We had been thinking to small.

Good Morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

It is a beautiful sunny morning in the upper left of the country today.

When people ask me where I live I tell them, "I live in the upper left part of the country."

For many years I lived in Oregon.

I was your typical Oregonian. I was proud of being an Oregonian. For me Oregon is one of the most beautiful states to live in. I lived an hour from the Pacific Ocean. An hour from Timberline Lodge on the top of Mt. Hood. I lived in the Willamette valley, wine country.

Your typical Oregonian is rather snobbish about being an Oregonian. They may not admit it, but they kind of look down their noses at other states.

I was your typical Oregonian. I would ask out of town people when I met them, "Where are you from?"

They would tell me which state they lived in and I would respond, "That is a good state to be from. I was originally from Kansas, that is a good state to be from too."

Ten years ago (or there about) I moved to Washington (the state) and found a house in the Cascades in the Gorge. I quickly realized how snobbish I had been.

I had been shortsighted with limited thinking. When I had decided that Oregon was so awesome I stopped looking for the awesomeness in other areas. Now don't get me wrong, Oregon is awesome. Oregon is a very beautiful state, but so is Washington.

I realized I was limiting myself.

Now I consider myself on a more regional level, Upper left.

I am part of many different teams with-in our YMCA (the "Y").

Before Covid-19, and the havoc it has raised, we where very proud of our "Y".

People would ask me, "Where is your 'Y'?"

I would respond, "Our Association is in Portland, Oregon. I am housed out of the Clark County Family YMCA in Vancouver, Washington across the river."

We seemed to be particularly adept at patting ourselves on our backs and saying how wonderful we were.

As we look to emerge from the shutdown we are realizing that we overlooked a number of things.

Now don't get me wrong, the "Y" is an awesome place and does do amazing things, but we are realizing we can do so much more. We are even able to provide services and community support at a much bigger level.

We had been limiting ourselves.

We had been thinking to small.

Now when people ask me where my "Y" is I say, "We are right where you live. We are here with you."

If you do not have a YMCA in your town (and I don't care where it is) we will be your "Y".

Just go to this link and be part of our family.

https://www.ymcacw.org/

We have changed the way we see ourselves.

Funny thing, A life with Jesus had already changed the way I had seen myself and the world around me.

From my vantage point Jesus helped us change the way the "Y" saw itself.

Come join us, it will be a fun ride.

Blessings,
Roger