April 14th, 2026

Dear Friends,

Our micro church was hosting a pickleball event last Saturday, a time for inviting friends to spend an hour whacking a whiffle ball back and forth in a space about the size of a badminton court. Due to some last minute cancellations, Tim and family joined us, which meant that I got to play with 7 year old Elly. She was her usual precocious self, dressed in shorts, baubles hanging from her glasses, bouncing around, assuming “ready” position while brandishing her racket. When I walked onto her side of the court and told her we’d be partners, she walked over to me in all solemnity and extended her racket towards me (a racketball player’s version of a “high five”). Managing to hide a smile, I responded in kind so we touched rackets, at which point, she looked me in the eye and said, “Break a leg!”

I think my eyes must have widened to give me away, or maybe it was my spluttered, “What?” Either way, she looked at me like I was a complete moron and said with finality, “That’s what you say.”

To be fair, Elly’s Dad loves pickleball and Elly has been on a court a time or two. But she’s no aficionado of the game. I don’t know where she picked up the idea that “That’s what you say” though, given her great powers of observation and logic, she may have simply heard the phrase in another context and decided that it fit here. My point is that Elly acquired this understanding, not through formal learning but through observation and application.

The apostle Paul wrote the Philippians, saying, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” He understood two basic truths. First, knowledge is acquired a number of different ways, all of which are valid. Second, that knowledge was meant to be put into practice.

Elly was putting into practice what she had seen and heard and learned. It was affecting her life (and mine) in that moment.

I tell you this, post Easter, friends, because it is easy to forget. We can get quite emotional about the knowledge or historical or theological components of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection while forgetting that knowing those things is not the point of Christianity. As Jesus himself said to his disciples, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

The cross doesn’t just purchase our eternal salvation; it shapes our lives each day. In fact, Jesus told his disciples that they needed to “take up” their cross “daily” and follow him. We do this together (and imperfectly), learning to be good people and learning to be people who love God, are loved by God and who love others in God’s power (it takes his power to make us truly, selflessly loving) and wisdom. To paraphrase my wonderful granddaughter, “That’s what you do” if you claim to be a Christian. So, friends, be God’s person, God’s people today.

Blessings!

Doug