part of the solution by being vaccinated as they are able to do so. We are mindful that children under 12 years of age and those with some health concerns may not be able to be vaccinated. We will celebrate with a gracious response that the CDC states that individuals who have been fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks. We will continue to check-in, limit movement in the sanctuary, and continue to arrange seating for safe-distancing as desired by individuals in attendance. We will meet outdoors for Fellowship so all may be able to join in. We will not yet provide child care. We pray, God of all creation, stir within us compassion and care for one another that reflects our humbled walk as your children whose lives are always made new and whole through your gift of love and grace. We pray all things in your name, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen Pastor Katie

Dear Friends, This weekend we begin our new summer sermon series from the 2nd readings from the Lectionary, called the Epistles or the letters to the early church. These letters carry a great deal of meaning as they are written like a wise mentor, coach, parent, or grandparent would speak. We are mindful that they are letters that are now years away from the witnessed teachings of Jesus; but they are the early church learning the joys and the challenges of being the early church. In this season of the summer of 2021, we long to hear wisdom from those who have provided us a foundation of wholeness. Listening to the words of a teacher or a rabbi to a student pouring into our daily lives. From the Book of 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 we read, “It is written: “I believed; there for I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, _____(let’s wait for the real wisdom in a minute!) Let’s say I walked up to you and said, “I have coffee; therefore, I am awake.” Yes, there is some truth to this; but, as I am writing and as I am finishing my second venti cup of coffee, the truth is that I needed more rest yesterday to get through my today so that I can wake up tomorrow with less of a mush brain! For those who just read that, I am not saying coffee (caffeine) is bad. I’m saying that it doesn’t replace a good night of rest. What is truth and what is what I want to hear to affirm my own monolog of truth? Let’s add a bit more from the author of this letter, to the people of Corinth. “It is written: “I believed; therefore, I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” Read the passage out loud to yourself more than one time. The early church and the church of today are longing to hear truth as if we haven’t heard it before. Jesus spoke to us during his ministry on earth. He said that we are to love one another. We are to love the fullness of someone so that their understanding of who made them and who loves them makes way for the truth that they/we/us are loved for eternity. What wise mentor speaks truth, words of God’s grace-filled gracious gift of truth, into your head right now? And how does it inform your ideas, thoughts, and action? How are your conversations, gatherings, and behavior influenced by the wise and informed thoughts of others? Who are you influencing knowing that in your words are to witness God’s promise of compassion, mercy, and grace for all people? So many things to think through and listen to one another. This week, come to in-person worship, check us out on Facebook Live, or watch the recorded service at a later time. Go to our website and sign up for Vacation Bible School/Day Camp. Come gather safely and listen to one another and in listening, we pray. Blessings to you all, Pastor Katie

Dear Friends, Have you ever watched a sunset and you try to capture what you are feeling by taking out your cell phone and click? However, when you look back at it, the photo just doesn’t explain the fullness of what you were feeling? My cell phone storage is filled with photos and videos of life at Holy Trinity. I have been trying to capture a feeling or a moment of time. There are sermons from home, children’s messages with my beloved Gus, and photos after photos of the times we are preparing to meet or are meeting in the world outside as well as inside the building. As I look at the photos, I have a longing to convey the fulness of God’s presence when we are in the midst of gathering together and the times when the building was empty because our work was to remain safe at home, work, or at school. Let’s pause and listen to the sounds around you wherever you are at right in this very moment. What do you hear? Take notice of who is and who is not near you. Can you count your very heartbeats? Can you look at your surroundings and explain how in the world you find yourself in this very spot in this very moment both in the positive and in the challenging? God with us. That is what we are promised. God for us is a message of hope. Our God dwelling with us in our joys and sorrows. Sometimes my heart is so full that I simply can’t put into words what it means to trust in God to encounter me and you as a creator, savior, and spirit stirring our hearts. Our God is at once simple, yet complicated. It is both amazing and perplexing. God told us in the very beginning that there is knowledge about the fullness of God we will simply be unable to understand. Yet, in the Gospel of John 3:1-17, it says it all, for God (the fulness of God as creator, savior and spirit) so loved the world – that God saves the world through God’s gift of grace. This Sunday is known as “Holy Trinity Sunday.” It is our namesake Sunday if you will! But Holy Trinity and the ministries within the church are not a noun. The work of the church, the passion of the ministries, the compassion and care for one another, the outpouring of ministries to walk for awareness of mental well-being, to donate the gift of life saving blood, to tie quilts, to share food and supplies, to prepare for VBS and Day Camp, to bring together yet another youth mission team all the while continuing to gather for weekly worship, the church, our beloved Holy Trinity is alive. And I’m putting it out there – that to be alive dear Holy Trinity siblings means – Holy Trinity isn’t merely a building it is - a verb – the church, you and I, our compassion for one another comes alive. This Sunday, as you remember those who you have loved, may we intentionally gather together in worship to give our amazing, awesome, and inspiring God – our praise. Praise be our Triune God, Creator/Savior/Holy Spirit. Praise be our beloved community known as Holy Trinity. May we Come and Be Alive now and always. See you on Sunday in-person (there is always a spot!), FB Live, or watch a recorded service later (we hope to post by noon following in-person worship). Pastor Katie

Dear Friends, My husband and I have spent a lot of time visiting garden nurseries throughout the area to look at trees. We continue to be in the process of replacing the many trees we lost in the derecho storm in August 2020. Last week, the pressure to make a purchase was ramping up as we would be standing next to some lovely trees and one by one someone would walk up and put a “sold” tag on it. Pretty soon, I was getting frantic about grabbing just any tree and bringing it home. But even the idea of grabbing just any tree became overwhelming. Instead, I came home without a tree, I came home with a trunk full of flowers and vegetables. Certainly, I have recognized that I’m entering the season of letting go of what was, grieving the loss, and giving space so that I can embrace the movement, the creativity, and the joy of what is happening in my very moment, now. I had energy to imagine new gardens as my first step and then on to the trees. It was a step forward that freed me to experience the fullness of what is happening in my very own story of faithfulness. This week we celebrate Pentecost or the 50 days since Passover. In our Christian tradition on this Sunday, we wear red; we talk about the movement of the wind and the presence of the Spirit in our lives. I envision the Holy Spirit as moving and we are swept up with the joy of the spirit. But maybe there is a season when we envision and embrace the idea that the Holy Spirit, as the Advocate, whom Jesus says is coming in the Gospel of John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15 out of compassion and mercy to hold us and move us – forward – together. The Advocate, our forever friend, calls us out of hurt, fear, disappointment, isolation, our inward focus, our complacency, inactivity or simply loss of habit, and calls us to gather, to create, to plant, to grow in faithfulness and give thanks to a God who promises to love us first, to love us always, and inspires and commands us to love one another. I’ll see you in worship – THIS SUNDAY – dressed in Red! Together we journey with the companion, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, who promises to continue to guide and guard us on our journey now and always. Blessings, Pastor Katie P.S. I have heard some folks worried that if they make a reservation to come to worship, they are taking up a seat for someone else. Well, friends, if we get so packed that we need to make more room – we will! Go to the website, make a reservation, come, and give thanks! It feels so good to be together!

Our text for Sunday is the middle section of John 17, a chapter known as Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. Jesus has been teaching and this chapter is the prayer following that teaching. It’s almost as if we are eavesdropping on Jesus. This is a tough piece of Scripture to read and understand because of the theological constructs permeating it. Jesus is praying for his disciples aloud. He is commending their further care and nurturing to God’s hands; his work with and among them is done. In a matter of hours, Jesus is to die on the cross. In this passage, we get several instances of sharing. God shared these followers with Jesus. Jesus shared these followers with God. Jesus shares these followers with us. We share these followers with others. Oh, wait! We are those followers! How many times have we been encouraged to see ourselves in the Bible stories we read? It is easy to see that Jesus is praying for the Twelve. It is harder to see that Jesus is praying for you and me. It may sound heretical, but Jesus is asking that we be protected from the evil one. Jesus is praying that we be made holy (remember learning about sanctification in confirmation?) so that we may be sent into the world. Jesus shared his life with twelve followers, who shared their lives with many others, who shared their lives with a host of others until you and I are caught up into the story. Now it is our turn to share the story with myriad others. Every move, every action, every kind and unkind word we say preaches a sermon to those around us. We lift our voices with Jesus as we ask to be sanctified in the truth because God’s word is truth. So, how’s your sermon writing going???

Dear Friends, I am going to ask you three questions that you can use at the dinner table, around a campfire, or share in a time of personal reflection. I invite your time of discussion to close with this week’s reading of the scriptures from the Gospel of John, Chapter 15 with one final question! Question #1 Do you remember the first toy you “loved?” Share with those around you. How old were you when you had this special toy. Did it have a name? Where is that toy now? Question #2 Can you remember the first time you told another person, “I love you”? Share with those around you. How old were you when you said these three words without being asked, but because your heart was so full you couldn’t stop yourself? Do you still have a relationship with that person today? Question #3 Can you imagine how the moment of being chosen, loved first, and loved forever could feel like? Truly imagine who could love you that much without exception and to the point of laying down their own life and then picking it up again – out of love for you and for me. This is the gift that Jesus gives to us this very day, in this very moment, and in the days to come time and time again. The passage we will hear this week is part of a series where Jesus has talked about what it means to be a disciple, a leader, a shepherd, and a friend. Jesus invited his friends and invites us today into this claimed, compassionate, and merciful relationship with our creator. He not only reveals once again to us who God is but invites us to trust in the promise. It is you and I who belong to God. We are God’s beloved now and always. For me, I sum it up like this, we were made out of love, to be loved, to love one another. We were made out of love (vs. 16, You did not choose me I chose you.) to be loved (vs 9, As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love), to love others (This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.) Gospel of John 15:9-17 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants[d] any longer, because the servant[e] does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. Who longs to hear, right now, that you love them? Tell them right now! Pastor Katie

It’s time for us to “Come Alive” again this weekend as a Christian community as we gather again in the sanctuary or on-line to worship the Risen Savior. We surely hope that you are able to join us one way or another! Our Scripture this week is the first portion of John 15, which draws from vineyard imagery to emphasize our connectedness to Christ and thus to God. Highlighting the specific metaphors that Jesus emphasizes, we will explore three aspects of what it means to: a) abide in Him; b) get pruned!;and c) bear fruit. I don’t know about you, but now that the weather has turned for the better, I seem eager to do anything but “abide!” After a year of pandemic, I’ve remained in place long enough and I’m anxious to get out and move if I am anything! I am so longing to be able to get to “bear fruit” that has been missing from our lives during this chapter of limited socializing that I’m not wanting to wait another second. Perhaps you can relate! But as the gospel reminds us, there is another side to this understandable yearning. We can certainly resume our past busy-ness or frantically be about accomplishing all of the things we felt were put on hold without first tending to the primary connection we have. And that is with Christ. We can be so giddy about seeing people we’ve missed and resuming long-lost rhythms of life that we forget that it is Christ’s fruit we bear, not our own. It is our rootedness in His grace that is the source of our ability to grow and produce and harvest - not our own acumen in any of those regards! Jesus’ example here reminds me of his words elsewhere in this Gospel that emphasize the “connected-ness” of the Trinity. He speaks of His abiding “in” the Father - in other words, not being someone who acts on His own, but only on behalf of His father. The Holy Spirit He promises to send will not be an independent agent or expression, but one firmly anchored to it’s connection with Him. So it is with us! I suggest that, before we “get busy” with taking advantage of the season before us, we first find ways that our “abiding” in Jesus can be cultivated, nurtured, and assured. That way, it will be the fruit of Christ’s kingdom that we bear and not simply our own. Don’t forget to pre-register for worship at 8:30 or 9:45 a.m. so that we can best honor our limited capacity in this time, yet practice ample hospitality! Remember that we are very much in need of hands raised and ready to serve in a variety of capacities in order to make our worship and our mutual “fruit-bearing” possible. Make your willingness to serve known! Meanwhile, a few element of Sunday’s worship will be available on demand as usual. The full service will be available on Facebook as well. Hang in there while we iron out the obstacles! See you in worship! Pastor Tim

Dear Friends, For a moment, envision with me your very own family outing. Let’s set the outing at the shopping mall. You are the parent and you have many little children with you. Trying to keep them together is like a momma duck and her little ducklings trying to get from the nest to the pond all together. When my children were very little, I started to whistle nursery songs so they would hear my whistle and want to stay close. As they became older, especially in the teen years, they would be embarrassed as I would still whistle away so they knew I was nearby; but now I would whistle harmonies to the music coming out of the shop speakers. But I find them and they would find me as my whistle was a calling out to them. That was the first story that popped into my head as I heard our scripture today about the shepherd and the sheep. In this, Jesus paints for us a very real setting calling himself the shepherd and referring to us as the sheep and the flock. He not only shares with us that he knows his sheep and will protect them; he gives us a promise, that all of us are part of his flock. Then he gives us the Good News that it is this flock, the all of us in one big flock, for whom he will lay down his life and pick it back up again. Yes, that is EVERYONE in his flock, God’s flock of all shapes, sizes, colors, identities, histories, and capabilities. In his words, he does not say that the flock is just the ones “we” know. Nor does he say "Look around and you and I decide who is or who is not in 'our' flock." He says that he must call to them and they will listen. Then without skipping a beat, he says, "I will lay down my life for them." Our Jesus’ is the Jesus for the world yesterday, today and tomorrow. We are God’s beloved children. And I believe, in our hurting world in this very moment of time, we are crying out; we long to belong, to hear the whistle, voice, and invitation that indeed we are wanted, loved, and forgiven forever. We are indeed weary but God’s mission calls to us and we are to COME ALIVE, dear friends, and share that we have been made out of love to be loved and to love one another. In hearing this message, people may ask, "Who is it then who cares for you with such love and forgiveness?" It is none other than our shepherd, Jesus Christ, who gave his very own life on this earth for us and then picked it back up and conquered death. As children of the Father, we are promised, that belonging to this flock means we will receive the mercy and grace from God and we shall celebrate our very own Easter Morning! Little lambs, imagine or remember how amazing it felt the first time you heard the shepherd’s voice and you felt safe, free, and beloved. It was that moment you trusted God to be God. Now, imagine that same feeling for your neighbor who you invite to join you in worship, service, or prayer. Little sheep, let’s act. Let’s COME ALIVE so that all will hear the voice of the shepherd and know they belong now and always. Amen Peace Pastor Katie