Dear Friends,

Loud music, canoeing, volleyball & foursquare, swimming, boys & girls flirting, fun memories, lives changed forever. I’m glad to say, youth camp hasn’t changed much over the years. Paul and I were honored to be the evening preachers last week at the United Methodist Warren Willis Camp. While Paul preached to the high school students late in the evening, I had the 4^th and 5^th graders right before dinnertime. Our theme for the week was “Rethink” -as in rethink your life, God’s love, your choices, your service. I must say getting across theological truths such as brokenness, sin, righteousness, unconditional love, and salvation to ten and eleven year olds was not always easy. I tried to use familiar metaphors to get across the messages ones like the broken & misused toys from Toy Story movies, the oil spill in the Gulf, my own love for my children even when they do something bad like spill a gallon of blue paint on the carpet.

And this is exactly why Jesus taught in parables. Jesus offered parables where people could recognize the truth in familiar stories and illustrations although not everyone got the message. We continue this week in our Sunday series on Parables from Luke by reading the Rich Fool in Luke 12. The man accumulates more and more possessions, thinking it will make him happy or will come in handy one day. In fact, he gets so much stuff (in this case, crops), he thinks he needs to build bigger places to store it. We don’t have to think hard to see the parallels for our modern lives. We build bigger houses or bigger retail stores for the same misguided reasons. But there is a better way, a better way to live, one that will actually last for eternity not just our short lifetimes. I encourage you to come to church and consider a simple message in a powerful story. Many times, I think the kids get the message better than we do.

Peace,

Pastor Amber

· Welcome to our church! Hilary Jemeson, Denise Jemeson, and Melanie Davis our newest members. It was a thrill to celebrate Hilary’s baptism last Sunday and we pray for blessings on her life after UF (go Gators!)

· Save Your Saturdays! On Saturday July 24^th and July 31^st we will be having church-wide workdays to finish preparations on the Annex for the FIU Wesley interns. Together with students we will move in furniture, paint, hang curtains, etc. We need EVERYONE’S HELP to make the August 1^st move-in date!!!

· Flea Market is Coming! Next Sunday wear your comfy clothes & shoes. We’ll be accepting your donations after church and moving items from the Annex garage to the Fellowship Center. Sorting will be done throughout the week of July 26-29. Sale dates are Friday the 30^th 8am-12pm; and Saturday the 31^st from 8am-2pm.

· Pastor Amber will be on vacation from 7/15 to 7/21. We welcome Rev. Beth Bostrom of the Wesley Foundation of UM this Sunday. There will continue to Summer Bible Study as we read through the Gospel of Luke together (this week: Luke 5-6)