"The View is Worth the Hike!"
God's grace and peace to you, sisters and brothers in Christ!
Over the decades I have had the good fortune of climbing Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, Mt. Katahdin in Maine, plus a handful of Adirondack peaks in upstate New York.

Forty years ago this month I starting walking the Long Trail in Vermont with a high school friend. Now that was a long trek! It rained nonstop for the first six days of our journey. The ferocious Green Mountain mosquitoes sucked most of the blood out of our battered bodies by day, while ravenous raccoons attacked our food supply by night. Rick and I were eventually glad to get back to civilization.

It has always been my strong conviction that the view from the summit is worth the often
arduous climb to the peak. No matter how much blood, sweat, and tears we may lose on the way, there's nothing quite as exhilarating as looking out at the incredible vista below, realizing that we would never have this experience unless we put forth the mental and physical exertion to accomplish our objective.

Of course, sometimes the view from the summit is less than spectacular. The two times I stood on top of Mt. Washington featured fog, rain, high winds, and more than a little bit of snow!
What was worth the hike on those low visibility days was the satisfaction in knowing that we reached our goal in spite of rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, and that we then had the good, common sense to get off the mountain before the situation worsened.

Berlin Congregational Church is "climbing" toward the summit of a bright future under the
leadership of a new settled Pastor. As of this writing, that individual has yet to be identified, but make no mistake about, that time is coming!

When we stop and think about, from the earliest days of our existence as a Christian community during the Revolution right up to the present moment, the good Lord has always sent us the pastor of His choosing. He will do so again. You can count on it. God is faithful! The great old hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness," says it best: Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not' as Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Meanwhile, please keep praying for our faithful, hard-working Search Committee. Theirs is a daunting task. And don't forget to keep on climbing, because ultimately, the view is worth the hike!

Your brother in Christ and Interim Pastor, Jim