Before we return to our regular Daily Catch rhythm, I want to make sure you receive something too good to miss.

During our recent time away for rest and planning for the future of the Catch, Associate Pastor Wayne Bridegroom and consulting pastor-at-large, Doug Stevens, generously stepped in with a wonderful collection of Catches for our community.

We are deeply grateful to both of them.

Our time away took an unexpected turn when Marti had to have eye surgery and recovery required more of our attention than anticipated. As a result, several of Wayne’s and Doug’s Catches that we had planned for publication are still waiting in the wings.

And I don’t want you to miss them.

So, over the next few days, I will be sharing the remaining Catches from Wayne and Doug. Their voices, insights, and perspectives are gifts to this community, and these pieces deserve their day in the sun.

Consider them an unexpected extension of our time away—and a reminder of one of the great blessings of the Catch: we don’t walk this road alone.

Thank you, Wayne and Doug, for so generously walking it with us.

—John and Marti

by Wayne Bridegroom

The Scripture tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God.  I saw an example of that on the evening of the 15th.  Beth and I were walking to our car for the short drive home from a high school reunion.

There was a brilliant quarter moon that really caught our attention because it was such a weird color – tangerine is an inadequate description but the closest I can come to describing the opulence of color.  But there was more. Directly above the moon was a star, more brilliant than any I’ve ever seen.  For reasons unknown to me, the bottom tip of the star seemed to be extending light to the moon.

I immediately thought of the Holy Spirit.  Granted, the Spirit is not outside of us.  Rather, he indwells us. But, just as that star seemed to be reaching out to the moon, almost as if providing a lifeline to the moon, so it is that the Spirit is continually active in our lives providing lifelines that draw us closer and closer to the character of our Savior.

God has a myriad of ways to remind his children just how much he values and loves us.  Can you recall an experience when something in the wonders of creation brought you a deep sense of awe, a reminder of just how big, awesome and wonderfully loving God is?