What a glorious day!

We had a glorious day this past Sunday as 19 adults and eight kids showed up for our new church’s “Blessing of the Animals” event. Though it was windy, the weather was beautiful, Golden Lake Park was an excellent venue, and the whole event went off with hardly a glitch. We had two new families attend who are interested in our congregation. I was thrilled that a photographer from the Quad City Press took pictures.

I had never led a “Blessing of the Animals” event before. In getting ready for the event I learned a lot about a community of people who care for pets. Beforehand I was oblivious to this community. I discovered a passion that people have for their pets—a passion that I hadn’t experienced before.

I have a new appreciation for the love of pets that many people have.

I think a “Blessing of the Animals” event is an outstanding way for all churches to reach out to the community. We only had seven weeks to plan and get ready—something our new community had never done before. If we do this event in the future we’ll take some more time to do it in partnership with other animal organizations. With the right type of partnership and with enough advanced planning, any church could hold a “Blessing of the Animals” event where a large number of people attend.

I also learned something about the covenant that God made with Noah. The story is in Genesis 9. When God made the covenant after the flood, God made the covenant also with the animals. This covenant wasn’t only made with humans. I’ve read this story hundreds of times, but never quite grasped this idea. As I shared this past Sunday whenever we see a rainbow we can know that this sign of the covenant is with our pets—and all other animals.

God indeed loves animals!!

My family will be traveling up north for three days starting this afternoon. I will be back to blogging on Monday, July 3.