I hope you took time yesterday to search out a veteran and thank him or her for their military service. Monday I met a man named Houston as he was walking at the Y and I was working out. I’ve seen him plenty of times but decided I was going to take a break from my headphones and say hi to him. He is a US Army veteran and in the process of talking he told me everywhere he had been. Please don’t ask me to tell it back to you because I guarantee my memory would fail me! 🙂

I sent a group text to 25 veterans associated with OVCF, the church I pastor. It was a simple “Thank you for your service” (and an apology for the group text). I received several texts in reply, some personally. It made me feel good to have reached out and from the reply texts, the feeling was mutual. 

Today is a day of a different color. The school system has a program called Book Buddies. It was first started by the United Way in Bloomington. But when COVID hit they discontinued it. I continued to read to the one Kindergarten class I had been reading to. A couple of years ago I wanted to restart it so I talked to the appropriate people and the new Curriculum Director was able to get Title 1 funding for it. After two years that money dried up, so this year our local Owen County Community Foundation stepped up and paid for all the books so the students can take home the book I read to them. Today is the day I read The Little Red Hen to five different Kindergarten classes at two different schools. 

The love of reading is something I want to foster in children. With the onset of games on our devices, reading is often a lost art. If I can encourage and instill the love for reading in the heart of just one student, I will have considered my time successful. I have already read Pete the Cat Lost a Tooth (September); Scat the Cat (October); and along with today’s will read The Gingerbread Man in December. Come 2026 there will be 3 more to read. It is one of the most rewarding things I do. Even though it is outside the scope of my ministry in and to the church, I consider it an extension of what I do. If I can share my love of reading, with lessons along the way of kindness, sharing, and doing your part, then I consider it time well-spent. 

Besides, the kids love me and I can be a kid again with them. Does it get any better than that? 🙂 🙂