Ned Erickson: UPDATE Week of April 6

Happy Birthday Reiley!

How are you celebrating birthdays?

I have been inspired by the stories I'm hearing about the creative ways people are figuring out how to celebrate birthdays. I have heard about Zoom Parties.

I had a friend who had a bounce house ordered - and so they bounced as a family. We had friends who organized a Drive-By Car Parade.

For Reiley's B-Day we staggered little surprises throughout the day. It was beautiful in its own way. Haley stopped by with breakfast. Brianne came with flowers. Jackson shot her with a Nerf Gun (alls fair in love and assassin). Hef brought the family in her Caravan and dropped off lunch. I serenaded her. We did our best. Under the circumstances, that is what we can do!

The Week.

JM spotting

I had the chance to help distribute meals at the Winston Lake YMCA. This work has been coordinated by the Black Ministers Alliance, the YMCA and Love Out Loud.

JM, as you know, works for Love Out Loud. So for many of our Fellows work has morphed into a computer at home - JM's job has him moving about all over town. It's pretty amazing watching him in his element.

He told me, "You all mentioned Ending Well. I feel like I have that chance, and I'm taking it!" Way to go JM. So inspired by you.

The many sides of JM Dixon

Side 2

Side 3

I'm inspired by the YMCA too. They are reaching out and giving their resources away in the name of loving neighbor. Amen!

ROUND TABLE

The Fellows Bunch

This week at Round Table we celebrated Jackson Wood. His birthday was Saturday so we went around and shared all the things we loved about him.

We then checked in with each other, went over details for the week and prayed.

TUESDAY

Mission Trip Cancelled...

insert sad face.

After holding out hope as long as possible, we officially cancelled our mission trip to Greece. This was a hard decision. But the right one. I felt a confirmation this weekend as I heard on NPR that there are 20 cases of COVID-19 in one of the Refugee Camps where we were planning to go!

WE NEED TO PRAY ABOUT THIS

Our world is hardly prepared for taking care of the needs of the people in the richest cities in the richest countries in the world (case in point New York)...we need to not lose our resolve as this virus hits the weakest and most vulnerable in the world.

David can see again!

Abby, the Owner of the Brass Hammer (buy her beautiful jewelry online today!) is moving into new arenas - hair cutting!

It was very sweet to re-employ Abby to help out with the children this week.

Fellows Alumni Happy Hour!

The Year 3 Fellows organized a Happy Hour to check in with each other! Truly, a highlight of the week. Oh how I love these guys!

Laura, Aly, Kelly, Abby, Chanice, Mathu, Christian, Tim, Garrett, Trent, Andrew and newest addition Jess Hancock! were all there. The only one we were missing was Bryan who was traveling across the country for a girl! Life is good.

thanks guys.

LEADER LUNCH

Leader Lunch with Steve

We had a fabulous time with Steve Beck. Things were a bit scattered on my end, but Steve held us together great.

Steve shared some amazing insights...

Like: When do I need to have a hard conversation?

Answer: "If I'm having conversations with this person in my head, I might as well go ahead and have a real one."

About the Coronavirus: "The Coronavirus is showing how interconnected we are with everyone in the world."

Wow. i've been thinking about that line ever since. Thank you Steve!

for more Steve go to:

cstevebeck.com

Bible Study

Bible Study was rich and challenging as Luke 17 ploughed up some stuff for us to chew on. We continue to be blown away by how applicable this ancient text is to our current situation.

As counter-intuitive as it might be in a time such as this, I am convinced that it is more important than ever to dig into the Word.

THURSDAY

Haley prays

Haley organized a morning prayer time for us on Thursday morning. What a blessing!

My prayer spot on Thursday

FRIDAY CLASSES

Lynn Brewer led us in a great class on the Kingdom of God...

"If you want to know what the Kingdom of God is, you've got to know the King!"

We watched this to fire us up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCuRKE707MM

Nigel Alston taught on the power of understanding the defining stories of our lives.

We watched this to prime the pump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgeh4xhSA2Q

Thanks Guys!

QUICK GETAWAY

The family zipped up to the mountains for an overnight Friday and Saturday. Lia had been working fourteen straight days and needed a break!

Sure as the sun rises every morning

Take a breath

Good morning

Still waters...soul restoring

I admit there is a temptation during this current situation we are in to retreat.

But that is not who we are.

That is not what we are called to do.

We are called to consider others as more important than ourselves.

We are called to love our neighbor.

To pray, to serve, to be light, to be salt, to be love...

We are called to care for those God has put in our charge.

We are called to stand in solidarity with the weak, the vulnerable, the poor.

We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

So we came back down the mountain - hard as it was.

I know so many of you are doing the same thing!

For the sake of brother and sister.

Because one day, when we look back on this time, we want to look back on it thankful for the opportunity that we took to seize the moment, to stay engaged, to stay connected to the needs of our brother and sisters and to draw near to the Lord.

How do we do this?

This is our current struggle because it is not as cut and dry as we wish it was...

Because Love can be staying home.

Love can be not making contact.

Love might be quarantine.

For the sake of brother and sister.

It is so hard to know...

So, like you, we are doing our best.

To be family.