Dear CCPC Family,

'But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.'
-1 Peter 2:9 -

Lent

Everyone wants to belong. They want to feel needed. They want to feel missed when they are not around for awhile. For most of us, it's part of our human nature. As a whole, parents love it when you ask about their children or better yet, remember their names and ages and something special about them! On Sundays, I'll see pockets of people in the Atrium, down the preschool hall talking and laughing while their same age kids are hanging around bored or running around wild! I see clusters of moms each morning and afternoon in our Mother's Day Out program, that will drop their little ones off so they can have a day for themselves, yet they stay and chat for an hour with the other moms.

We are a 'social' bunch, with a strong need to belong. I hear it said so often that, 'I felt right at home here,' 'The people are so nice here,' and one that I particularly cherish is, 'My kids just love it here!' Everyone just really wants to belong whether we're preschoolers, teenagers or adults.

Isn't it funny that one of the main things we all want is exactly what God wants for us! He wants us to belong to Him! How easy is that? Just as our children 'belong' with us, cared for by us and loved unconditionally by us, that's just how it is with God. Do you ever stop and think about that? I know that I belong to God in my head, but I sometimes have a hard time grasping that concept in my heart - believing that God wants me to belong to Him. Then I look back on how God has touched my life in countless ways, always gently reminding of how He wants me to belong to Him. What a contented feeling.

Do you know who you belong to? Do you know that He is pursuing you each day to join Him? This is one club, one place, one lifetime of belonging and all you have to say is 'yes' to Him.

Dear Gracious Heavenly Father,
How we yearn to belong to you and your kingdom.
What peace, what joy that would bring to our lives.

I pray dear God, that even when we turn our backs on you, You will continue to pursue us and bring us back to You. You are the only place that we truly belong.

Teri Budde
Director, MDO

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