Reflecting on a special Sunday

Searching for a title to this blog…. It starts with the seeds, or Signs, signs, everywhere signs….. You be the judge!

Grateful for the past

August service at our church is outside on the lawn and last Sunday the breeze rustled the numerous surrounding trees. Dozens of trees of countless varieties and many dating to the late 1800’s are planted around the property and all were within eyesight and we sat on the ground forgoing chairs needed by other members of the congregation. Service was especially invigorating given the beautiful setting and got me thinking about how our church campus was a product of a longstanding focus on stewardship, diversity, and the planting and tending to all these trees on the church property over more than a century. 

My fourteen-year-old son teased me, but my mind always migrates toward building things. Sitting in the grass at church on Sunday was no exception. Turn around starts with a small village.

Hopeful for the future

Later in the day I spent five hours in west suburban Wheaton meeting with a series of candidate prospects all interested in running for state rep or state senate seats in the forthcoming 2022 elections. Four prospective candidates stopped in, all living in currently democrat-controlled districts, represented by house or senate members with voting records wildly out of step with their electorate’s values. Happy to share the data on this front. What was most inspiring to me about this time was that I met an incredibly diverse group of citizens. These prospective candidates were black, Latino, Caucasian, male and female. Three were entrepreneurs. Three had run before and one is currently elected. Two had past or current military service. One had 25 first cousins who helped with a past losing effort but who were excited work even harder this time to change the representation in their predominantly Latino community. All had large social circles of conservative and liberal friends who have lost the ability to talk to each other. All presented a love for liberty and a sense of stewardship and conservation for their communities and this state.  

Whether some or all run, and their corresponding efforts can serve as a catalyst to help rebuild the grassroots infrastructure needed to retake areas critical in turning around Illinois, I’m not sure.  I’m hopeful. However, driving home last night, my church experience earlier in the day was ever-present as I thought about what Illinois might look like in ten or twenty years if we plant the right seeds now and tend to this garden right here at home.