“Every once in a while I’ll grab my phone, go to the pictures and start scrolling back through old photos. Happiness swells in my heart as I see and remember special moments that I hadn’t thought about in a while.  Some of the pictures mark a significant moment, like a birthday party or a trip we went on or a fish the kids caught, or the visit to the ER, getting a cast for a broken wrist at House Church! Others are of pretty ordinary moments, but special to me nonetheless. 

While scrolling back through old pictures is a sentimental walk down memory lane that I enjoy, it’s so much more than that. Seeing old pictures has this way of helping me appreciate what I have. It has this way of re-centering me, reminding me to make the most of the time I have and to be present to the people in front of me.

This year’s edition of Ethos Stories is written with this aim in mind.  

Every year we attempt to put together some of the things GOD did in and through our church family over the course of the year, and we call it Ethos Stories. While I hope this serves to help you remember some good things that happened and to inform and inspire you by letting you see some things that you might not know about, the chief aim is to help us recognize what a gift we have in getting to do life with GOD and each other. And our hope is that from that place of appreciation, we would live lives full of love and purpose, making the most of the time He has given to us.

Thanks to everyone who contributed this year. This does not encompass all that GOD did last year among and through us. Ethos Stories is more like scrolling through the pictures on your phone, intended to show you some of the significant moments throughout the year of our church family, most certainly not all of them. I love getting to be a part of the Ethos family. You all are amazing! I love you, and I look forward to what the LORD has for us this next year!”