Mike McClenahan

I spoke to a woman this week who was surprised at the reaction of her neighbors, whom she described as a grumblin g and isolated, when she invited them to a Christmas celebration of the Hispanic tutoring program at our church. Families made tamales and a local service club served the meal. There were children, parents, tutors and community members all together celebrating. The neighbors were surprised, actually shocked to see so much energy, smiles, love in one room among people of different languages, ages, wealth and background at a church . She smiled as she told me the story because she connected her story with the story I preached last Sunday. As the rich young ruler spoke with Jesus scripture tells us Jesus "looked at him and loved him." Jesus invested something in this man that gave him every reason to follow him. The word for "look" literally means "gaze" or "consider." Jesus used this word in Matthew 6: "consider the lil lies o